Everything Baylor Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital said about DJ Lagway
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Baylor football's offensive coordinator, Jake Spavital, recently interviewed with Baylor Athletics and had a lot to say about how quarterback DJ Lagway is looking with week 1 of college football less than a month away. Here is what stuck out.
On his command and demeanor
Spavital said he's "throwing so many uncomfortable positions" at Lagway to see what he is capable of, and he is "handling it well."
Who knows how many of these uncomfortable positions Lagway will get in this season with the current state of the offensive line. The Florida transfer will need to learn how to operate outside of the pocket and make his own plays.
"I love his command. I love his presence. I love the communication that he has," said Spavital.
Where he needs to improve
The offensive coordinator also had some criticisms about Lagway. The signal caller had some tough sledding during his tenure at Florida, and not everything about the transition to green and gold will be easy.
Spavital says that Lagway sometimes "goes back... to what he learned at Florida," instead of falling back on the "spread air raid" system Baylor uses.
Importance of confidence
When asked where he wants to see DJ grow most in the coming weeks, Coach Spavital answered, "Confidence... when he plays confident, I think he's one of the best quarterbacks I've seen."
Spavital also said Lagway "gives life to this offense" when he plays freely and confidently. He truly believes a confident DJ "elevates everybody around him."
"There's no question the confidence we have in [Lagway]," said Coach Spavital. "He's going to go make that game-winning drive and go make that play."
Not only is confidence important for Lagway, but for the rest of the team as well.
"He gives everyone a hope and confidence around here that we can go out and execute at an extremely high level."
Comfort level and freedom
Spavital says he and Lagway are "getting more comfortable" with each other day by day.
If these two can trust each other and lead in their respective roles, it will surely do wonders for the rest of the offense. If Coach Spav and Lagway are comfortable, it will ease everyone around them.
DJ echoes this in his own interview: "Yeah, I feel much more comfortable with Coach Spavital, just his freedom he allows me to play with and things like that. So, I feel very comfortable."
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Bennett is an undergrad student at Baylor University, studying journalism on the sports track. He is from the DFW area and grew up playing and watching sports, which inspired him to pursue sports writing.
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