DJ Lagway Offers Recruitment Insight Before Florida Signing
Photo: DJ Lagway; Credit: Alex Shepherd
Indeed, there was some drama at the end of DJ Lagway's recruitment. A little bit, at least.
Despite his year-plus-long commitment to Florida holding firm in the days before the class of 2024 Early Signing Period, Southern California, Clemson and Texas A&M circled back on the quarterback, as each program's head coach made their final pitch to the consensus five-star prospect just before Dec. 20.
"It was crazy, man. Schools hit me up all day and all night. It came to the last night, you know?" Lagway told reporters at the Under Armour All-America Game media day on Friday. "Coach [Lincoln] Riley, coach [Dabo] Swinney, even coach [Mike] Elko, they put their last thing in and definitely had me thinking until the last second."
Elko of Texas A&M, in particular, made a lasting impression. Having recently taken over the program headquartered roughly an hour west of Lagway's Willis High School, the Aggies' new head coach paid the prospect an in-home visit and shared a message similar to those that Riley and Swinney vocalized.
"They tried to tell me to go where my heart's at, you know what I mean?" Lagway shared. "And I feel like I did."
That place is the University of Florida, Lagway reiterated, where he will move next week after the All-America Game.
Lagway affirmed his commitment to Billy Napier's Gators late on the eve of signing day, after thinking and praying about what a future at UF would look like. He submitted his signed Letter of Intent early the next morning.
The potential to turn the team around after appealed to Lagway, reminding him of the situation he walked into at Willis to an extent. Freshly removed from its third-consecutive losing season, Florida had not previously experienced such consistently poor football results since the 1940s.
"I just see the culture coach Napier is trying to build, you know, and I feel like I've been in this type of situation before at my high school, for instance. We weren't a winning program at all," Lagway remarked.
"I was the first D-1 guy at my school, you know? So, I feel like I'm a program changer, to be honest."
That he certainly was in high school.
Behind the powerful arm and agile legs of Lagway, the Wildkats made their deepest run in the Texas high school state playoffs since 1994, clinching a spot in the regional semifinal, where Willis lost to DeSoto. Lagway completed 72.1% of his passes for 4,604 yards and 58 touchdowns along the way, adding 957 yards and 16 scores on the ground.
In his four-year varsity prep career just north of Houston, Lagway scored 129 times in total.
Florida shares Lagway's sentiment. Napier and Co. voiced as much to their prized pledge as other programs pried to flip the quarterback's commitment.
"They were just letting me know I'm the guy that they see the future with," Lagway said of the Gators. "That's huge for me. I'm gonna go somewhere that I'm wanted. I'm just ready to get to work."
The future, long and perhaps short-term. Another aspect of Lagway's attraction to Florida is the potential to play early in his career, which the coaching staff has suggested could begin with snaps in every game as a freshman.
Lagway believes Napier will craft a scheme and specific gameplans tailored to his skill set, based on his observations of the offenses Florida has deployed around quarterbacks Graham Mertz and Anthony Richardson under Napier's tutelage.
"I see the plan. I see the vision," Lagway said of Napier. "I liked what he did with Anthony Richardson and I'm liking what he's doing with Graham Mertz. So I'm just excited to see how I fit into the offense and just how I can develop in it."
In the end, Florida had everything Lagway was looking for.
"I had to make the right decision for me. Not for anybody else, for me," Lagway expressed. "I feel like the University of Florida was that."
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