Culture that Billy Napier built at Florida continues to shine through and Gators QB DJ Lagway personifies it

Billy Napier’s culture is shining through even after he was fired.

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Florida quarterback DJ Lagway (2) takes questions during a press conference about Billy Napier’s firing at Heavener Football Center in Gainesville, FL on Monday, October 20, 2025.
Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun

The Florida Gators are in a major transition period, which is the second time they have been in this position for the last five years.

On Sunday, athletic director Scott Stricklin fired head coach Billy Napier after a record of 22-23. It wasn’t an easy decision for Stricklin to make, especially when you consider how important Napier was in rebuilding a program that was in the doldrums. He did everything right except win on Saturdays. While winning is the most important part of the job, he has set up the next coach to be successful out the gate.

DJ Lagway makes strong statement about being a Florida Gator

The culture that Napier built has been a big factor in how attractive the program will be to the next head coach, which could very well be Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin. The other attractive element of the program is going to be the roster they inherit, which is loaded with young talent, with the best of the bunch being quarterback DJ Lagway.

On Monday afternoon, Lagway was one of a few Gators players to speak to the media and made a strong statement about his future with the program.

“I’m a Florida Gator, man,” Lagway said. “My biggest focus right now is these five games and continuing to better my craft and continuing to develop as a player.”

This is an important statement for Lagway to make. He’s the most important player on the team, and it will be an attractive piece for a head coach to start building around. You can tell that dealing with injuries throughout the entire offseason was a factor with his performance early on in the season. He looks much better now than he did, but missing that development ended up being a bigger deal than I thought.

With Lagway seemingly committed to the program for the long term, that culture Napier built is going to be a major factor in getting things going for the next era of Gators football.

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