Florida football (1-1) captured a much-needed bounce-back victory as they defeated the Samford Bulldogs (0-2), 45-7.
The action in the game started quickly as the Gators’ defense forced a fumble on Samford’s first possession of the game.
Defensive back Jason Marshall Jr. recorded his first career forced fumble for Florida but unfortunately, the Gators would turn it over on downs in the red zone on their first offensive possession.
But as the game progressed, the Gators were able to find their groove.
Freshman quarterback DJ Lagway was the starter for Florida after Graham Mertz was unavailable to play due to a concussion he sustained last week against Miami.
Lights out is an understatement for the way the five-star true freshman played. He looked cool, calm and collected as he was having his way all night with the Samford defense.
Lagway did suffer a big hit in the head late in the second quarter that gave fans a scare, but he was able to come back in the game on Florida’s next offensive possession.
The first completion of the game came via a 77-yard throw to senior receiver Elijhah Badger. That would lead to a one-yard touchdown run by running back Montrell Johnson Jr. to put the Gators on the board 7-0 and give them their first lead of the season.
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Johnson would finish the game with 15 attempts for 67 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Lagway recorded his first collegiate touchdown pass early in the third quarter, throwing a 36-yard strike to freshman receiver Tank Hawkins to give the Gators a 21-0 lead.
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In the fourth quarter, Lagway threw a catch-and-run pass to sophomore receiver Eugene Wilson for 85 yards to blow the game open 38-7 and seal the victory for the Gators.
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Wilson had himself a career game as well. The receiver caught six passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. It was Wilson’s first career game with over 100 receiving yards.
Lagway finished the game throwing for 456 yards and three touchdowns at a 72% (18-for-25) completion rate.
“I thought he (Lagway) was pretty clean,” head coach Billy Napier said about Lagway’s performance. “I think he had a mental error in the first drive and outside of that, overall, he managed it well and played pretty clean.”
Lagway finished the game with the most single-game passing yards in program history by a true freshman, passing the previous record held by Chris Leak in 2003.
“My mindset was to take advantage of the opportunity,” Lagway said after the game. “Go out there and compete…I feel like the preparation that coach (Ryan) O’Hara or coach Napier, even Graham (Mertz), they helped me a lot with just making sure I was prepared so that was good.”
The Gators’ defense looked energized and locked in from the opening snap. Despite being without several key players in their secondary because of injuries, it wasn’t a problem for Florida.
Florida held Samford to just seven points. The Bulldogs had just 205 total yards of offense and had to punt a total of nine times.
Redshirt junior edge defender Tyreak Sapp had a great game defensively. Sapp had five total tackles, 2.5 tackles-for-loss and a sack.
It was a great showing all-around for this Florida football team that needed something positive to happen.
Records were broken, the Swamp was rocking and the Gators are now looking to build on their momentum as they head toward Week 3 of the college football season.
Up next for the Gators
Florida will play at home in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium against the Texas A&M Aggies (1-1) on Saturday, Sept. 14. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ABC.
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