Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway is surrounded by reporters on Wednesday at the SEC Football Media Days.
Mindset Shift: Gators in College Football Playoff? Lagway, Late-Season Surge Has Boosted Confidence
Friday, July 18, 2025 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Gators defensive lineman Caleb Banks and a customer at the Valero Fast Track store in Forsyth, Ga., about 80 miles south of Atlanta where Banks joined teammates DJ Lagway and Jake Slaughter on Wednesday afternoon at SEC Media Days, have high expectations for Lagway in the sophomore quarterback's second season.
Banks, situated across the room when Lagway strolled toward a horde of reporters waiting for him at the College Football Hall of Fame on Wednesday, remarked about the hoopla as Lagway made his entrance in a stylish dark suit.
"There he go,'' Banks said. "Look at him. He's got a little moshpit."
In the wake of Lagway's first visit to the league's marquee offseason event, a pair of men dressed in casual business attire waited in line at the convenience store the next day when a customer wearing a Gators T-shirt entered and stepped in line behind them. The man at the counter, unaware of the newest customer, was in the midst of a glowing assessment of Lagway to his colleague.
"DJ Lagway is the man,'' he said. "If he didn't get hurt last year, we would have beaten the Bulldogs. He's taking us back to the top."
At that, the other man informed the unofficial president of Lagway's fan club that he might have a friend behind him. He quickly turned.
"Where are you from,'' he asked.
"Gainesville,'' the new customer replied.
"You know what I'm talking about, then."
The exchange on a midsummer July afternoon served as a reminder of how the Gators, coming off their first winning season under head coach Billy Napier, are considered by many as a candidate to make the College Football Playoff.
Gators defensive tackle Caleb Banks joined teammates DJ Lagway and Jake Slaughter at Wednesday's SEC Media Day in Atlanta. (Photos: USA Today Network)
Napier has noticed the shift in perception ahead of his fourth season leading the program.
"There's a little something different in the air right now in Gainesville," Napier said.
Banks is a believer. He watched as Lagway took over for injured starter Graham Mertz last season and led the Gators to six wins in his seven starts, including a four-game win streak after Lagway returned from a hamstring injury that cost him half the Georgia game and Florida's loss at Texas.
Banks understood why the crowd around Lagway was significantly larger than the ones around him and Slaughter when they entered the main media room. Lagway's performance rejuvenated a fan base and a team.
"We believed in him as a player,'' Banks said. "We didn't hesitate, like, 'will DJ be able to get the job done?' We knew he would be able to do it. He holds a very high standard for himself and he is a very confident player."
The surge in optimism around the Gators is directly related to Lagway and the team's turnaround a season ago after a 4-5 start that including lopsided home losses to Miami and Texas A&M that put Napier on the hot seat until UF athletic director Scott Stricklin delivered a vote of confidence prior to the Texas loss.
The Gators responded down the stretch, defeating LSU and Ole Miss at home before a road win at Florida State and a victory over Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl, Napier's first bowl victory since taking over the program following the 2021 season.
Napier took the stage at SEC Media Days and picked up right where he left off at the end of last season.DJ Lagway signs an autograph for a young fan. (Photo: Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
"We got a chance to have a really, really good football team that can put the ball down and play with any team in the country,'' Napier said. "I'm confident that our best is good enough to get it done. This group believes in what we do. I think that's where we really took a big step in the right direction. We found a level of confidence that we could go toe to toe with any team in the country, any place. They have been through some battles."
The Gators are projected to open the season ranked in the AP Top 25, which would be a first during Napier's tenure. Meanwhile, the SEC media picked the Gators to finish sixth in the conference on Friday, with veteran offensive linemen Slaughter and Austin Barber earning first-team nods. Banks was a member of the second team.
To turn non-believers into believers, the Gators must do it on the field. Florida has never earned a berth in the College Football Playoff since the format's inception in 2014, and with the CFP expanded to 12 teams a year ago, there is talk this could finally be the year.
Lagway, who threw for 1,915 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions as a freshman, is eager to prove doubters wrong about the Gators. Does he see the Gators as a CFB team?
"For sure. I definitely think we are a playoff team,'' he said. "We've just got to go out there and play ball and prove it to ourselves."
Banks downplayed the question, but you didn't have to be a mind reader to decipher he has high hopes. He is ready to "spot the ball," a mantra the team developed late last season that helped in its turnaround.
"It's a mindset thing,'' Banks said. "We all believe in Coach Napier. We believe in everything he's done for us. He puts us in a great position every single day. [The CFB] is not really anything even to discuss right now. We're keeping it present, keeping our feet on the ground where we are right now."
What would a trip to the College Football Playoff team to veteran center Jake Slaughter? "That would be incredibly special,'' he said. (Photo: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images)
Banks and Slaughter pointed to the 27-16 win over ranked LSU in mid-November as a pivotal moment in the team's late-season push. The Gators had struggled against ranked opponents under Napier and knocked LSU and ranked Ole Miss out of the CFB playoff race in back-to-back weeks.
"We had a huge mindset shift in the locker room,'' Slaughter said. "We called it a one-day contract type of mentality. Guys really shifted the way they thought and approached practice and the weights. It's not like, 'I've got to go workout.' It's, 'I'm going to tear you up in this workout.' It's always fun to watch guys compete and I think at the end of the day, that's what football is about."
That attitude prompted the naturally low-key Napier to post "spot the ball" Tuesday night on X above a message about Florida's difficult schedule, hours before the Gators were scheduled to arrive in Atlanta.
He and the players were asked about it at SEC Media Day. The Gators say they are eager to get back on the field and prove they belong with the best. And Napier sounded as confident as ever that they can.
If they end up in the CFP for the first time in program history, this team's legacy will be something difficult to imagine in the middle of last season.
"That would be incredibly special to me,'' Slaughter said. "It would be a tremendous honor."
No telling how that Lagway fan at the convenient store might react. You can bet his Georgia neighbors will hear all about it.
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