Florida’s primetime contest against Kentucky marked the first time in program history that the Gators started a pair of true freshmen at both quarterback and running back.
With redshirt senior signal caller Graham Mertz out for the season with a torn ACL and senior running back Montrell Johnson Jr. sidelined with a lower body injury, the Gators were forced to turn to backup freshman quarterback DJ Lagway and freshman running back Jadan Baugh to carry the load.
Moreover, the two rising stars delivered – and in a major way.
In what many touted as a must-win game for Florida (4-3, 2-2 SEC) to maintain its path to bowl eligibility, the Gators came away with a massive 48-20 victory against Kentucky (3-4, 1-4 SEC) at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday.
Lagway and Baugh accounted for over 75 percent of Florida’s offense, with the true freshman duo in the backfield picking up 365 of UF’s 476 yards.
“We had a vision for what they could accomplish here, person, student and player, and a ton of people contributed to that,” UF head coach Billy Napier said. “For Jadan Baugh to observe Montrell Johnson since January, for DJ Lagway to observe Graham Mertz, that impacted tonight as much as anything.”
In the days leading up to Florida’s contest against Kentucky, questions remained unanswered regarding Lagway’s ability to compete against a high-level SEC defense. As soon as he took to the field, however, Florida’s freshman signal caller made it clear that he was ready for the bright lights of SEC play.
After starting the game with a 13-yard first down scramble, Lagway found sophomore wide receiver Eugene Wilson III on a perfectly placed 40-yard lob down the middle of the field. From there, the Gators’ offense stalled out, but Florida still managed to get on the board first, via a 29-yard field goal from junior kicker Trey Smack.
Lagway continued to use his legs on a 22-yard run down the left sideline late in the first quarter to flip the field for the Gators.
Nevertheless, Florida’s offense fizzled out in the red zone once more to start the second quarter. The Gators were forced to settle for another short field goal. Smack sailed his 33-yard attempt through the uprights with ease to extend UF’s lead to 6-0.
As Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was amid a frenzy, Kentucky struck right back on the following drive. UK redshirt freshman running back Jamarion Wilcox broke off a 25-yard run to put the Wildcats in UF territory. Two plays later, junior quarterback Brock Vandagriff found a wide open receiver down the field in junior wideout Barion Brown.
Brown reeled in Vandagriff’s pass and cruised into the end zone on a 45-yard touchdown strike. The score remained tied at 6-6 following a missed point after attempt from UK senior kicker Alex Raynor.
Meanwhile, Lagway continued airing it out to keep Florida’s offense pushing. After throwing three straight incompletions to open the second quarter, the freshman signal caller hit senior wide receiver Elijhah Badger in stride on a 50-yard deep ball up the middle.
The big gainer set up a touchdown carry for Baugh on the very next play, giving the Gators a 13-6 advantage with 8:15 left in the first half.
From there, pandemonium ensued for both squads. The next three drives all ended in turnovers.
Following Baugh’s touchdown, Vandagriff threw a third-down pass up the middle that was intended for junior tight end Jordan Dinkle. The ball was tipped by two separate Florida defenders before landing in the arms of redshirt senior defensive back Trikweze Bridges near midfield.
Two plays later, Lagway gave the ball right back to the Wildcats. The freshman quarterback looked to find senior wideout Chimere Dike on a deep ball in opposing territory, but Kentucky senior defensive back Kristian Story cut the route off and came away with the pick.
Story took his interception all the way back to UF’s 11-yard line, giving Kentucky a prime opportunity to even the score. However, the Wildcats were stuffed on four consecutive runs near the goal line to give the Gators possession once more at their two-yard line.
Baugh opened Florida’s next drive with a 27-yard run up the middle. Lagway returned the favor on the very next play, finding Badger on a 58-yard bomb in between the numbers to flip the field for Florida once more.
“From the start of the play, I just see one-on-one,” Badger said. “DJ, he made his choices tonight, and I think he threw the ball well… The post was kind of crazy. He posted it right on the basket.”
Baugh put the Gators back on the board with his second touchdown carry. The freshman running back bobbed and weaved through the Wildcats defense en route to a 10-yard carry into the end zone to extend Florida’s lead to 20-6 with 2:10 remaining before halftime.
As Vandagriff looked to spark a quick drive for the Wildcats to end the half, he threw another ill-fated deep ball that was picked off by UF junior defensive back Devin Moore. Moore took it back to the UK 1-yard line, which in turn set up Baugh’s third touchdown of the first half.
Not to be outdone, Brown took the subsequent kickoff from his own 1-yard line for a 99-yard kick return and his second touchdown of the game. Florida and Kentucky had gone from a punt-off to scoring three combined touchdowns in a 47-second span. However, Florida still held on to a 27-13 lead heading into halftime.
Vandagriff and the Wildcats came back out firing to open the second half. Facing a 4th-and-1 early in its opening drive, the Kentucky signal caller found junior tight end Josh Kattus on a short pass to the left that turned into a 21-yard gain and a fresh set of downs.
Two plays later, the Wildcats crossed into the red zone on a 19-yard completion to junior wideout Fred Farrier II. UK eventually found the end zone on a goal-line dive from backup junior quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, cutting Florida’s lead to 27-20 with 8:34 remaining in the third quarter.
Lagway immediately responded with some high-flying action of his own, finding Dike on a pair of deep passes that went for 23 and 44 yards. After Lagway juked his way through Kentucky’s defense to put Florida just in front of the goal line, Baugh finished the job by jumping over the defensive line for a 1-yard touchdown.
With just over eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, UK was trailing 34-20. Vandagriff completed a pair of first-down passes to put Kentucky in UF’s territory. Nevertheless, a timely pass breakup on 4th-and-11 by redshirt freshman defensive back Aaron Gates stopped the Wildcats right in their tracks.
On the subsequent drive, Lagway hit Kentucky with a dagger on a 40-yard dot down the left side to put the Gators in the red zone.
From there, Baugh broke out for another 16-yard carry before securing his fifth touchdown of the night on a 1-yard carry to increase Florida’s lead to 41-20 as time began to wind down in the fourth quarter. With the score, Baugh tied Florida’s all-time single game rushing touchdown record.
“[This performance] gives me confidence, but also gives my team confidence too,” Baugh said. “We know we could have [done] this as an offense and a defense. Like, the defense played great today. That gave us the opportunity on offense to do what we did today.”
Things only got worse for Kentucky. UK freshman third-string quarterback Cutter Boley threw a short pass on a route that was jumped and intercepted by UF sophomore cornerback Cormani McClain. McClain proceeded to waltz into the end zone for a 25-yard pick six.
Florida’s sideline rushed onto the field and mobbed McClain in the end zone to celebrate, in turn drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the entire team. Needless to say, not a single player on the field or the sideline was phased by the call.
“I think everybody [saw] all the flags thrown up,” Badger said of the play. “I was on the field for sure, and I’m offense.”
The Gators cruised to the finish line until the clock struck triple zeros. UF backup redshirt freshman quarterback Aidan Warner entered the game late in the fourth and punctuated the win with a 20-yard completion to redshirt junior wideout Taylor Spierto. UF redshirt senior running back Cam Carroll, who had not played since transferring to UF in 2023 due to a recurring knee injury, ran out the clock with back-to-back carries to seal the win for the Gators.
Nonetheless, the Gators did not leave Saturday’s contest unscathed. Senior cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. left the game in the third quarter with an apparent shoulder injury. After a brief trip to the locker room, he reappeared on the sideline in street clothes, sporting a sling on his right arm.
When asked about the potential severity of Marshall Jr.’s injury, Napier said Florida will provide an update on his status in “another 10 days or so” upon returning from its bye week.
Even with a daunting schedule ahead, Napier remains optimistic in what his squad can bring to the table going forward.
Florida will next take on No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 2 at Everbank Stadium in Jacksonville at 3:30 p.m.
“I think we’ve been through the grinder a little bit, beat up a little bit,” Napier said. “This open date comes at a good time, and in this league, you better have depth down the stretch .”
Contact Jack Meyer at jmeyer@alligator.org. Follow him on X @jackmeyerUF.
Jack Meyer is a fourth-year journalism major and the Assistant Sports Editor for The Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys reviewing music, spending time with friends, playing video games and going to the gym.
