Billy Napier confirms Florida intends to play both DJ Lagway, Graham Mertz moving forward
Freshman quarterback DJ Lagway made his first career start in Florida‘s 45-7 win over Samford on Saturday. Florida’s Week 1 starter, Graham Mertz, was out with a concussion he suffered against Miami. On Monday, Florida head coach Billy Napier confirmed he intends to play both QBs moving forward.
“Our intention the entire time has been to play DJ in every game,” Napier said. “Obviously, he gets a little bit more experienced each week. And certainly, for him to have the opportunity to be the starter, prepare with the ones and then go play, and the way he did that — the poise, the composure — I just think it shows that he’s ready to do what we intend to do with him going forward.
“It’s a blessing to have two really good quarterbacks and certainly one with a ton of experience and one without. But there’s no doubt both of these guys will make us harder to defend. We intend to use both of them.”
Lagway turned heads on Saturday, completing 18-of-his-25 pass attempts for 456 yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception. His 456 passing yards were the most ever by a Florida freshman, surpassing Chris Leak’s mark of 268 set in 2003 against Kentucky.
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Lagway’s performance gave many fans pause about Mertz retaining the starting spot behind center upon his return. In Mertz’s lone start of the season, Florida fell 41-17 to in-state rival Miami.
In the loss, Mertz only completed 11-of-20 passes for 91 yards. He failed to throw a touchdown but did throw an interception. However, it’s worth noting that Lagway’s showing against the Hurricanes was far from perfect, either.
In his limited time on the field, the former five-star QB completed 3-of-his-6 pass attempts for 31 yards while throwing a pick. Nonetheless, many people believe Lagway provides Florida with the best chance of success this season, including On3’s Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman.
“Texas A&M is a 3.5-point favorite at Florida,” Staples said on Monday. “Ari you and I did a video Sunday night, just begging Billy Napier to start DJ Lagway… He’s a very good quarterback, like he’s accurate, he can throw the ball downfield with the flick of his wrist, and he can hit people in stride.
“(Graham Mertz) doesn’t give Billy Napier a chance to save his job, (DJ Lagway) does give Billy Napier a chance to save his job.”