Lagway's Career-High Sets New Low in Gators' Loss to LSU

BATON ROUGE, La.-- Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway was anything but what was expected of him on Saturday against No. 3 LSU.

In Florida's 20-10 loss, which moved the Gators to 1-2 to start the season, the sophomore threw a career-high five interceptions, the most by a UF quarterback since 1992 and the second-most in program history.

"I've never had a performance like that in my life, so it's kind of hard to process it," Lagway said.

2025 has been anything but regular for the former five-star recruit.

After leading Florida to an 8-5 finish in 2024, which included four-straight wins to end the season and a 6-1 record as the starter, Lagway's sophomore season has been riddled with offseason injuries, hype, speculation and now ridicule just three games into the year.

"I know there will be a lot of dialogue and narrative about DJ, and he’ll take complete ownership of the things he can do better, and we all understand that," head coach Billy Napier said. "I do think it’s important for everyone to understand that he’s still a young player. I think it’s important for everybody, and he’s an incredible teammate and he’s an incredible young man, and he works as hard as any player that I’ve been around, and I think that tonight is not indicative of who he is as a teammate, a football player, and a leader on our team."

Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway has had a rough start to the 2025 season. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Throughout the offseason, speculation arose about Lagway's health and availability after he did not throw at all during spring camp, was limited for most of fall camp and did not return to being a full participant in practice until the last week before the regular season.

Still, both head coach Billy Napier, Lagway at SEC Media Day and his teammates expressed their lack of worry for the reps Lagway missed and his physical health, which was marred by a shoulder issue, lingering hamstring issue from 2024, a reported hernia and a calf injury during fall camp.

The lack of reps has shown during the first quarter of the 2025 season. Despite throwing for three touchdowns in the season opener against Long Island, Lagway looked uncomfortable at times as he knocked the rust off, and his performances in the losses to USF last week and LSU on Saturday left even more to be desired.

"I didn't play turnover-free ball, and every time you have five turnovers in a game, can't expect to win," he said.

While the lack of reps throughout the offseason has seemingly hindered his development, neither Lagway nor Napier are using it as an excuse for his performance in 2025, which has seen him throw for five touchdowns against six interceptions through three games.

"I think we all understand the dynamic here. You know, this was his fourth week of full practice. You know, he's had a very unique offseason," Napier said. "He's missed quite a bit of time.  But I would say that what he's going to say to you is that he's not going to use that as a crutch. This is not a young man that's looking for excuses."

Lagway's five interceptions on Saturday were not just astounding because of the sheer number of picks, but also because of when and how they were thrown.

Four of his five picks came on third down, which included an interception late in the first half to set up an LSU field goal, a pick-six midway through the third quarter to give LSU a 10-point lead and an interception thrown into triple coverage in the fourth quarter when Florida was in field goal range.

the knockout punch. 🥊@LSUfootball pic.twitter.com/g9w1GtHNcV
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) September 14, 2025

His fifth and final pick came with two minutes left on a scramble and panic throw across the field.

"Just bad ball placement on a lot of things, bad misread throws, you know, I got to play better," Lagway said. "And like Coach Napier always says, this is a practice sport. You got to practice. You got to play it. You get through it and continue to work and I'll get better."

It is also not like Lagway's performance directly led to a blowout. Florida's defense held LSU to one touchdown, forced the Tigers to go 4-for-14 on third down and only allowed 10 first downs the entire game. The Gators' offense had 76 total plays to LSU's 52.

"Our defense is built to respond. It's built to respond off of turnovers," sophomore linebacker Myles Graham said. "What happens over there has nothing to do with us. So, we have to play to our standard and just keep playing football no matter what happens."

DJ LAGWAY THROWS HIS 5TH INTERCEPTION OF THE NIGHT 😱 pic.twitter.com/iAlaByoqpM
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 14, 2025

Lagway is not the only one to blame, either. Once again, the Gators were plagued by questionable play calling at times while also being held to 2.9 yards per carry. Florida's offensive line had multiple holding calls, one of which negated an 87-yard touchdown pass from Lagway to Jadan Baugh. It is the third penalty to negate a Lagway touchdown in the last two weeks.

Still, his five interceptions will be the stat that both people who watched the game and people who just look at box scores point to.

"He made mistakes, much like we’ve all made mistakes, so one thing I know about him is he’ll take complete ownership of the things that he can do better, and I would say that’s my responsibility," Napier said. "I would think as a leader on offense, helping him, trying to help the players around him play better, try to put him in positions to where he has better options, can make better decisions."

The slate for Lagway, as he looks to turn his season around, will not get any easier. Florida travels to No. 5 Miami next week with the Hurricanes fresh off a dominating performance against USF before a bye week. The Gators then host No. 7 Texas.

"I'm just excited to get back to work, man. I got to get this taste out of my mouth," Lagway said. "I played horrible football today, and I got to do better."

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