'Push reset': After struggles at Florida, DJ Lagway has found a new home (and himself) at Baylor
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WACO, Texas — Nikita Lagway had just enough time to shower, unpack, repack and shuffle out of her home into an Uber and onto a plane.
She needed to get to Gainesville, Florida, as soon as possible. Not because her son asked her. DJ Lagway didn't have to ask his mom. Nikita knew he needed her after the most disappointing game of his career — a five-interception outing in a 20-10 loss at LSU.
Upon arriving at DJ's home in Florida, she found her boy was broken — depressed, angry and using her shoulder on which to cry.
"God's got you," she told him.
"Momma," he said back, "I think God forgot about me."
This is no place for a 20-year-old sophomore in college. Three games into his first full year as the starter in Gainesville, DJ Lagway found himself already in a dark hole, one that would only grow bleaker during a pressure-packed, injury-fueled, mistake-riddled 2025 season.
"They thought about him as some kind of savior," Nikita said. "He's just a kid."
Nearly one year later, here inside the Baylor football offices, DJ smiles from across a table while chowing down on a Subway chicken sandwich.
New state. New city. New team. Perhaps even a new outlook on life and a career that took what he calls an unexpected pivot back home.
He is from just two hours away, his dad played for Baylor and DJ grew up watching games from the university's football stadium. In fact, he even knew the football coach, Dave Aranda, well. Aranda recruited him out of high school only to see DJ leave the state and sign with the Gators.
Well, DJ is back — better than ever, particularly mentally.
Within a month of DJ's arrival at Baylor, Aranda realized the deep depressive feelings buried within his new quarterback. After a day of spring workouts, coach and player were amid a conversation in Aranda's office about ways to drive excitement within the fan base to fill the stadium this fall when something unexpected happened.
Unprompted, DJ unleashed feelings of anger and frustration — an eruption of emotion from a deep, dark place.
"He was standing right there," Aranda said, pointing toward a spot in his office. "He was basically like 'F everybody!' He was like, 'F those who don't want to come to our games! F the media! F the people who don't want to be with us. F them all!'"
Things have been different since that moment. DJ is more open with coaches and players. His defenses receded. Instead of telling everyone what they want to hear, he tells them what he feels (even if, sometimes, Aranda has to work to get it out of him).
DJ himself feels more free, a weight lifted off his shoulders, his guard partially down. That's at least what those around him see. During interviews, he remains private, not necessarily acknowledging the troubles of his past and avoiding talk of his reinvigoration here in Waco.
A man of few words, DJ describes it here as the "opposite" of Gainesville.
"Life down here is slower," he said. "I'm thankful for that."
On Saturday, DJ and the Bears open the season in one of the more intriguing matchups of the first weekend — a duel in Atlanta against SEC foe Auburn. It's Game 1 of his new career, of his new life. A fresh start. A first step down a new path.
Which DJ will the country witness?
The prized high school recruit who was ranked No. 1 at his position in the 2024 class, the 2023 National High School Quarterback of the Year, MaxPreps Player of the Year? The five-star talent who threw for 100 touchdowns and ran for 29 more?
Or the version of him in Gainesville? The one who threw nearly as many interceptions (23) as touchdowns (28), who completed less than 62% of his passes, who went 4-8 in his first full season as a starter, who battled ailments and allowed intense criticism from a rabid fan base to drag him down?
No one ever really saw the pain DJ experienced. He lived by himself and took mostly online classes. He never let it show publicly. He fibbed during media interviews. He hid it from coaches and even those he was closest to on the team.
"After that LSU game, he came out Monday and acted like nothing ever happened," said DeBraun Hampton, a Baylor receiver who grew up with DJ and moved with him from Florida to Waco. "What didn't I hear? Everything negative that you can imagine. Everything. In Gainesville, it's hard when you're not winning."
As a dismal season ended, the university fired coach Billy Napier. The new staff met with players on the current roster. DJ felt unwanted — another shot during a year full of them.
"The hardest thing is like … you have a plan going into college of how you expected it to go and then you had to pivot," he said. "That was kind of the hardest thing."
Enter Baylor.
There was a deep connection here. His dad, Derek, played running back and fullback in the late 1990s in Waco. His lifelong speed and conditioning coach, McKinley Bowie, played here with Derek.
Maybe he always should have been a Bear?
"He's at home," Bowie said. "He's surrounded with love, true love. You stand through rough times and now you get sunny days. You get to push reset."
It's a reset for everyone. Mom and dad now get to drive to DJ's home games and also watch on Friday nights younger son, Jamal, a blossoming cornerback and receiver who is four years younger than DJ and already has several Division I offers.
The Lagway family is private. Derek is just like DJ — uninterested in interviews. Mom does all the talking.
Nikita has a story of her own.
Years ago, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease where her immune system began attacking healthy cells. She battled through illness, spending several months in a hospital bed and missing DJ's high school games.
From that bed, she prayed to God that if he'd let her live, she'd not miss a single game again.
"Let me make it through," she said, over and over.
She did, of course. In fact, Nikita has continued on as a practicing physical therapist. Derek is a bail bondsman. The family resides still in DJ's hometown of Willis, a tiny town of around 7,000 located about 45 miles north of Houston.
Nikita grows emotional when discussing her son's time at Florida. She holds no ill will toward the former coaching staff or university administrators. In fact, as part of DJ's NIL deal, the Lagways got to use a private jet to fly to his games.
She does remain disappointed in the Florida fan base. Disgusted, in fact.
They didn't know what she did — that DJ has battled injuries and health issues his entire career. A serious tailbone bruise in high school. A high ankle sprain. A sports hernia. And then a re-aggravation of an old hamstring injury during the 2025 season.
But he kept playing.
"That's not a crybaby. That's a baller," she said.
"It bothered me to hear people say he's weak or injury prone," Nikita said. "I just want people to know, this season right here is going to be the first of my son's career since 10th grade where he's healthy and injury free."
It's a big year.
Aranda is one of a handful of coaches whose job is at stake in 2026, similar to what DJ witnessed under Napier last year. Even Aranda acknowledged that. DJ's play may shape Aranda's future.
"He talks about our situation, my situation. I gotta win," Aranda said. "He says I've been here before. Everything counts. Everything matters."
The good thing is, DJ hasn't lost the talent that made him a high school superstar. He can make every throw, Aranda said. He has a great knack for scrambling. He has instincts to keep plays alive.
And one more thing, the coach said, "His arm is the strongest arm I've been around."
Back inside the Baylor facility, DJ finished off that Subway sandwich. He doesn't much want to relive what happened in Gainesville. He's excited about playing here in offensive coordinator Jake Spavital's spread scheme as opposed to the pro-style offense at Florida.
It fits him better. It's "perfect," he said. "A spread-it-out and air-it-out kind of offense."
Of more importance is DJ's mental growth here. He's smiling more and laughing. He's found his favorite snack, too — the chocolate chip cookies from McDonald's.
"He's found his home," Nikita said. "It's get back to the basics, like high school. I feel that. His heart is happy."
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