Should DJ Lagway Start for the Florida Gators?

The Florida Gators came into this new college football season on a high after a tremendous recruiting season. With a bunch of new players in the building, and Billy Napier coming into his third season as the Gators head coach, many were finally expecting the Gators to start turning the corner after several years of rebuilding. The Gators do have a brutal schedule this season, but Gator fans are still expecting a much better team than what was on display last year. However, after a demoralizing week 1 loss to Miami 41-17 loss in the Swamp, many are calling for both Billy Napier’s and Graham Mertz’s heads in Gainesville.

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Florida’s offense throughout their home opener was unproductive, to say the least. The two scores Florida managed to get with Graham Mertz under center was a long field goal that was set up by a defensive interception and a breakaway run by Montrell Johnson. Mertz would leave the game due to injury after throwing an interception right before the end of the third quarter. He ended the day throwing 11/20, 91 yards, and 1 INT. At that point in the game, Florida’s offense was 0/7 on third conversions, as they lacked any ability to move the ball down the field with consistency.

Following Mertz’s exit from the game, the highly anticipated, 5-Star Freshman, DJ Lagway, made his debut for the Gators. Over the course of the fourth quarter, Lagway did manage to lead the Gators to its final TD drive of the night as he threw for 31 yards on 3/6 passing along with 20 additional yards on the ground. He would end up throwing an interception on his last drive of the night, but his contribution may be enough to get people talking in Gainesville about who should be the starter for the remainder of the season. Lagway’s dynamic ability is superior to Mertz’s, but Mertz has much more college football experience.

Either way, the Gators are going to have a tough road ahead of them this season with many ranked teams on their schedule. However, they do get a one-game reprieve with Samford next on their schedule. With Florida likely to blowout Samford next week, don’t be surprised if both Mertz and Lagway get snaps. If Mertz struggles and Lagway balls out next week, this may only drive the quarterback controversy to another level.