Tim Tebow sees DJ Lagway having 'the weight of the world' on him, calls for Florida QB to find joy

Tim Tebow was in DJ Lagway‘s shoes nearly two decades ago, facing intense national pressure as the face of the Florida Gators football team. And while the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion never suffered through a three-game losing streak like what Lagway and this year’s Gators (1-3, 0-1 SEC) are in the midst of, Tebow has some advice for Florida’s current superstar quarterback.

During their weekly Friday afternoon appearance on the SEC Network’s The Paul Finebaum Show, Tebow and fellow SEC Network analyst Roman Harper both want to see Lagway find the joy in football again. Lagway will get a prime opportunity to do just that in Saturday’s SEC home game against No. 9 Texas (3:30 pm ET, ESPN) and fellow star QB Arch Manning, who has faced his own issues amid a difficult start to his first season as the Longhorns’ starting quarterback.

“When you can play free and with confidence, man, you’re a different player. But when you play with the weight of the world on you, it’s hard to have joy,” Tebow said on Friday’s show. “When you’re walking into a stadium and you know the majority of the country will either praise you or criticize you, that’s a different level of pressure.”

Whether it’s due to nagging injuries that kept him off the field much of the offseason, or facing the overwhelming pressure of needing to salvage a second-straight season for embattled Florida head coach Billy Napier, Lagway hasn’t looked like the same player that went 6-1 down the stretch as a true freshman last year. In fact, through four games, the former No. 1 overall recruit in the 2024 class has thrown six interceptions to just five touchdowns while completing just 67.5-percent of his passes for 690 yards.

“Tim talked about DJ Lagway finding joy again. He has to find it — whatever it is,” Harper said Friday. “When you were a little kid in the backyard playing football, you loved it. You could do it all day long. You were mad when your mom called you back inside.

“So getting back to that point, getting back to what truly brings you joy when it comes to this football game, that I love so much since I was a young man. … For Florida, ultimately, DJ Lagway has to find the joy again.”

Tebow agreed, and even suggested Lagway might want to channel his inner-Tim Tebow and maybe take a hit or two early to flip his switch Saturday.

“I think that’s a great point, Roman,” Tebow added. “I didn’t feel like I was in the game until I got hit or I hit somebody, and something would change in me where all of a sudden it goes from a game to this is personal. There’s an emotion, and sometimes an anger. … This is different.”