It doesn’t matter how it happened, only that it did. And that the long- and short-term future for one of college football’s top young players is now in question.
Shoulder, hamstring and core injuries in his first year in Gainesville, and now a calf injury in fall camp.
“I’m not an injury-prone guy,” Lagway said last month during SEC media days.
Then a left calf strain arrived before the start of fall camp, and now the inevitable is here: when and how could the glass crack again?
Lagway missed time or didn’t participate full-go throughout the entire offseason, multiple injuries not only stalling his development – but also leaving the Gators’ 2025 resurgence in question. In one short year, Lagway’s injury timeline has moved from unlucky to unnerving.
Whether it’s increased level of competition, intensity of training or just plain bad luck, four injuries (two relatively serious) before the start of Lagway’s second season is cause for concern. More problematic: it’s not a long or difficult a jump from calf strain to a much bigger problem.
Especially since we’ve seen it of late among the greatest athletes in sports.
Aaron Rodgers and Tyrese Halliburton dealt with calf strains in the last two years, and both strains preceded season-ending Achilles injuries. Kevin Durant’s Achilles injury in 2019 started with a calf strain, too.
But before we go down that rabbit hole and scuttle the season for a rising star quarterback and a team with College Football Playoff hopes, before we make too much of Lagway wearing a compression wrap on his left calf in practice, maybe he’s not Mr. Glass at all.
Maybe he just got dinged more times than most.
“The whole injury thing, for the most part, is relatively new for me,” Lagway said last month, and he hasn’t spoke to media since. “I feel better than I ever have right now.”
It was last month when Lagway admitted to USA TODAY Sports that the throwing shoulder injury didn’t occur during his breakout freshman season as most believed, but that it was something he dealt with the entire season.
A season in which he won every game he started and finished.
His 6-1 record overall as a starter included a lone loss to Georgia, where he left late in the second quarter with a hamstring injury — with the Gators leading 10-3. Other than that, Lagway’s freshman season (even with modest numbers) was high-level production in the nation’s most difficult conference.
He has had soreness in the shoulder since high school, and has typically used rehabilitation instead of surgery to overcome pain and stiffness. The shoulder injury (and the core injury) forced him to miss throwing in spring practice.
Then the calf injury showed up before fall camp, and despite the soreness, Lagway has been throwing and looks sharper than ever. The only question now: will the calf hold up?
“The guy’s been working hard all summer,” Florida coach Billy Napier said earlier this week. “Certainly, hopefully, he’ll be able to do more and more as we go day-to-day.”
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it’s also all Napier and Florida have to hold. Because with Lagway, Florida is a legitimate threat to reach the College Football Playoff.
Without him – and with sixth-year nomad Harrison Bailey or former walk-on Aidan Warner playing quarterback – the Gators may have problems reaching bowl eligibility.
Earlier this week, former Alabama coach Nick Saban – speaking during his Nick’s Kid’s Foundation event – said five teams could win the SEC this season. One of those teams was Florida.
Even with the uncertainty of Lagway’s health, or the nation’s toughest schedule. Which, frankly, Napier and the team are getting tired of talking about.
Spot the ball, they all say now. Doesn’t matter that the schedule includes games away from Gainesville against Georgia, LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Mississippi, and home games against Texas and Tennessee, Florida played the same schedule last year.
And by the end of the regular season (and with a healthy Lagway), the Gators were playing as well as anyone in the SEC.
There’s a lot to like about this Florida team, one that Napier has patiently and organically built through high school recruiting instead of relying on the crapshoot that is the transfer portal. An experienced and deep offensive line, some of the SEC’s best young skill players and a defense that developed last year with Lagway.
In the six games Lagway started and completed, the Florida defense gave up an average of 13.1 points per game. In the other seven games, the Gators gave up an average of 31.5.
“He makes everyone better,” Napier said. “That’s what rare players do.”
If they can stay on the field.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
