DJ Lagway Bowl: How one recruitment shapes Texas A&M vs. Florida matchup

College football’s week three slate may not be filled with ranked matchups and raucous atmospheres, but the games are certainly not without compelling storylines.

One of the more underrated matchups college football fanatics should be tuned into is the Texas A&M Aggies heading into the Swamp to take on the Florida Gators. A midday contest of a pair of 1-1 unranked teams typically doesn’t draw much national attention, but there is one name that makes this matchup one of the most exciting of the weekend, and potentially the season.

DJ Lagway.

Lagway is obviously rising in popularity and fame as he is now just one of two true-freshman power four quarterbacks to start in the first few weeks of the season, the other being Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola. In his first start against Samford, Lagway broke the Florida freshman passing record with 456 yards. He also tossed three touchdowns.

The former five-star prospect is now gearing up to face the Aggies, which is where the excitement, intrigue, and potential drama comes in.

For those who did not follow Lagway’s recruitment, there was quite a battle amongst the Aggies and Gators for Lagway’s services. Early in his recruitment process, there was a wide belief that Lagway, who lived under an hour away from College Station, would surely end up playing under Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies.

However, as time went on, the Aggies slipped in his recruitment. A combination of lack of on-field success, a growing disarray under Jimbo Fisher and a likely complacence from the Aggies in their recruiting efforts of Lagway, teams like Florida and USC became frontrunners, the Gators of course winning him over. Even after committing to Florida, Lagway always maintained his support and interest in the A&M program, but felt it was better to head to Gainesville than go with the hometown program.

The Aggies remained in the picture for the rest of the recruitment, largely in the background until the firing of Jimbo Fisher. The battle between Florida and Texas A&M reached new heights just days before signing day in December 2023 as Mike Elko was hired to lead the program in College Station.

Elko and the new staff made it their top priority to attempt and reel Lagway off his longtime Gators pledge. There was real momentum in favor of the Aggies as the hours dwindled down, but he would eventually sign with Florida, giving them their signal caller of the future.

“I definitely built great relationships with coach Elko and coach Klein even and we ended up on good terms so I feel like it was good,” Lagway said after signing day.

Lagway told Rivals the Aggies gave the hardest pitch in crunch time

“I’d say Texas A&M… when coach Elko got in, I was the first guy they hit up.”

The pressure was on Lagway down the stretch. The Willis, Texas standout was trying to get flipped by other coaches – and even administrators at his own school.

“Especially with A&M,” Lagway said. “My school is like 30-minutes from A&M so all the teachers, the coaches, the principals, they’re all A&M die-hards. There were people all over the school telling me to go to A&M, A&M, A&M.”

Aggies fans let their emotions be known when officially losing out on the five-star prospect. The resentment was of course directed at the freshly fired Fisher, who they felt dropped the ball on such a significant recruitment.

If Lagway takes the field against Texas A&M on Saturday, there will be quite the amount of Aggies fans with mixed emotions as they have once cheered him on as a major target, but will now see him as an opponent on the opposite sideline.

With Florida head coach Billy Napier on a seemingly scorching hot seat, there have already been questions raised about Lagway’s future in Gainesville. If Napier is fired at any point this season or following, there is a very real possibility Lagway could hit the transfer portal as many Gators players likely would be doing the same.

In these primarily social media driven theories, Texas A&M is largely a program considered a favorite to land him. After all, with more time, Elko may have been able to flip him. With another crack at it, he could prove successful. While once, this would be silly and pointless conversation, there is real merit to the ideas of rapidly changing futures with top players in the sport.

So, there is a lens for this game to be looked through that makes this game not only important in the current day, but also potentially for the future.

This game could be approached as a potential stakes for the services of Lagway. If Texas A&M wins, it further moves the needle to a Napier firing, inching closer to Lagway potentially departing the program, making him available to potential suitors such as the Aggies. If Texas A&M loses to Lagway and the Gators, it could help Napier put the program back on path with Lagway at the lead or you could argue it could spark Texas A&M and the decision makers that be to play the modern game that is college football and decide it would be worth a significant NIL offer to lure Lagway back home.

A similar circumstance played out this offseason as Notre Dame went out and landed Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard, who they had played that season. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has said publicly that Leonard’s game against the Irish the year prior absolutely played a factor in him being their eventual choice to bring in to their own program.

The circumstances with Lagway are of course all currently hypothetical, but in the modern day of college football, all of these possibilities are fully on the table.

If some of these theories were to play out and Lagway hits the portal for one reason or another, every program would likely be ringing his phone. But there may not be a program that does so faster than Mike Elko and the Aggies.

There was a battle between the Gators and the Aggies in his recruitment and the Gators were victorious. Both on the field this Saturday and potentially later in the offseason, the Aggies are going to be looking to return the favor.