Seminoles are pulling out every stop possible to land a transfer portal player who could change the trajectory of Mike Norvell’s future
The Seminoles would have to get DJ Lagway healthy, though.
The Florida State Seminoles are urgently searching for their next starting quarterback, and the transfer portal is their primary avenue. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that UNLV quarterback Anthony Colandrea is visiting Florida State on January 4. FSU also plans to host Auburn Tigers transfer Ashton Daniels and Florida Gators transfer DJ Lagway. Colandrea and Lagway have since impressed coaches, with Lagway even drawing comparisons to Cam Newton.
Seminoles OC Gus Malzahn compared Lagway to Newton
“They said they liked what they saw on film, and they wanted to meet me in person and come up here and check everything that Florida State had to offer,” Lagway told On3. “And I really did love it. It’s really nice up here. Excited for the relationship to continue to build.
“He said he sees some things, similarities to me and Cam Newton, and so he had it cut up for me and stuff like that. We watched some ball, and that was probably my favorite part of the whole visit. Watching ball with Coach Malzahn and Coach Tuck and just seeing how I could fit in the offense, and I could see it really well.”
FSU retains Kevin Sperry and welcomes Jaden O’Neal, but Coach Mike Norvell still seeks a quarterback ready to compete for or take the starting role, indicating urgency and a need for a proven player.
There are only so many options left out there in the portal, at this point. What was available, the Seminoles had to go through that second tier of QBs. The first tier is usually reserved for teams expected to compete next year or that have just competed this year. That’s why you see Texas Tech get Brendan Sorsby and Indiana get Josh Hoover. The Seminoles had a bad year, so it’s harder to sell portal QBs on the idea of being a Seminoles as compared to those places.
Lagway has had a bad start to his career. However, it’s not all on him. He’s played badly, and he’s had some blame that he’s taken. However, the Gators have not been a good football team for some time now. Billy Napier wasn’t running a good program over there, as FSU has been the last two years.
However, Lagway does have all the talent in the world. It’s there, you can see it. He can run, although he hasn’t done that as much as he did in high school. He can make every throw; it’s just about whether he should try to make every throw or not. Sometimes, the play is obviously not there, but he really feels like he can make it, and it turns into an interception. Sometimes, he is running for his life because the offensive line is so bad. Other times, the run game was so bad that defenses could sit back in Cover 2 and just play the pass all game. There are so many variables you have to look out for with all these QBs.
If all goes well, Lagway has the potential to thrive at FSU. However, drawing comparisons to Cam Newton is ambitious; Newton remains one of college football’s all-time greats. This is not the first time Malzahn has made such comparisons—he’s previously likened KJ Jefferson at UCF and Joey Gatewood to Newton, yet neither reached Newton’s level. Lagway doesn’t have to be the one to reach those levels for him to be successful. He can be his own great player.
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