Swampcast discusses Florida football offseason, Florida basketball, CFP picks
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway, Andrew Abadie and Noah Ram break down the Florida football offseason, talk Florida basketball and offer some CFP first round predictions.
Florida football coach Jon Sumrall is in the process of transforming UF’s roster to fit his schemes and the program culture in his first year at the helm.
But on a podcast this week, Sumrall made clear that former Florida Gators starting quarterback DJ Lagway wasn’t forced to enter the transfer portal.
Appearing on the Hot Mic Podcast on Outkick.com, Sumrall said that Lagway “is a tremendous young man” and met with him shortly after taking the Florida Gators job on Nov. 30.
“Obviously a talented football player,” Sumrall said, “You’ve seen his good has been really good, I’ve watched it with my own two eyes. Think the world of him. You know, when I met with DJ I said ‘Hey man, this culture is going to be built on toughness and love of football if you fit that great, if you don’t, then that’s not going to be good.’
“I said let’s talk through what this going to look like moving forward. We’d love to have you stay here, if you’re comfortable with some ground rules that are laid out. It was his decision to leave. He was not forced out of here by any stretch of the imagination.”
The 6-foot-3 , 247-pound Lagway announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on Dec. 15. He’s visited Florida State, Virginia and Baylor this week.
After going 6-1 as a starter as a freshman, Lagway struggled through a sophomore season in which he played through shoulder and leg ailments, passing for 2,264 yards with 16 TDs and an SEC-high 14 interceptions. He started all 12 games for UF as a sophomore despite playing banged up.
Following UF’s season-ending 40-21 win over rival Florida State on Nov. 29, Lagway said he wanted to stay at UF.
“I’m for him being successful wherever he goes next, unless we play against him at some point,” Sumrall said. “I’ve had players I’ve coached that have left me, Darian Mensah was my quarterback at Tulane, 2024. I hope Darian Mensah has great success his entire career, unless I coach against him, and I want him to lose.”
Sumrall then pointed out Tulane beat Duke 34-27 last Sept. 13.
“We played against Darian, you know what he did, he lost,” Sumrall said.
Florida signed Georgia Tech quarterback Aaron Philo out of the portal this week, who will compete with returning sophomore Tramell Jones Jr., redshirt junior Aidan Warner and incoming four-star freshman Will Griffin for the starting quarterback job at UF.
Overall, Florida has lost 31 players to the portal, while adding 12 new commitments so far. Sumrall and Florida general manager Dave Caldwell have made it a priority to retain some key players, including linebacker Myles Graham, receivers Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson and running back Jadan Baugh, who reportedly signed a $1.3 million deal with Florida Victorious this week.
“I’m not against guys,” Sumrall said. “I hope DJ ends up in a great situation and he can end up being extremely successful and have a great career. I hate that it didn’t work out here. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to coach him. He just felt like maybe it wasn’t the right fit and we’ve all moved on.”
Calls to Lagway’s representatives seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
