Texas coach Steve Sarkisian acknowledged Monday that Florida’s quarterback situation is in limbo with the injury status of DJ Lagway.

Down in Gainesville, Florida coach Billy Napier had some good news on that front.

Napier told Florida reporters that Lagway’s hamstring injury is “less significant” than initially feared. The quarterback who started the year viewed as the second-stringer may indeed play against No. 5 Texas.

“We think there’s a pathway for a recovery and return,” Napier said. “And we did find that out (Sunday) evening. Lot of good on that front. So, less significant than we anticipated.”

The Longhorns (7-1, 3-1 SEC) already have a battle plan should Lagway be limited or unable to play. They’re getting insider information on Florida’s third-stringer Aidan Warner, who transferred from Yale.

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Texas safety Michael Taaffe played with Yale receiver Ryan Lindley at Westlake. How close are they? The both wear jersey No. 16 in honor of their late friend Jackson Coker, who died in a car accident in March 2021. Lindley spent all last season working with Warner at practice.

“OK, so Ryan wore number 16 for Jackson, just like I do, and Aidan Warner wore number 15 at Yale. So they were locker buddies,” Taaffe said. “So I’m going to get the whole scoop from Ryan here come Wednesday, Thursday. So we’ll get all the tendencies. We’ll get what gets under his skin and stuff like that.

“I talked to him (Sunday) about Aidan,” Taaffe added. “He said he could sling it. He said his arm’s phenomenal. He’s a competitor. He’s a really good football player. He’s built for that moment. He wants to play big-time football, and that’s his opportunity. So it’s going to be cool.”

Lagway was part of a two-quarterback system with Graham Mertz to start the season. But Mertz got hurt this year, and Lagway took over full time. Lagway then suffered a hamstring injury Saturday against Georgia and that pushed Warner into the spotlight. The preferred walk-on led the Gators on two scoring drives and was 7-for-22 passing for 66 yards with one interception.

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“Coach Napier has been doing it quite a while, from his time at Lafayette and what he’s done at Florida,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve got a very intricate scheme, a lot of shifts, a lot of motions, a lot of formation adjustments that they that they tax you with.

“They’re in a little bit of limbo from a quarterback perspective, but at the end of the day, I think they’re going to run their offense, and that's what we got to prepare for.”

Taaffe isn’t underestimating anyone, no matter if they came from Yale or not. Lagway could start or it could be Warner. Either way, it’s an athlete capable of starting for the Florida Gators, one of the signature schools in the SEC. 

Warner, who now wears No. 16 with the Gators, has the Longhorns attention. 

“When you step on DKR and you see 105,000 in the stands and you see somebody at quarterback, you know he’s built for the moment, no matter where his background is from,” Taaffe said.

“If people were doing that, then they would be looking at me and being like, all right, let’s take care of number 16, because I was a walk-on and I didn't even have an offer to Yale. So you’ve got to just kind of prepare like everybody’s built for the moment.

“And talking to Ryan, I know that number 16 for the Gators is built for that moment.”