Article: DJ Lagway’s Electrifying First Collegiate Start Leads Florida Past Samford

I love Mertz but I better see Lagway by the third series if we don’t score.

 

The problem with playing DJ against better teams is two-fold (and I am not sure which is the greater concern): the OL or playcalling!

 

I’m only worried about his health. He helps the oline and playcalling isn’t any worse.

 

Better defenses will mean the game gets faster. Will DJ be able to process the action and make the right throws? We may or may not ever know!

 

What team does Langway play for? What OL needs to be approved?

 

C. All the above

 

Wow didn’t know that. Think of all the great QBs that either didn’t do as well or lost to even worse teams. One thing that’s good about numbers and stats, try as you might you can’t argue with them as long as there is a control group we can compare.

 

Others have said we’ve had plenty of quarterbacks close to breaking the record against garbage teams. They weren’t true freshman making their first start though (to my knowledge)

 

I taught him how to type.

 

And neither justifies allowing a talent like Lagway to warm the bench if Mertz has another rough start. FB is a lot like life, it must be dealt with as it comes, not as we would like it to be.

 

There is only way to find out. Making excuses for delaying the inevitable is a recipe for disaster when change is a must.

 

On X, some sports journalists are asking a legitimate question. Napier recently said, "DJ isn’t limited by what he can do (in the offense). We are confident he can do anything in our offensive system." If so, why is DJ not starting? I think BN has reasoned that the game gets much faster with SEC opponents. But, these comments do not sound like DJ is limited. He obviously made some throws into double coverage. In the SEC those would be picks. Nonetheless, I hope DJ gets lots of playing time.

 

And again, he will obviously make some more - especially if he is (according to Will Miles) again instructed to get the ball to Trey as quickly and often as possible - after a clearly peeved Wilson received bupkis for targets in the first half against Samford. Miles also noted that DJ's arm talent and ball placement on the "troubling throws" was such that the defenders had little or no chance at an interception - despite the triple coverage. FTR, DJ will absolutely play like a true freshman, with the concomitant mistakes that all young QBs make - until he gains the game experience to learn from and then eliminate them. I personally believe that DJ will advance rapidly, and that he can already do things as a FR that very few QBs will ever be able to replicate at any point in their career. Leaving him on the bench if GM continues to struggle against A&M would reek of the SS, DD scenario that has become all too familiar in the BN era.

I don't always agree with Will Miles, but he nailed it with his analysis on the need for change coming sooner rather than later. Even with all that, I'm still less adamant about starting him over Mertz on Saturday than Will certainly is. But the idea that the game will "slow down" for DJ, while sitting on the bench, is "scared money" talk and another example of the arch conservatism that has marked the BN era from jump. IMHO, after the opening game disaster against scUM, that included a poor performance from our sixth-year senior QB, Billy is now coaching to save his job on virtually every play until he starts winning some games that actually matter. Any plea for patience with further "process driven" delay in showing tangible progress on the field, with an enormous ace in the hole sitting on bench, will likely fall on deaf ears in very short order if things continue to go south. The future for BN as the HC coach at UF is squarely situated in the "now or never zone" - whether we like it or not. I like and admire Graham Mertz, but DJ is a potential super star quality talent, and he must play as much as possible, as soon as possible if Billy is to survive the '24season. It just is what it is.

 

DJ needs to be an experienced qb that beats fsu at the end of the year.

 

He can always hop on his horse...

 

I have been listening to a podcast and heard this: Lagway wasn't just throwing the ball to an open receiver. He was throwing receivers open. Who would have tried to make that throw to Aiden Mizell for example? Having a quarterback who can make such long passes opens up the short and intermediate passes as well; not to mention the run game. I am not sure how you give Lagway limited plays with that arm and vision.

 

Not beats...pulverizes...we have years of pent up frustration to unleash.