DJ Lagway is gearing up for his second season playing for Billy Napier at Florida, but it did not always look like that would be the case.
Napier entered 2024, his 3rd season in Gainesville, on the hot seat. Amid a rough start to the season, it looked like Napier might not finish the 2024 campaign. In a recent podcast appearance, Lagway said the hot seat chatter motivated the Gators to finish strong.
“That was definitely motivation because I feel like they were disrespecting our coach and disrespecting us, genuinely,” Lagway said on Outta Pocket with Robert Griffin III. “So we had to go out there and show them what we had. Obviously, it took some bumps in the roads, a lot of ups and downs this year.
“But I feel like, at the end, we kind of pulled it all together and figured it out. Hopefully, we can put that momentum to the 2025 season.
Napier faced a grim outlook after a 1-2 start with blowout losses at home to Miami and Texas A&M. The situation became uncertain when starting QB Graham Mertz was lost for the season due to an injury in the Tennessee game.
Following a loss to Georgia in which Lagway left early due to injury, the Gators were 4-4 amid what the toughest stretch on the schedule. On Nov. 7, 2 days before a road game at Texas, athletic director Scott Stricklin announced Napier would be returning for the 2025 season.
Florida, without Lagway, lost 49-17 to the Longhorns in Austin, falling to 4-5 on the year. Lagway and the Gators, though, then went on a 4-game winning streak to close out the season, defeating then-No. 21 LSU 27-16, then-No. 9 Ole Miss 24-17, Florida State 31-11 and Tulane 33-8.
The streak gave the Gators an 8-5 finish, hitting the over on the preseason Las Vegas win total. The record, though, was still well below program standards. Even with the strong finish to 2024, Napier is only 19-19 in 3 seasons.
Lagway mentioned the Gators having some momentum heading into 2025. Florida will face the same conference foes this fall, but expectations are higher with the Gators being included in many way-too-early top 25 rankings for 2025. We’ll see how things go, as there’s still plenty of pressure on Napier to deliver more wins.
NEW: DJ Lagway revealed how Florida used Billy Napier hot seat talk as motivation last season😤
“That was definitely motivation because I feel like they were disrespecting our coach and disrespecting us, genuinely.”
(via @OuttaPocketRG3) https://t.co/YfSSE7H1KZ pic.twitter.com/aN0i87i0za
— On3 (@On3sports) March 4, 2025
