DJ Lagway among trio of Florida football players repping UF at SEC Media Days
The Gators will do so with a diverse package of players.
The conference announced Tuesday that QB DJ Lagway, OL Jake Slaughter and DL Caleb Banks will represent UF in Atlanta. Media days will run from Tuesday, July 15-Friday, July 18. The three players – along with head coach Billy Napier – will speak Wednesday, along with Alabama, Mississippi State and Oklahoma.
Advertisement
Lagway is the national draw of the Gators this season. The sophomore is being ranked as one of the SEC's top QBs and appeared on the deluxe cover of NCAA Football 26. He threw for 12 TDs and 1,915 yards in the 2024 season in 12 games played.
Slaughter, a senior and Ocala native, is one of the nation's top offensive lineman. A first team All-American in 2024, Athlon Sports and Walter Camp named him preseason for the same title in 2025.
Banks, a redshirt senior, amassed 21 tackles in the 2024 season. He helps lead a revamped Gators defensive line that will be relied on heavily in the 2025 season.
Follow the Sun for live coverage of Florida's appearance next Wednesdy.
Advertisement
UF kicks off its 2025 season August 30th at home vs. Long Island University.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1. Read his coverage of the Gators' national championship basketball season in 'CHOMP-IONS!' — a hardcover coffee-table collector's book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football: DJ Lagway, Jake Slaughter, Caleb Banks to speak at SEC Media Days
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
41 minutes ago
- USA Today
What SEC football coaches won't say (but might be thinking) at media days
College Football Playoff format sure to be a topic at SEC media days, but what's inside coaches' heads that they're not saying would be more entertaining. SEC media days once were a place where a coach could be served a subpoena, where another coach explained his farm duties as a turkey inseminator, and where Nick Saban said being an agent was akin to being 'a pimp.' To say they were a magical place would overstate their glory. Even in the best of times, SEC media days were a souped-up series of news conferences in a hotel ballroom with the air conditioner blasting. But, they became a highlight of college football's dog days of summer. Those days are in the past. SEC media days morphed into glorified infomercial programming for the conference's television network. Perhaps because they know their words will be broadcast on the SEC Network across the hinterlands, with clips highlighted on ESPN, or perhaps because coaches simply are more reticent than ever, for fear their words will be tweeted and retweeted, the news conferences became snoozefests. Also, in this 24/7/365 nature of college football media coverage, fans no longer depend on media days to get a preseason jolt of information and buzz about their team. In short, they're a relic that persisted past the point of utility. They'll muddle on in their current state on Monday, when the SEC's four-day talkathon begins in Atlanta. Media days are sure to revive debates about the future College Football Playoff format, and coaches will update us on how it's been operating in the aftermath of the House legal settlement, which uncorked revenue-sharing with athletes and instituted an NIL clearinghouse in an attempt to regulate third-party deals. When it's all over, we'd have been more entertained and better informed if someone would have reminded us how to properly inseminate a turkey. While the coaches curtail their remarks on the main stage with the television cameras rolling, here's what they won't say – but might be thinking: Hugh Freeze, Auburn Ask me about my golf handicap. Have you ever seen a football coach hit a power fade like I do? Speaking of which, I'm due for a tee time. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama It would be nice if you guys stopped comparing me to Saban and started comparing me to Hugh Freeze. Oh, and feel free to ask me about our recruiting ranking. It's better than my golf handicap. Clark Lea, Vanderbilt I see Nick Saban seated in the back of the room. Coach, anything else you'd like to say about playing road games in Vanderbilt's stadium? Brian Kelly, LSU If you're wondering about my $1 million donation to jumpstart a donor drive, check out our roster and see what we bought. And, I'm due a $1 million bonus, plus a hefty raise, when I win my first national championship. Some would call that $1 million donation an investment opportunity. Sam Pittman, Arkansas Y'all get a good look, because this is the last time you'll see me here. My bags are packed for Lake Hamilton. Just waiting on that buyout check, and then I can crack me a col' beer and leave all this behind, fun as it was. Mark Stoops, Kentucky Sheesh, I never thought Kirk Ferentz would last this long at Iowa. Ah, well. Sam, how do you like it down there at Lake Hamilton? Got room for one more? Just as long as you don't invite John Calipari over. Josh Heupel, Tennessee We learned a valuable lesson from our breakup with Nico Iamaleava: No more hitching the Big Orange wagon to quarterbacks clad in pajama pants. We wish him well, as he adjusts to California's income-tax rate. Kirby Smart, Georgia I won two national championships with Stetson Bennett IV. You really think I can't win one with Gunner Stockton? Steve Sarkisian, Texas Let me get this straight: If we win the national championship, that means I screwed up by not starting Arch Manning last season? And if I don't win the national championship, that means I'm the coach who couldn't win a national championship with Arch Manning? Mike Elko, Texas A&M Imagine what I could have done with that No. 1-ranked recruiting class Jimbo Fisher squandered. Shane Beamer, South Carolina I don't mean to brag, but, I'm thinking a statue is in order after beating Dabo Swinney twice in the past three years. Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri No way Beamer gets a statue before me. Guess how many SEC teams own more wins than Missouri the past two years? Just Georgia and Texas. And they're lucky they don't play us this season! Just kidding, we're happy to play Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State I'm just here because someone told me I had to be. Any questions? No? Good. Brent Venables, Oklahoma Do I think we could make the playoff this year? Maybe, if only we could play Mississippi's schedule. Billy Napier, Florida Brother, you want to talk about tough schedules? Look at ours, and tell me someone isn't trying to get me fired. Lane Kiffin, Mississippi Florida boosters, listen up. My phone number is … Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Kentucky football's Mark Stoops is on ropes. But don't count him out in SEC
Kentucky football is in trouble. Mark Stoops is the only one who can save it, which may seem a bit ironic because he's been the coach for the past 13 seasons and is responsible for its current state. The Wildcats are coming off a 4-8 season last year and face the same SEC schedule that made them face three College Football Playoff programs last season in Texas, Georgia and Tennessee and two more programs that were on the periphery of an at-large bid in Ole Miss and South Carolina. In all, nine programs on UK's schedule played in a bowl game last season. Advertisement Having to go through the SEC gauntlet was among myriad reasons why plenty of Stoops' coaching peers and friends warned him not to take the job back in 2012: It's a basketball school. Its recruiting base is too shallow. Winning can't be sustained there. The Cats appear headed in the wrong direction, just as the program did back in 2012 when Stoops was hired, if he can't change course soon. The same reasons why he defied the naysayers back then are the same reasons why he could turn it around this season. Stoops saw enough potential in UK back then to take a chance. And entering a season in which the odds are once again stacked against the Cats might just be the place he needs to recalibrate what works in the program. Advertisement There are a number of memes circulating on social media of 'motivated' Mark Stoops, which initially was a sarcastic reference to an interview he had with Kentucky Sports Radio in the spring but has now morphed into a bit of a movement. The success he had — recording two 10-win seasons and taking the Cats to eight straight bowl games for the first time in program history — didn't come easy but was consistent enough to where Stoops may have gotten a bit too comfortable. He had some missteps like thinking his offensive coordinator was interchangeable. The Cats had a different OC in each of the past five seasons including new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen coaching in 2021, leaving for a year and returning in 2023 — before heading back to the NFL. Bush Hamdan's return as offensive coordinator will mark the first time since Eddie Gran held the position from 2016-2020 that UK has had the same OC in consecutive years. Advertisement Continuity matters, which is why just the optics of former associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow leaving to become the general manager at rival Louisville after being in Lexington for the entirety of Stoops' tenure was a tough blow. But if we've learned anything about Stoops in his decade-plus in Lexington, it's that the man from Youngstown, Ohio, wasn't raised to back down from a fight. He's landed a few punches of his own in recruiting after Marrow's exodus with 15 commitments including quarterback Matt Ponatoski, a two-sport star from Cincinnati. UK also flipped receiver Denairius Gray earlier this month after he originally committed to Auburn. What matters, of course, is that Stoops gets some of those wins on the field next season. Kentucky hasn't had back-to-back losing seasons since posting identical 5-7 records in Stoops' second and third years at the helm in 2014 and 2015. Advertisement He's got a greater challenge now, maybe even monumental given the schedule. Then again, it's not much different than the low expectations he faced when he first took over the program. Stoops had unprecedented success then. There's no reason to believe he can't go out and do the same thing again. Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@ follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at to make sure you never miss one of his columns. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football: Mark Stoops might be answer to solve SEC struggles
Los Angeles Times
7 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
MLB draft: Dodgers select a pair of Arkansas standouts with their first picks
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers' first two picks in this year's MLB draft came consecutively at Nos. 40 and 41 overall. Turns out, their two selections came from the same school, as well, with the team taking left-handed pitcher Zach Root and contact-hitting outfielder Charles Davalan out of the University of Arkansas. Root, a junior for the Razorbacks this year, went at No. 40. A transfer from East Carolina, he had a 3.62 earned-run average this season with 126 strikeouts in 99⅓ innings. Scouting reports lauded his versatile pitch mix, which includes a slider, curveball and changeup from a funky low arm-slot delivery. Davalan, a sophomore who was draft-eligible, also transferred into Arkansas last year after one season at Florida Gulf Coast. He hit .346 for the Razorbacks with 14 home runs, 60 RBIs and more walks (35) than strikeouts (27). Both players were part of an Arkansas team that won 50 games and reached the College World Series. Both figure to be key pieces of the Dodgers' future, as well. Though the Dodgers once again were boxed out of a high draft pick — picking outside the top 30 for the third time in the last four years because of competitive balance tax penalties — the team did acquire an extra selection in what is known as 'Competitive Balance Round A,' securing the No. 41 overall selection as part of the trade that sent Gavin Lux to the Cincinnati Reds. That meant, for the first time since 2019, the Dodgers made two top-50 selections. And when their selections were on the clock, they identified the pair of Southeastern Conference teammates. Root is a Fort Myers, Fla., native who was the No. 31-ranked recruit in the state coming out of high school, according to Perfect Game. After starting his college career at East Carolina, where he had a 9-5 record and 4.43 ERA in two seasons, he found immediate success upon joining Arkansas, earning first-team All-SEC honors and second- and third-team All-American nods. Though he grew up in Florida, Root said he was a childhood Dodgers fan — thanks in large part to another certain left-handed pitcher. 'Growing up, my dad always made me watch [Clayton] Kershaw and learn to pitch like him,' Root said. 'So I've just been watching Dodger baseball ever since I can remember, because of Kershaw.' Davalan took a decidedly more circuitous route to the Dodgers. Originally a childhood hockey player from Quebec, Canada, Davalan moved to Florida when he was in high school during the COVID-19 pandemic, enrolling in a specialized high school that allowed him to spend much of his days training as a baseball player. 'With COVID, a lot got shut down in Canada,' Davalan said. 'So decided to go live in Florida, where the restrictions [weren't there] and you could play 12 months of the year.' From there, the undersized Davalan — who is listed at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds — got one D-I offer from FGCU, impressed enough there to transfer to Arkansas, and then blossomed into 'one of the best hitters in the draft class, I think,' Root said of his teammate. 'Getting him at pick 41 is just a big steal for the Dodgers.' Davalan offered similar praise about Root, calling him 'kind of an old-school pitcher' who 'really filled the zones up good, but can still get his punchouts when he needs to get out of the jam.' 'Old-school' was also an adjective Davalan used to describe himself. 'I like to win. I like to play hard,' he said. 'So that's what I'm going to try to do. And I'm sure that knowing the organization, it's filled of players like that, so I'm super excited just to get to meet new people.' And, of course, be reacquainted with one from his recent past. 'He's one of my best friends because of Arkansas,' Root said. 'He's a really great dude.' 'I guess I'm going to have to live with him in a couple more years,' Davalan joked. 'He's awesome.'
