The Florida Gators are hosting the #21 LSU Tigers in a game where the team could potentially be without their starting quarterback.
DJ Lagway, a former five-star recruit turned starting freshman, recently suffered an injury early in the loss to the Georgia Bulldogs. Lagway was unable to start against the Texas Longhorns last week, giving way to Aidan Warner starting in his place. Lagway has looked impressive at times as a freshman, while Warner on the other hand looks largely unprepared for the college level at this moment.
With Lagway’s injury in mind, the quarterback is still considered to be questionable against the LSU Tigers. However, with a four-point line in favor of the Tigers being shelled out by Las Vegas, it sounds as though some are convinced the quarterback will play.
Injury reports work a little differently in college compared to the professional level, as teams do not necessarily have to be transparent. Some private universities in particular will not reveal any information about player injuries, besides the fact that the player is injured.
In this case, coach Billy Napier has been clear that he anticipates Lagway to “practice everyday” but could not commit to the quarterback being “100%” ready to play. Napier previously confirmed that the quarterback suffered a hamstring injury, and has been considered day-to-day due to the type of injury that occurred.
Napier added that “Soft tissue is a very subjective injury” when speaking about the hamstring injury, and thus could not make a confident assessment of the readiness of Lagway.
Could DJ Lagway Return For the Florida Gators Against the LSU Tigers?
While the chances of Lagway returning this week seem high due to the line, Florida Gators fans should be prepared for Lagway to sit the game out.
As Napier stated, soft tissue is difficult to deal with and hamstrings in particular can often flare up when trying to push things too soon. The Florida Gators need two more wins to earn bowl eligibility, but likely will face a swift loss to the Tigers with Warner as the starter. If Lagway starts and hurts himself again, then the Gators could risk losing the player for much longer.
Clearly, there is not much time left in the 2024 season to lose Lagway for but pushing the quarterback and potentially tearing the already strained hamstring could set his development back. It is important to note that Lagway had been practicing and nearing full speed ahead of the Texas game, but had to be shut down again.
However, many Florida Gators fans seem to believe that Lagway is starting this week due to the close line that was given. While that certainly may factor in, there is still plenty of time for the initial line to change moving forward.
No.21 LSU is favored by four points vs Florida.
That line could change drastically based on the status of DJ Lagway.
— Nick Marcinko (@marcinko_nick) November 12, 2024
That line seems like Vegas thinks Lagway is playing
— Kyle Hinds (@kylehinds55) November 12, 2024
That line is very clearly expecting Lagway to play lol
— Jacob (@jacobwatson678) November 12, 2024
That is the Lagway line. If he isn’t playing, we are 2 TD underdogs
— Bring Back Urban (@BringUrbanBack) November 13, 2024
LSU would be favored by 2 TDs if Lagway wasn’t playing
— Floridahighlights (@gatorhighlight) November 12, 2024
That’s what happened to me last week on a 3TD cover bet when I heard Lagway was practicing. Lol
— Chris Tice (@s0ticey) November 13, 2024
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