Florida Gators Stock Report: Defense Soaring, Third-Down Play Tumbles

The Florida Gators took down rival Florida State, 31-11, to wrap up regular-season play. Billy Napier beats Florida State for the first time after losing by single-digits the first two seasons.

On that note, it’s time for the final stock report of the regular season. Let’s see whose stock is on an upward trajectory and whose is down heading into bowl season.

Stock Up

Florida Gators Defense

We keep finding ways to be impressed with how far the Gators' defense has come since the opening weeks of the season.

In total, the defense had eight sacks, 14 tackles for loss and recovered five fumbles. Outside of two drives, one where the Seminoles fumbled it anyway and the other being a garbage time touchdown, the Gators’ defense ran laps around FSU’s offense.

How they perform in a bowl game could potentially be a real treat.

DJ Lagway

Earlier in the game, Lagway was on his way to the “stock down” half of this report. He started off 1-for-6 on pass attempts. But he rallied. At one point, he completed 8-for-9 and finished 13-for-16 following the rocky start out of the gate.

The interception wasn’t on him. That was on wide receiver Marcus Burke - who he eventually found in the end zone for one of his two touchdowns.

Lagway had some rough throws. He overshot his receivers a few times. But he stayed composed - outside of rightfully letting Burke know what he thought about the pick - and that helped him get settled in and have himself a solid finish to the night.

Montrell Johnson Jr.

Johnson averaged his best yards per carry on the season (9.9). He rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown with the score coming on a 65-yard run. That touchdown put to bed any remaining scares of Florida dropping this game.

A solid final rivalry week to wrap up the final regular season play of his college career.

Stock Down

The Gators Third Down Performance

Seeing that they went 5-for-13 (38%) on the stat sheet already is bad enough. Somehow that doesn’t even tell the whole story of how poor the Gators’ performance was on third down. At one point, they were 2-for-8. The Gators could have seriously run up the score much further if they could have kept the drive alive a few more times.

Marcus Burke

Did he redeem himself a bit because he caught a touchdown? Yes, by default. But he owed Lagway that touchdown catch.

That miscue that led to an interception was a rough scene. Against a more formidable opponent, that could have been costly. On top of that, he only had 18 receiving yards on three catches. Stock down.