Florida football head coach Billy Napier hasn’t “completely ruled out” DJ Lagway for Saturday’s matchup against the Texas Longhorns.
Napier met with the media on Monday and mentioned that Lagway’s injury isn’t as bad as the Gators feared.
“We do think that the injury is less significant than we anticipated,” Napier said on the severity of Lagway’s injury. “We do think there’s a pathway for recovery and a return, and we did find that out yesterday evening.”
Napier went on, “So a lot of good on that front… And he’s (Lagway) been doing well so far this morning, so we have not completely ruled him out, and I think a lot of that will be to be determined as we move our way through the week.”
Lagway suffered a left hamstring injury during the second quarter of Saturday’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs and was forced to get carted off the field into the locker room.
After Saturday’s game, Napier described the injury being “soft tissue”, indicating that there was no severe damage like a tear.
Before exiting the game on Saturday, Lagway had 47 yards passing and 18 yards on the ground, helping the Gators hold a 10-3 lead against the No. 2 team in the country.
Napier credits the doctors surrounding the team and the University of Florida for being the best of the best.
“We are very fortunate that we have a great group of professionals that work with out team,” Napier said. “Dr. (Kevin) Farmer, all of our orthopedics, just in general, through UF Health and locally here, we have access to some of the best. So it’s a really competitive advantage for our players, our staff, really all of our athletic teams.”
While there’s no guarantee that Lagway will be sidelined against the Longhorns on Saturday, Napier and the team will have to see how he progresses as the week goes on. There’ll be a definitive answer on Lagway’s status in a few days.
“Look, it’s gonna be pretty clear cut once we get to Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. So we’ll know.”
If Lagway can’t return on Saturday, redshirt freshman Aidan Warner will serve as the team’s starting quarterback.
What’s next for the Gators?
Florida will go on the road and face the Texas Longhorns in Austin, Texas on Saturday, Nov. 9. Kickoff is set for noon ET and will be broadcast on ABC.
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