Injury update on Florida Gators QB DJ Lagway
JACKSONVILLE — For the second time in three games, the Florida Gators lost their starting quarterback with a lead against one of their rivals. On Saturday, it was freshman QB DJ Lagway on routine running play.
He suffered what UF coach Billy Napier called a “pretty significant” hamstring injury and had to be carted off the field with 5:01 left in the first half. Lagway returned to the sideline on crutches with his left leg in a brace.
Napier described it as a “soft tissue” injury following Florida’s 34-20 loss to Georgia. When asked if the injury could be season-ending, he said that UF needed to gather more information with an MRI on Sunday.
“It’s soft tissue, so those things are sometimes subjective,” Napier said after the game. “We’ll get an MRI tomorrow and have a little bit better idea. Give you a report on Wednesday.”
Lagway threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Mizell in the second quarter to put the Gators in front and left the game with a 10-3 lead. He finished with 65 total yards (47 passing) before his injury.
Lagway was replaced by third-string quarterback Aidan Warner, a preferred walk-on transfer from Yale. He led the offense on two scoring drives and finished with 66 yards and a pick on 7 of 22 passing.
“Hats off to Aidan Warner,” Napier said. “Two weeks ago, he started taking real reps with the second unit. For him to be able to go operate today, obviously made some plays, made a handful of mistakes. … He was one of many like him that stepped up for the team.”
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Saturday marked Lagway’s second straight start following the season-ending injury to Graham Mertz. He left the Tennessee game after his TD pass gave UF a 10-0 in the third quarter.
Florida is now down to Warner and Clay Millen at the QB position. Millen, a redshirt junior, transferred from Colorado State and went through spring practice with the Gators.
Warner joined the team in the offseason and beat out Millen for the No. 3 job during training camp. Behind them on the depth chart are three true freshmen walk-on quarterbacks.
“Aidan and Clay obviously have taken a ton of reps,” Napier said. “Aidan, I would tell you he’s had some really good practices the last couple weeks. I mean, the kids love him. He has got some self-confidence and he’s got arm talent. He cares about Florida. So, we’ll rally around him and go put out ball down in play again next week.”
