Steve Spurrier on DJ Lagway: 'He needs to play'

The Florida Gators face their first SEC opponent of the weekend when they host Texas A&M in The Swap. But they also face a quarterback controversy after Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway have both started on game apiece through two weeks of the season.

Florida head coach Billy Napier has kept his cards relatively close regarding which quarterback will start for Week 3, breaking down a plan for playing both quarterbacks to potentially play during his press conference on Wednesday. But former Gators head coach Steve Spurrier made it pretty clear that he wants to see Lagway, the true freshman, take the field for the Gators.

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“I don’t know who’s going to start or whatever, but he needs to play. How much? We’ll see,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast.

After entering the season as the veteran starting quarterback for the Gators, Mertz suffered a concussion in the third quarter of Florida’s season opener against Miami. Resulting in Lagway, a five-star high school prospect, seeing his first collegiate action and receiving his first career start against Samford last weekend. Where he impressed plenty of observers including Spurrier.

“DJ Lagway got a chance to show he can really play, that was encouraging,” Spurrier said. “He can make all the throws plus he can run. The more I watch football nowadays, if your quarterback can’t run a bit, I don’t know how you win.”

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It may have been against an FCS program, but Lagway surely looked the part in his first career start. Completing 72% of his passes for 456 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-7 win over the Bulldogs. But the question still remains, did his performance earn him a start in Week 3 over Mertz or significant snaps against the Aggies?

Mertz threw for a career-high 2,903 yards and 20 touchdowns last year for Florida and has played in 45 games in his college career compared to Lagway’s two. And despite Spurrier wanting to see the talented true freshman, he did also admit that there could be a benefit in Mertz serving as a steady presence for Florida on Saturday.

“He’s playing with all his teammates, so Mertz has been here with all these guys a little longer. So if he starts the game and all this, that, and the other, maybe everybody’s happy and away we go,” Spurrier said. “But obviously, DJ Lagway’s going to play a whole bunch the rest of the season.”

It will be fascinating to see who starts, finishes, and plays quarterback in-between this weekend for the Gators. Who kick off against Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. ET in a matchup airing on ABC and streaming on Fubo.