Who is DJ Lagway's backup? Meet Aidan Warner

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — DJ Lagway may have been one of the most popular backup quarterbacks in the entire country but when senior quarterback Graham Mertz went down for the season with an ACL injury, Lagway was promoted to starter. But if Mertz is done for the season and Lagway is the starter, who will backup DJ Lagway? The answer to that question, one that has escaped most of Gator Nation this week, is Aidan Warner.

Who is Aidan Warner? Didn’t the Gators go out and get a transfer in Clay Millen from Colorado State to be the third string to Mertz and Lagway? Who is this new kid?

Warner is a transfer from Yale a son to two Gators, Warner grew up bleeding Orange and Blue in nearby Winter Park. He grew up attending games and his older brother attends the university as well. There was one problem, Warner was small.

“I’m not gonna lie to you man, he was little. He would always have one of the best arms that I would train but he was always the smallest. We’re talking stature with weight and height. He was very small,” Warner’s private quarterback coach Baylin Trujillo told Gators Online. “But I saw some gifts in him. The biggest thing I saw in Aidan was his competitiveness. I guess he obviously always had to prove himself because he was so much smaller than everyone I was training. He always had that competitive edge.”

Trujillo runs BTRU Quarterback Training and has worked with numerous prospects as well as partnered with NFL coaches and former NFL guys like Kurt Warner, Quincy Carter, Kevin Olsen, Greg Olsen, Jeff Blake, Charlie Ward.

Warner always dreamed of playing for the Gators, the team he grew up rooting for but when he entered high school he was around 5’5″ – 5’6″ and played on the freshman team.

That’s when Mother Nature took over. The wait was over for Warner, who shot up to nearly 6’3″.

“It was the weirdest thing,” Trujillo told Gators Online. “In May he was 5’6″ and in August he was 6’4″ (Warner is officially listed at Florida at 6’3″). I’m like this kid looks like a completely different player. His body caught up to his arm talent. I’m telling you, from his junior year at Winter Park, he split time and then eventually took over as a starter. That summer going into senior year he started really blowing up in the 7-on-7 scene.”

Taking the next step

Still, a late bloomer, Warner didn’t have a ton of Power 4 schools sending him offers. He had offers from FAU, UCONN, and some other mid-major programs. He did, however, always have his grades and was accepted into Yale, one of the most prestigious schools in the country, playing football in the Ivy League.

Warner comes from a family of Gators, both his parents are lawyers. At Yale, you’ll get a chance to start for four years and the degree will set you up for life. Warner made the decision to head north to New Haven, Connecticut as an investment for his future after football, more than his football future.

Warner went up to Yale but didn’t win the starting job as a freshman, senior Nolan Grooms, had that job for the Bulldogs. Warner still had that confidence, even while redshirting. He also never let go of his ultimate dream.

“He calls me in the middle of the season and he’s like, coach, I’m killing these guys. It’s very easy for me here,” Trujillo said. “My dream is to be a Florida Gator. I don’t care if it’s a walk-on opportunity.”

Trujillo had built a relationship with the Gators’ staff throughout the years. But with Graham Mertz coming back and DJ Lagway committed, would Florida even be looking for a preferred walk-on quarterback?

Trujillo also trains Noah Grubbs (Notre Dame commit) and Brady Hart (Michigan commit) , who were both being recruited by Florida. When Warner would come home he’d workout with Trujillo’s other quarterbacks and wonder why Florida was recruiting them and not him. He could compete with these guys, maybe he could compete at his dream school.

Trujillo got word from Florida that they were always in need of quarterbacks but that they were pretty happy with DJ Lagway. However, due to circumstances, Florida found themselves with only two scholarship quarterbacks in December. They needed help.

After a redshirt year at Yale, Warner hit the portal. Having a relationship with Ryan O’Hara, Trujillo reached out to the Florida analyst but he also reached out to Miami.

“I reached out to Coach O’Hara and I reached out to Coach Shannon Dawson (UM offensive coordinator), because I’m very close to him,” Trujillo told Gators Online.

Aidan Warner throwing workout that got him a PWO offer

With a decision made to transfer, Trujillo had Warner go through a private workout. Trujillo sent the workout (video below) to both Florida and Miami. Trujillo sent Warner a script of throws to make, which the quarterback did on Yale’s field while someone recorded it. They sent that video to both schools.

Within minutes of sending the video, both O’Hara and Dawson told Trujillo that they were ready to offer Warener a preferred walk-on spot for the fall of 2024.

Warner’s dream was Florida and you can imagine the excitement on the other end of the phone call when Trujillo relayed the news that Florida would like to host him on a visit.

Florida offered the preferred walk-on status on December 30. The family, along with Trujillo, took an unofficial visit on January 3.

The Warner’s and Trujillo sat down with Florida head coach Billy Napier to break down his film. It didn’t take long before Napier paused the tape and told them, Warner could come in and compete.

It was hard for the Warner’s to keep their composure. This was Aidan’s dream, to put on an orange helmet with the script Gators on either side, and here was the head coach telling him, it wasn’t a dream, pinch yourself, you can do this, and here’s the opportunity.

“He committed on the spot,” Trujillo told Gators Online. “He shook Napier’s hand and said I’m coming, I’m going to be a Gator. They announced he committed and transferred there.”

How Warner became Lagway’s backup

Within two weeks of being there, Warner had to do a physical exam. Florida’s medical staff found a tear in Warner’s ACL, a tear that was already there, and was probably there during the taped workout that got him the offer to begin with. In fact, Warner spent more than two months training with Trujillo back in Winter Park on a torn ACL.

That, coupled with Florida adding Clay Millen — a redshirt junior who started 10 games for Colorado State in 2022 — the odds were once again stacked against him.

However, Warner recovered quickly from his knee injury, which required surgery. He was in a position to be the three prior to the injury but nothing was guaranteed.

Warner was back by the end of summer workouts, determined to get that spot back.

“O’Hara is texting me, ‘this guy is jumping leaps and bounds from where he thought he would be,” Trujillo told Gators Online.

Millen was, officially, listed as the third-string quarterback for the season opener against Miami, but Warner found his way to the depth chart for the Samford game, an “or” placed between him and Millen. When the game was out of hand it was Warner, not Millen, who would get into the game.

Warner completed one of his to pass attempts while also rushing for a nine-yard touchdown. It was the culmination of a dream that the 5’5″ freshman in high school had always dreamed of.

“I’ve been very impressed with Aidan. Aidan’s a big guy and has arm talent, very productive high school player, and obviously spent a year at Yale. Yeah, we I think we’ve identified a really good player there,” Napier said of Warner. “He had a good practice today (Monday before Kentucky). Four-point play period I think he went four for four. So it’s going to take him reps as well, right? He’s going to be very much like some of these guys we’ve had in the past that get kind of thrown into the fire, but he’s taking all the reps with the twos, and I think ultimately he’ll get better every day.”

This week, and for the rest of the season, the kid from Winter Park who grew up cheering for Tim Tebow and Chris Leak will play the same role as the people he idolized and he’s just one snap away from being the starting quarterback at the University of Florida.