Josh Pate reveals Florida position groups that could make biggest difference in 2025

All eyes in Gainesville are on quarterback DJ Lagway, who still hasn’t fully participated with the team in fall camp despite doing a whole lot more in recent days. He’s nursing a calf injury that limited him some at the beginning of fall camp for Florida.

Lagway has also dealt with a shoulder injury this offseason, and maintaining his health there will be critically important in 2025. His health is one of the key factors for Florida’s success, said college football analyst Josh Pate.

“What’s happening at Florida? DJ Lagway, have we bubble wrapped him?” Pate said on the Josh Pate’s College Football Show. “Prayer hand emojis here for DJ.

“So DJ Lagway for those who haven’t been keeping track of fall practice reports out of Gainesville, he’s been banged up a little bit. He had the shoulder thing. He had a calf thing. And so they’ve been limiting him. It’s not that he couldn’t play a game this week, it’s that they’re handling him for a reason to get him ready to play games.”

Florida was a different team when Lagway was healthy a year ago. And it wasn’t all that subtle.

He’s dynamic enough to be a potential Heisman Trophy candidate if he can make it through a full season, though there’s still plenty to work on. For now, though, his limited participation and some other injuries have Pate rethinking Florida a bit.

“I’m thinking about that. I’m thinking about how relatively banged up they’ve been at wide receiver,” Pate said. “And what that does is it doesn’t cross those guys off the list, it’s not like they’re not going to play this year. What it means is if I’m Florida I’m losing valuable repetitions that those players would have gotten in August. And so it adjusts my expectations for Florida out of the gate. I think the offense could be a little wobbly out of the gate.”

Josh Pate posts winning formula for Florida

That’s not to say that Pate is out on Florida as a potential playoff contender. He seems to believe if the positives pan out for the program the Gators could be a threat to reach the playoffs for the first time in school history.

“That’s why the follow-up is if their offensive line is what I think it is — scratch that, if their offensive line is what they think it is, if their defensive front personnel is what they think it is, and if their tailback room is what they think it is, you know what they ought to be able to do?” Pate said. “They ought to be able to win a game 19-13 if they need to in Death Valley, in Week 3. They ought to be able to go down there and score 23 and win against Miami a week later. They ought to be able to put Texas on the ropes and bloody their nose a little bit. And you know what, if they need to keep them under 24, you ought to trust that you can do that.”

That’s not to say that the questions about Lagway and the health of the offense can’t be remedied. So far, none of the injuries are expected to have a lasting impact.

Can Florida get into a rhythm and win a bunch of games? Absolutely.

“You hope eventually by the time you’re playing Ole Miss late in the year and Tennessee late in the year you can score 40 if you need to,” Pate said. “That offense should be very explosive. That wide receiver room is very underrated. And you are a very dynamic offense.

“But the more I hear ‘so and so is limited today,’ or ‘we’ve got to give him a couple days rest’ that’s OK. That’s OK. You’ve just got to have more than one way to win. I think that’s the vibe around that staff right now.”