DJ Lagway Shines Vs Samford

what's going on guys welcome back to uh orange and blue football coverage and right now I'm going to be talking about the game that I saw last night from uh the Florida Gators against Sanford I was actually at the stadium by the way to watch the gator play my first ever home game at um Ben Hill Griffin Stadium so I'm going to um be uploading clips and videos that I took um during my time there the gator walk the halftime performance you know uh the third quarter uh ritual where they're where they're playing Tom Petty Won't Back Down and um the Gator's coming out of the tunnel but in this video I'm going to be talking about what I saw from DJ lagway because that's obviously um the biggest uh point in this video the biggest uh talking point in this video um what I saw from DJ was um what you kind of saw in the spring game a big strong athletic dude with a nice arm uh he has instant he has developed instant chemistry with Elijah badger he has good anticipation on when to throw the ball at the right moment Aiden misel caught a touchdown from him so good for Aiden misel he finally gets a tub uh the Freshman tank or Jer tank Hawkins he got a a touchdown last night so good for him Elijah Badger had a great night with um with DJ lagway and not only did D not only does DJ lagway give you another element to the passing name that gr merch simply doesn't that's no shot towards merch it's just it is is what it is he gives you an element to the uh passing game in terms of deep ball throwing but he also expands The Playbook because I think Billy Napier even now realizes that hey with this dude I can expand my playbook Beyond further than what I can than what I came with gr Merz now gr Merz obviously has the experience but DJ lagway I think you clearly saw what that he just has special talent and Merz is a I'm sure is a good dude off the field but he does not have that special tal you know the athleticism the arm strength the touch the instincts and that's another thing that I saw with DJ like was that he has good instincts good presence in the pocket um he showed that in a in a few plays where he would roll to his um his right or his left give himself a little bit more time and then throw the ball to a receiver in stride he would know how to step up into the pocket to avoid pressure and deliver a deep ball you know he was willing to take chances which I think uh to throw the ball down the field which is what this offense needs because defenses are now just honing in on Billy Napier's uh conservative style of play calling and they're just taking away everything that's short and intermediate and daring them to throw it and bil and and um bilon Na is not diing it up or at the very least is ding out the plays but the quarterback doesn't have enough time so we'll see how that transpart how that translates to the Texas A&M game next Saturday um one thing I want DJ to stop doing is taking unnecessary hits he did it with Miami last week and he's done it with he did it with Sanford uh he got rocked at the end of the first half he was in concussion he was actually in concussion protocol but luckily Florida went a halftime that game so they had more time to work with him and then he snapped out of it and he was back into what he was um doing uh the Run game looked nice Jaden ball got some good reps in the offensive line looked better but it is sford at the end of the day uh the defense had one takeaway but they had a chance to get like three or four of them like there was some strip fumbles that the defensive line and the linebackers couldn't recover there was a couple of chances at an interception one particular by Aaron Gates where if he catches it he had a he had nobody in front of him mean it would have been a clear pick six uh you know you saw LJ McCrae make a very nice tackle for loss beating his man and just you know being a disruptor behind the line of scrimmage you saw good special teams play which hey we don't we haven't we we complained about that all last season but it hasn't been an issue these first two games so the hiring of Joe Houston is a uh is a notch to billon AP Bel that has worked out fine the tackling for Florida seems better I mean even in the Miami game you didn't really see a miss a whole lot of tackles I mean they got beat deep but they didn't miss tackles the tackling is a lot better and a lot improved um Florida had some starters out you know uh Devin Moore and ASA Turner and uh I believe uh uh obviously gr Merc was out they had an another uh cornerback go down Dion Johnson during the game you know um they had some injuries um last night that took some players out uh Sharie dson was out as well so you would hope they maybe they can come back because the SEC SEC play is starting to um begin well for some teams they've already played they're already playing an SEC opponent um so for Billy Napier you need to ride this wave of momentum that DJ lagway is giving you into your games with Texas A&M and Mississippi State both of which are very winnable games uh Texas A&M won last night and I'll talk about the the other college football teams on my other channel Texas a't W against n FCS opponent like Florida did uh Mississippi State got blown out by Arizona State uh but I'll talk about that other words so those are two winnable games right now because both of these teams Mississippi State and Texas A&M have not showed good outings against um FBS programs or even in Mississippi State case a lower level FBS program but uh and power five team but um these are the next two winnable games and if you're bilding a year you got to walk into that first by week with a three in1 record you cannot afford another loss before you even play the UCF game you know you this uh these next two games you got to walk away with victories these are must-win games for you I mean this season already is a must-win scenario for you where you have to win a lot of games to begin with but after that loss to Miami you can absolutely not afford to walk into uh the bye of the first the first bye of the season with losses with two or more losses um and you're only Victory coming against Sanford so you need to put your foot on the gas and I think it you need to start DJ lague I know it sounds like recent C bias I know it's easy to say because what you see against sford but you can see that even up against um other competition you can expand that Playbook further than you can with graham Merz and there's a more danger element in the passing game especially down the field with DJ lague um not just because of his arm time but because of his ability to run grah Merz he can scramble a little bit but he's not going to give you the threat that DJ lague is so um running the ball so the defense is not as stretched out and the defense is not going to you know be so careful to have a spy on DJ lagway they're going to you know practically just let practically just hone in on um covering the receivers and let the front seven go after to Grand Merz but DJ lagway is not going to provide them with that luxury so um and plus let's be honest Billy Billy Napier knows this even though he's not going to admit it he knows deep down um that DJ lagway is probably his best chance of having a job with the Florida Gator in 2025 and coming back next year so I know it's probably not right to put so much on a 18-y old freshman like that but I think DJ lagway deep down knows he is Billy Napier's final lifeline and I actually don't think he Minds it I think he actually Embraces that and I think he would is saying deep down is thinking well man I'm I'm looking forward to the challenge I'm looking forward to that uh he looked absolutely good last night the state the swamp was as crazy as I've ever as um people have told me before it was nuts even for Sanford the crowd noise was insane I could barely talk uh to the people that were um right next to me cuz the crowd was insane the fire the lights the fireworks look good the lighting work uh looked good the fan base was there uh I am definitely visiting more Florida Florida G football games in the swamp uh in uh throughout throughout my life um it may not be another one uh this year may not even be one next year but I definitely have that in the books to uh become a uh regular uh regular uh Patron and regular viewer at their games uh Win Lose or Draw uh I absolutely love the Gators I love the gator since I was a young kid last night was a dream come true I got to see my first ever Florida Gat football game live it's something that I'll take with me for the rest of my life and man it was just so awesome to see go Gators