Most 19-year-olds at UF spend their first semester wandering around campus trying to find their classes, struggling to find a club to join or a favorite place to eat. However, freshman running back Jadan Baugh and freshman quarterback DJ Lagway have been tasked with a much more unique circumstance.
For the first time in Florida football history, two true freshmen started in the backfield for the Gators on Saturday. By the time the final whistle blew, nearly 90,000 fans at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium had just finished rabidly cheering loud enough to make your ears ring.
Florida’s 48-20 victory against Kentucky was largely connected to the positive impact that Lagway and Baugh produced. Perhaps more important for the Gators, however, was the reassurance that UF head coach Billy Napier received.
“We had a vision for what they could accomplish here,” Napier said, “[as a] person, student and player, and a ton of people contributed to that. Both come from great families. Both have humility. Their work ethic is second to none.”
Although the aforementioned 90,000 fans get the chance to watch Lagway and Baugh perform nearly every week, there’s an immense amount of time and effort spent behind the scenes on the practice field and in the facility as Florida prepares for its opponents.
But if you ask Lagway where his motivation and faith come from to compete at a high level, you’ll find a deeper meaning than just throwing touchdown passes or winning football games.
“As a kid, I've always been taught what God gives, he can also take,” Lagway said. “I just definitely stay humble and give God all the glory because without him I'm nothing. That's just the biggest thing with me.”
Lagway has also attributed his instant success for the Gators to the man he replaced as the starting quarterback. In the third quarter of Florida’s game against No. 7 Tennessee, redshirt senior quarterback Graham Mertz tore his ACL, all but ending his college football career.
Mertz has played an invaluable role in Lagway’s progression within the program since the latter arrived on campus in January. Lagway has absorbed the knowledge like a sponge, soaking in tips and guidance from Mertz both on and off the field.
“Graham is the best thing that could ever happen to me,” Lagway said. “Him being here, just learning from a veteran player himself, it's been amazing to learn and to see how to do things right. He's a true professional, and that's what I want to be when I get older.”
Veteran players passing down their knowledge seems to be a recurring theme for the newfound duo of Baugh and Lagway. UF senior running back Montrell Johnson Jr. also went down with a lower-body injury against the Volunteers on Oct. 12.
In his debut as Florida’s starting running back, Baugh tied UF’s all-time single-game rushing touchdown record, finding the end zone five times against Kentucky. After his performance, he wasted little time showing homage to Johnson Jr.’s role in his development as a player.
“Hats off to Montrell,” Baugh said. “He brought me in and put his arms around me and told me I'm a good player, but I got to keep working. So him being the leader in that room just makes me better and the rest of the guys around me better.”
Baugh’s recruiting process in high school was a peculiar one. He originally committed to play football at the University of Arkansas on Dec. 18, but just two days later, he flipped and signed his National Letter of Intent to Florida.
The Atlanta native acknowledged how the close-knit relationship he shares with the people who have been there every step of the way in his recruiting process played a major role in his decision to join the Gators.
“Being somewhere that I knew could take care of me and my family,” Baugh said. “That played a big part [in] being close to my brothers. So that really sealed the deal for me. Florida had a plan when I came up here on my official visit. They had a plan for me and my family.”
However, Baugh also noted that it wasn’t just immediate family that played a significant role in flipping his commitment from Arkansas to Florida.
“I knew that DJ was here,” Baugh said. “It kind of gave me more confidence that I wanted to be here, too. I knew the player he was, and he showed it [Saturday], and he [has] been showing it really the whole season.”
Complacency in sports can be detrimental to a team that is looking to build momentum after a big win. This rings especially true for a Florida program that is trying to get back to a championship status that it hasn’t reached in over a decade.
It’s a narrative that Baugh and the team as a whole are well aware of. Despite the 259-yard passing performance by Lagway that amounted to a 28-point victory on Saturday, the Gators still have plenty of room for improvement.
“He played very good,” Baugh said. “But it's always [about] improvement, and we as a team can improve. DJ been showing it the whole time he been here. Ever since we got here he been telling me this is going to be something we can do, and we can change Florida back to what it was.”
For the Gators (4-3, 2-2 SEC), the job is far from finished. Florida will need to win at least two of its final five games to qualify for bowl eligibility. But with the high-flying offense displayed by Lagway and Baugh against Kentucky, this goal could be more achievable than it has seemed all season.
“They're already real professionals at the age they're at being a freshman,” UF junior cornerback Devin Moore said. “So just seeing that, seeing all the hard work they put in, there is no other choice but for it to translate on the field.”
Contact Max Tucker at mtucker@alligator.org. Follow him on X @Max_Tuckr1.
Max Tucker is a junior transfer student at UF. After obtaining his A.A. in Journalism from Santa Fe College in 2023, he chose further his education at Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. Max is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a specialization in sports and media. He enjoys golfing and going to the beach with his friends in his free time.
