Lagway’s less of a mystery, but unknowns remain for Florida football after Orange and Blue game

Let history note that at 1:27 p.m. on Saturday, Gator fans got their first real glimpse of Florida’s football future.

Now it’s time to put the DJ Lagway fever dreams back in the box of reality.

The freshman showed that he might someday be all he’s cracked up to be. That day won’t be August 31, however, when Miami comes to Florida Field.

It won’t be any of the following 11 Saturdays of football this fall. The Gators’ 2024 season will not succeed or fail based on how the freshman from Texas performs.

That’s been the party line out of Florida’s football office since Lagway arrived. But it bears repeating, since he was the main attraction at the Orange and Blue game.

For proof, all you had to do was look at the field an hour after the game ended. There was still a line of fans almost 50 yards long waiting to get to the quarterback table where Lagway was signing autographs.

“Gotta love Gator fans,” said starting QB Graham Mertz.

He was also there, merrily signing away. The wait might have been tedious, but fans have gotten conditioned to that when it comes to UF spring games.

Last year’s final was 10-7, the lowest scoring Orange and Blue affair ever. Saturday’s final was a slightly more entertaining déjà vu.

Trey Smack kicked a 37-yard field goal as time ran out to give the Blue a 19-14 win. Or was it 19-17?

That’s what the scoreboard said. The Orange team was spotted three points after winning an overtime scrimmage in last Thursday’s practice.

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That added another small element of confusion to the day’s proceedings. Spring games are always sort of mysterious, especially when a program that is still trying to find itself.

Last year, the defense had nine sacks and allowed 17 points. By November, the offensive line was still giving up nine sacks a game, but the defense was giving up 17 points per quarter.

My memory may be a little off on the specifics, but you get the idea. Making definitive statements about the fall based on a spring intrasquad scrimmage is a fool’s errand.

That said, I’m pretty confident you won’t look like a total fool drawing a few conclusions:Florida defense will be better. It couldn’t get much worse, of course. But added experience and depth should help UF avoid nightmares like they encountered at LSU and Kentucky.

• Tre Wilson will be in the NFL in 2025. But for 2024, the rising sophomore will be zipping through SEC secondaries.

“We’re going to get our money’s worth out of Tre Wilson,” Billy Napier said. “I can tell you that.”

• Miami will not spot UF a three-point lead in the season opener.

• UF’s special teams might still step on a rake at any time. There were 10 men on the field for the first extra-point attempt.

On the bright side, Smack made all four of his field goal attempts. On the not-so-bright side, his backup, Hunter Smith, was 0-for-3.

• The fact Florida had to try seven field goals Saturday was also problematic. Having drives die in the red zone is no way to win in the SEC.

“That will be part of the lesson from the spring game,” Napier said. “It’s one of the reasons we play a spring game.”

Which brings us back to the quarterback situation. Lagway’s had a solid spring for a kid who could still be in high school, but you never know how a kid like that will react in his first semi-real game. Napier got an inkling last Thursday, when Lagway led the Orange team to that overtime win in practice.

“He kind of flipped the switch,” Napier said. “You could see that competitive spirit a little bit.”

You saw it again Saturday, along with a live arm and scrambling ability. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 173 yards and two TDs, and never seemed overwhelmed by the moment.

“He’s developing nicely,” Napier said.

He is, but Mertz is already there. He may not sign as many autographs as Lagway this fall. But whatever the story of 2024 turns out to be, Mertz will be the author.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on X @DavidEWhitley