SEC Football This Week: Is There Hope For Billy Napier At Florida? Maybe With New QB

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Embattled Florida coach Billy Napier started slow this season and could well be in reverse soon amid the toughest schedule in college football.

He is potentially on the firing block in just his third season after leaving major success at Louisiana-Lafayette. Napier is coming off a 5-7 mark last season and was 6-7 in 2022 with a pair of 3-5 ledgers in the Southeastern Conference. Napier lost his opener to No. 19 Miami at home, 41-17, on Aug. 31. And his starting senior quarterback Graham Mertz hit just 11 of 20 passes for 91 yards and an interception.

But because Mertz suffered a concussion in that game, he missed the next one Saturday against Samford, and Napier had to go with true freshman DJ Lagway full throttle.

Make that freshman sensation DJ Lagway, the No. 1 high school quarterback in the nation last year at Willis High in Willis, Texas – just north of Houston. Somehow, Napier got Lagway to come to a dying program – three straight losing seasons and four over the previous seven years – over more successful programs of late, such as USC, Clemson, Oklahoma and LSU.

“My mindset was to take advantage of my opportunity,” Lagway said after he led the Gators to a 45-7 win over Samford. And he did just that, completing 18 of 25 passes for a Florida freshman quarterback record 456 yards – 25 yards a completion – and touchdowns of 36, 41 and 85 yards. He broke the record of 268 yards by Chris Leak in 2003 against Kentucky.

It was just 38-point underdog Samford, but Lagway (6-foot-3, 239 pounds) did complete six passes of 30 yards or more. Florida had just 14 of those last year with Mertz starting.

“He is what we thought he was. Accurate, right in stride,” Napier said.

Lagway even played well in the disastrous Miami game, directing the Gators on a nine-play, 58-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. He completed 3-of-4 passes on that possession for 31 yards and had a 16-yard run.

“Oh, man, I love that kid,” said Florida junior defensive end Tyreak Sapp, a nephew of former Miami Hurricane and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp. “Honestly, I wasn’t even surprised. He carries himself like a starting quarterback.”

And that could happen Saturday when the Gators (1-1) host Texas A&M (1-1) at 2:30 p.m. central on ABC. Mertz was expected to pass his concussion protocol in time for the game, and he is considered the starter. Napier has said he will play both quarterbacks, but he has to consider starting Lagway or playing him more than Mertz.

Should Lagway’s playing time increase over the next few weeks and he stays healthy and becomes or stays as the stater, he will have a baptism of fire at No. 7 Tennessee on Oct. 12, versus No. 1 Georgia in Jacksonville on Nov. 2, at No. 2 Texas on Nov. 9, and home games against No. 16 LSU and No. 5 Ole Miss on Nov. 16 and 23.

SEC SCHEDULE

No. 4 Alabama at Wisconsin, 11 a.m., FOX; No. 16 LSU at South Carolina, 11 a.m., ABC; No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri, 11:45 a.m., SEC Network; Texas A&M at Florida, 2:30 p.m., ABC; Tulane at No. 15 Oklahoma, 2:30 p.m., EPSN; UAB at Arkansas, 3:15 p.m., SEC Network; No. 5 Ole Miss at Wake Forest, 5:30 p.m., the CW; Vanderbilt at Georgia State, 6 p.m., ESPN+; Texas-San Antonio at No. 2 Texas, 6 p.m., ESPN; New Mexico at Auburn, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2; Toledo at Mississippi State, 6:30 p.m., ESPNU; No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky, 6:30 p.m., ABC; Kent State at No. 7 Tennessee, 6:45 p.m., SEC Network.

THE GUILBEAU POLL

1. Ole Miss (2-0). 2. Texas (2-0). 3. Georgia (2-0). 4. Alabama (2-0). 5. Tennessee (2-0). 6. Missouri (2-0). 7. Oklahoma (2-0). 8. LSU (1-1). 9. Texas A&M (1-1). 10. South Carolina (2-0). 11. Vanderbilt (2-0). 12. Kentucky (1-1, 0-1). 13. Auburn (1-1). 14. Florida (1-1). 15. Mississippi State (1-0). 16. Arkansas (1-1).

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“You’re not finding very many effective offensive lineman in the portal. It is not a high transfer position. They need to be in the program a while. You have to be patient. You have to invest time in them at a young age, and grow them because they’re not typically physically ready in the first year.”

-Georgia coach Kirby Smart on the NCAA Transfer Portal, which should be frequently called the NCAA Backup Portal.

BS QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Certainly, that was a team that was tired.”

-LSU coach Brian Kelly after struggling with Nicholls State at 23-21 in the third quarter before pulling away for a 44-21 win. Tired? It was the second week of the season, and these are 18-to-22-year-old kids who recover in a snap. And this was FCS school Nicholls!!

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Glenn Guilbeau

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