{"id":62232,"date":"2025-07-13T12:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T12:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62232\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T12:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T12:34:10","slug":"dj-lagways-family-silence-fuels-major-doubt-over-lingering-shoulder-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62232\/","title":{"rendered":"DJ Lagway\u2019s Family Silence Fuels Major Doubt Over Lingering Shoulder Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">What\u2019s the honor that Florida Gators quarterback <strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">DJ Lagway<\/strong> got after the 2024 season? The Messiah of his head coach,<strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\"> Billy Napier<\/strong>. After all, Napier was hanging at the end of the cliff. And it would have required him another flop season to lose his head coaching seat. There entered Lagway, and no one could cook a debut better than that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">In the Gators\u2019 feat against Samford, Lagway left the crowd with only one cheer, \u201cDJ! DJ! DJ!\u201d The quarterback came off with flying colors, going 18-25 with 456 yards, crushing Samford to mere specks of dust. But the Gators\u2019 fans\u2019 luck did not hold out for long. Lagway got limited during the spring practice. The reason? He was still recovering from lingering shoulder and lower body injuries. Now that only a month is left for the 2025 season to pull up the curtains, fans are curious about their favorite quarterback\u2019s health updates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\"><a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MX0HvGXCFZA?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">On the July 12 episode of the Cover 3 podcast<\/a>, <strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">Bud Elliott<\/strong> took this up while discussing with Swamp247\u2019s <strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">Graham Hall<\/strong>. Right now, fans are yet to get an update about whether Lagway is resting or has undergone surgery. His family remaining tight-lipped amidst the looming confusion further adds to the worries. As the Gators insider shared, \u201cThey didn\u2019t say. And I think that comes down to his family\u2019s wishes wanting to protect this quarterback. And obviously that at the next level, they\u2019re going to put you under a microscope and read everything there is about you, and any durability concerns could cause you to drop in the draft. And not saying that we want to look that far ahead, but this is a desire to protect him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p><img id=\"img-tag-node-img-loader-0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/imago767879066.jpg\" fetchpriority=\"high\" style=\"position:absolute;z-index:0;width:100%;height:100%\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"article-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domFigCaptionText__kuHmn\">via Imago<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domFigCaptionText__kuHmn\" hidden=\"\">SPORTS-FBC-FLORIDA-LAGWAY-OS Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, shown Aug. 13 at a Gators practice in Gainesville, was the nation s No. 1 recruit at his position in 2024. Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel\/TNS Gainesville FL \u2013 Florida USA EDITORIAL USE ONLY Copyright: xOrlandoxSentinelx 120628170W StephenxM.xDowellx krtphotoslive944783<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">He further added, \u201cEven everything Billy Napier said was vague, where people got a little bit conspiratorial in a sense, and they were wondering what this actually was. And that\u2019s absolutely fair because there wasn\u2019t much information out there. He did not have surgery. This is something that he\u2019s been dealing with throughout his career. It\u2019s not relatively new.\u201d Lagway was carted off the field against rival Georgia after sustaining a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the rest of that contest and another game after that. However, when it comes to his shoulder issues, it dates back to high school. But they resurfaced during Florida\u2019s spring practice in March.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">The analyst noted, \u201cBy February, they decided that he needed to actually shut it down and continue to recuperate so that when the 2025 season rolled around, he would be as healthy as possible. And it would be more of a pain management type thing. Now, could he potentially have surgery down the line? It\u2019s absolutely a possibility. Obviously, I\u2019m no doctor, and I don\u2019t have his medical files in front of me. But I would assume that if this is something that lingers or is bothering him still at the end of the 2025 season, that they\u2019re going to want to go clean that up and make it so it\u2019s not a long-term issue for him whatsoever.\u201d As per the latest updates, it was some sort of hernia-type issue that has been pestering Lagway.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Around May, Gators fans could find some kind of hope with their quarterback. Napier confirmed that Lagway has amped up his daily practice, making 210 passes a week. While the quarterback\u2019s health update is still kept under wraps, Florida\u2019s fate now depends on the quarterback.<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">Billy Napier\u2019s CFP dreams rest on DJ Lagway\u2019s shoulder<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Even though Lagway fell prey to a hamstring injury, it did not break Lagway\u2019s morale. He came back to lead the team on an impressive four-game winning streak to finish the year. With this, the Gators fans did not miss their starter <strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">Graham Mertz<\/strong>, who took an exit due to injury, making way for Lagway.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Now you know how much hold the quarterback has on Florida\u2019s success. As analyst <strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\">Pat Dooley<\/strong> rightly pointed out, the onus is on Lagway. \u201cMy point is, everybody wants to know about him because everybody also understands Florida is tied in to DJ Lagway. That\u2019s the only way they\u2019re going to have a chance to make the playoffs. That would be what I would say. Florida can make the playoffs if DJ Lagway stays healthy. They can\u2019t if he doesn\u2019t. Pretty simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-article=\"true\">ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"dom-traversal_domPTag__RMrin\">Definitely, DJ Lagway\u2019s health is a crucial factor. However, there are other factors as well that will determine Billy Napier\u2019s CFP fate. And that\u2019s their schedule. As per the College Football News, <a class=\"es-hyperlink-new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.essentiallysports.com\/ncaa-college-football-news-billy-napier-put-in-pivotal-spot-as-dj-lagway-health-question-lingers-for-gators\/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=website_internal&amp;utm_campaign=web_link_4\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">the Florida Gators have the toughest strength of schedule<\/a> ahead of the 2025 season. Going by the rankings of the toughest schedule, they stand at the top spot with a 343.5 strength of rating. That\u2019s when former Gators head coach<strong style=\"margin:0px;display:initial;font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--secondary-font)\"> Urban Meyer<\/strong> chimed in with his take. He has predicted that Florida will grab eight wins this season, which is above BetMGM\u2019s win total line of 6.5 set for UF. Can they roar to eight wins without a fully fit Lagway?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the honor that Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway got after the 2024 season? The Messiah of his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":62233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1635,1444,1641,1637,15621,1638,44665,15787,1318,27493,2941,1317,1315,1316,1619,1647,1633,1618,1645,2954,2955,62,2959,67,132,68,1646,44667,44666,1615],"class_list":{"0":"post-62232","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-12er","9":"tag-1444","10":"tag-am","11":"tag-an","12":"tag-ben","13":"tag-der","14":"tag-djoschaut","15":"tag-floridas","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-fruhling","18":"tag-fusball","19":"tag-ncaa","20":"tag-ncaa-football","21":"tag-ncaafootball","22":"tag-npstrans","23":"tag-nur","24":"tag-quarternback","25":"tag-quer","26":"tag-redaktionelle","27":"tag-schanze","28":"tag-spiel","29":"tag-sports","30":"tag-stadion","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-unitedstates","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-verwendung","35":"tag-vor","36":"tag-wurf","37":"tag-x0x"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114845952510184940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}