{"id":660626,"date":"2026-01-07T08:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/660626\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T08:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:22:15","slug":"jon-sumrall-addresses-dj-lagway-transfer-from-florida-sheds-slight-on-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/660626\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Sumrall addresses DJ Lagway transfer from Florida, sheds slight on conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Jon Sumrall<\/a> took over at Florida<\/a>, the big question was whether DJ Lagway<\/a> would remain the Gators\u2019 quarterback. However, On3 reported Dec. 15<\/a> that Lagway was entering the portal, and Sumrall addressed that decision.<\/p>\n

Sumrall reflected on both his evaluations and conversations with Lagway after taking the Florida job. He said the two talked about the culture Sumrall was building in Gainesville as he arrived from Tulane<\/a>, but Lagway ultimately chose to enter the transfer portal. On3\u2019s Pete Nakos<\/a> has more intel<\/a> on where his recruitment stands.<\/p>\n

Sumrall confirmed the decision to transfer was solely Lagway\u2019s and voiced support for the former Florida quarterback, wherever he ends up. Of course, he added the only time he wouldn\u2019t cheer for him would be a potential game against the Gators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love DJ,\u201d Sumrall said on Outkick Hot Mic<\/a>. \u201cI think DJ\u2019s a tremendous young man. The time I got to spend with him, and the research and homework I did on him, nobody would ever say, \u2018DJ Lagway, not a good person.\u2019 Everybody\u2019s like, man, great person. Obviously, a talented football player. You\u2019ve seen, his good has been very good. I\u2019ve watched him with my own two eyes. Think the world of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I met with DJ, I just said, \u2018Hey, look, man. This culture is going to be built on toughness and love of football. If you fit that, great. If you don\u2019t, then that\u2019s not going to be good.\u2019 I said, \u2018Let\u2019s talk through what this is going to look like moving forward. Would love to have you stay here, if you\u2019re comfortable with some ground rules that are laid out.\u2019 It was his decision to leave. He was not forced out of here, by any stretch of the imagination. I\u2019m for him being successful wherever he goes next \u2013 unless we play against him at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Sumrall: \u2018I hope DJ ends up in a great situation\u2019<\/p>\n

DJ Lagway\u2019s future was a key question after Florida\u2019s coaching change. The former Five Star Plus+<\/a> recruit entered his sophomore season with high expectations after showing flashes as a freshman. However, he had an up-and-down go, throwing for 2,264 yards and 16 touchdowns, to 14 interceptions.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Lagway will still have a fan in Jon Sumrall. He compared it to the situation at Tulane last year when Darian Mensah<\/a> left for Duke<\/a>, although the Green Wave got the last word during the regular season. Sumrall said he\u2019s still in Mensah\u2019s <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m for DJ,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cI\u2019ve had players I\u2019ve coached that left me. Darian Mensah was my quarterback at Tulane in 2024. I hope Darian Mensah has great success his entire career \u2013 unless I coach against him. Then, I want him to lose. We did that last year. We played against Darian. You know what he did? He lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m for everyone I\u2019ve been around. I\u2019m not against guys. I hope DJ ends up in a great situation and he can be extremely successful and have a great career. I hate that it didn\u2019t work out here. I would\u2019ve loved to have had the opportunity to coach him. He just felt like maybe it wasn\u2019t the right fit, so we\u2019ve all moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Jon Sumrall took over at Florida, the big question was whether DJ Lagway would remain the Gators\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[5982,7,60423],"class_list":["post-660626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-dj-lagway-24-willis","tag-football","tag-jon-sumrall"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115852853015166688","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}