Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 1 game
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 16-17@ Auburn | 27/54 | 333 | 2 | 1 | 6.2 | — | Season-high 333 yds |
DJ Lagway was the No. 3 recruit in America -- a five-star arm everyone wanted. Two years later, after Florida went 4-8 and fired its coach, he's starting over at Baylor. The talent was never the question. The turnovers are.
6′3″ · 237 lb · Willis, TX
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The numbers
passing yards · 2026 · through week 3
1 game into 2026 so far -- Backed by 456 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% passing yards game. -- Best game: 333 pass yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, vs Auburn
Swing playSwung Florida from 41% to 71% to win.Florida at Ole Miss · 34-24
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
DJ Lagway was the No. 3 recruit in America -- a five-star arm everyone wanted. Two years later, after Florida went 4-8 and fired its coach, he's starting over at Baylor. The talent was never the question. The turnovers are.
Aura™ · Him Watch
+51aura tax
37th pctl our passing-value metric (wEPA) QBs · 160 qualified, n=270
— more hype than the tape.Buzz vs Tape
He's mentioned more than 88% of qualified QBs this season, but his production sits in just the 38th percentile — a gap of 50 points between volume and tape.
Also worth knowing:
“Zero blitz on Lagway ends Baylor’s hopes. {Auburn} by 7.”
He arrived at Florida as a Five-Star Plus+, the No. 3 overall recruit in the 2024 class, and the arm was every bit as advertised. The results weren't: in 2025 he threw for 2,264 yards but 14 interceptions against 16 touchdowns -- at one point leading the nation in picks, including a five-interception night against LSU -- while fighting through shoulder and calf injuries on a team that went 4-8 and fired Billy Napier. So the five-star did what five-stars now do when it breaks: he reset. Lagway transferred to Baylor, where Dave Aranda called him a defining portal win and needs him to convert pedigree into production after a 5-7 season. The forward stakes are the oldest question in the sport, just in a new city: can a quarterback with this much arm talent finally play efficient, ball-secure football? In Waco, 2026 is the leap -- or the latest reminder that recruiting stars don't throw the passes.
SOURCES
Reported by other outlets. Headlines are theirs; follow a link to read the report.
His career
5 programs, one constant: he played.
Lagway throws with rare arm talent -- the trait that made him the No. 3 recruit in the country -- and the tape is a tug-of-war between that ceiling and his decision-making. The 2025 efficiency was genuinely poor: our play-by-play put his touchdown rate in the 27th percentile and his dropback success rate in the 36th, and the box score agrees (16 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, a five-pick game against LSU that was the most by a Florida quarterback since 1992). Some of that is volatility you can live with from a big arm; some is the kind of turnover habit that sinks seasons. Durability is part of the profile too -- a shoulder injury that limited spring work and a preseason calf strain are on the record. The honest frame: this is a high-variance gunslinger whose floor showed up more than his ceiling in 2025. Baylor is betting the arm is real and the mistakes are coachable. The film to watch in 2026 is simple -- does the interception number come down?
Written by our staff.
Career arc
Badges
Coaching lineage · 2024–2026
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Billy Napier → Jon Sumrall. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to Florida
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 1 game
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 16-17@ Auburn | 27/54 | 333 | 2 | 1 | 6.2 | — | Season-high 333 yds |
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Season context · Team result + system
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Box-score percentiles
Concern: pass yards (0th percentile).
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.
Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Adjusted ANY/A
5.8493 of 126 QBsSack rate
1.8%17 of 126 QBsRarely sacked (17 of 126), but Adjusted ANY/A hasn't followed (93 of 126).
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
Short · 0–9 air yds
Middle · 10–19 air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
Overall 50.0% completion on 54 attempts · 44% completion on 9 deep attempts (20+ air yds).
Zeitgeist Passer Rating
2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.
Thin sample: 55 dropbacks46Zeitgeist Passer Ratingnot ranked until 125 dropbacks
--NCAA passer ratingno box-score line yet
Positive-play rate weight 24%
42.7%27th pct of FBS QBsshare of dropbacks that gained expected points · -2.7% schedule adj.Yards per attempt weight 56%
6.0415th pct of FBS QBssacks excluded · -0.1 schedule adj.Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)
2.3%93th pct of FBS QBsthe input passer rating cannot see · +0.5% schedule adj.Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (0 of 55 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. Scaled against the 2025 FBS population until enough 2026 QBs qualify. How ZPR is built.
Splits
Per-game splits
Through 1 game: 333 YDS/g, 2.0 TD/g, 6.2 YPA, 1.0 INT/g — splits start at 3 games.
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jon Sumrall
Pass share
39.9%
81 pass / 122 run
Plays / game
67.7
3 games
Scheme: Run-heavy.
Player standing · 2026
On the two-deep and pushing for snaps.
Play style
Lagway throws with rare arm talent -- the trait that made him the No. 3 recruit in the country -- and the tape is a tug-of-war between that ceiling and his decision-making. The 2025 efficiency was genuinely poor: our play-by-play put his touchdown rate in the 27th percentile and his dropback success rate in the 36th, and the box score agrees (16 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, a five-pick game against LSU that was the most by a Florida quarterback since 1992). Some of that is volatility you can live with from a big arm; some is the kind of turnover habit that sinks seasons. Durability is part of the profile too -- a shoulder injury that limited spring work and a preseason calf strain are on the record. The honest frame: this is a high-variance gunslinger whose floor showed up more than his ceiling in 2025. Baylor is betting the arm is real and the mistakes are coachable. The film to watch in 2026 is simple -- does the interception number come down?
Our classifier reads him the same way: operates within the system without forcing anything.
Player DNA
Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Will Levis’s 2021 season.
Differs from Will on
Through 3 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Arch Manning’s path through Texas.
Matches Arch on
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Jayden Maiava's sophomore season at USC (2024).
Matches Jayden on
Differs from Jayden on