DJ Lagway is in his safe space now at Baylor. No one is now flocking to him in classrooms; there’s a full offseason to practice, and the pressure is far less than it was at Florida. But he still has some familiar foes to beat. Lagway is still recovering from his shoulder soreness, a late-season hamstring injury, a calf problem, and a core muscle injury. Becoming the ‘5-star who was promised’ won’t be easy, but Lagway is revisiting his Florida chapter to avoid repeating it.

“It was my first time going through something like that,” Lagway said about his high-profile true freshman buzz at Florida to USA Today’s Matt Hayes. “I’m 19 years old, and the whole team is looking at you like, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m trying to figure it out, we’re all trying to figure it out. There’s a lot of stuff going on at once. I didn’t know how to handle it, and obviously could’ve handled it much better. It’s extremely difficult to fail, and then do it in front of millions of people.”

The best thing about Lagway’s failures is that it won’t go any worse than the 2025 season. He still remembers those 14 interceptions, several pick-sixes, and incompletions as if it were yesterday. The noise of the crowd booing him. The pressure of a $3.7 million NIL-valued deal weighed heavily on him.

Lagway was a standout 5-star QB in the Gators’ 2024 class and was thrust into action after QB1 Graham Mertz’s injury. Despite carrying a shoulder issue since high school, the QB obliterated the defenses of LSU, Ole Miss, and Florida State. In the process, he became Gainsville’s prodigy, as he passed for 1,916 yards. He was the million-dollar homeboy who would finally lead the Gators to their first natty since 2008.

But amid persistent injuries, everything quickly fell like a house of cards. Lagway already was coming off a hamstring injury against Georgia in November 2024, and though he persisted in mind, his body told him otherwise. Entering the 2025 season, he underwent surgery for a sports hernia/core muscle issue and subsequently dealt with his right shoulder problem. Navigating off-season became out of the question, and Lagway says at one point he couldn’t throw more than 10 yards.

“The hamstring was a lot worse than we let on, and my arm was a problem all season,” DJ Lagway said. “There’s a big difference between throwing and throwing in live 11-on-11. That didn’t happen until game week of the first game of the season. You go through an entire offseason, and you know your guys, you know what they’re going to do in specific situations before they do it. That was missing.”

In hindsight, for Lagway, red-shirting the 2025 season would have been pragmatic, and he wishes he could have done it. But he was “handcuffed.” That high-profile NIL contract was breathing down his neck. All while he was living away from campus, alone in an apartment, taking online classes, and going through it all without any meaningful support. For that reason, the former Gators QB also didn’t develop the “bond” with his teammates, which he should have.

“I blame myself for not doing more to build that brotherhood with my teammates,” Lagway added. “But I felt like I was put on a pedestal. I was handcuffed and couldn’t do anything about my (injury) situation. By the grace of God, I got through those games. I don’t know how else to explain it…It was frustrating not being able to be out there and practice and play with my teammates. That was the hardest thing for me.”

The injuries, the mental doubts, and barely practicing in the offseason finally ended any love the Gators had for Lagway. But in reality, he wishes it could have been different. Away from the spotlight, marinating in the offense like a 19-year-old ought to and being just ‘another’ college player. At Baylor now, Lagway is getting just that, and this time he isn’t repeating those mistakes he made at Florida.

DJ Lagway goes the extra mile to develop a granular bond with his Baylor teammates

DJ Lagway has lost $3.6 million in NIL value, which currently stands at just $1.9 million, owing to his 2025 failures. He isn’t the ‘hyped’ QB he once was, and he has a lot to wade through before the 2026 season starts. Currently, he is practicing in Baylor’s spring ball and even shared a positive health update, declaring himself to be in “prime.” Most importantly, though, he is bonding well with his teammates.

Lagway paid for his 15 Baylor teammates, which included 12 WRs, a tight end, and two RBs, to fly to Miami and spend spring break with him. He paid for his teammates’ meals, a private chef, a professional masseuse, and a six-bedroom Airbnb with 20 beds just to get to know them on a “granular” level. They spent spring break throwing, getting to know each other, practicing, and developing the bond that had been missing at Florida for Lagway.

“That bonding is everything,” DJ Lagway said. “The maturation of growing up and taking over a team as a freshman, and not knowing how to lead while going through my own personal battles. To now see it from the outside at 20, and realize how important it really is.”

Now, the former Gators QB is living a more involved life. He is making do with those narrow classroom seats for his 6’3” and 247 lb frame, but skipping classes isn’t an option now. He still has a lot to tread, but the Willis, Texas native is close to his home in Baylor. Not just that, this time he also has “a group of people” he can trust and lean on. It certainly looks like a recipe for redemption.