Ad Disclosure
GAINESVILLE — Florida wrapped up spring practice on Saturday with the annual Orange and Blue game in The Swamp.
With plentiful sunshine and a celebration of the 2025 National Champion Florida Gators basketball team held at halftime, with 56,203 fans on hand for the occasion, it was the largest attendance for a spring game in the Billy Napier era and largest for a spring game at Florida since 2009.
The Blue raced out to a 28-10 halftime lead and held on to defeat the Orange 38-32 in the second-highest scoring Florida spring game of all time.
Here are 3 takeaways from a celebratory spring afternoon in The Swamp.
Florida’s receivers look lethal, but questions about DJ Lagway loom large
Florida produced 550 yards passing between the Blue and Orange teams on Saturday afternoon, showcasing the many perimeter weapons Napier and the Gators have accumulated over the past 3 recruiting and portal classes.
No player stood out more than high 4-star freshman Dallas Wilson. The Tampa native set an Orange and Blue game record with 10 receptions and 2 touchdowns and tied the school spring game record with 195 yards receiving. Wilson’s 31-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Harrison Bailey in the second quarter was especially impressive, as Wilson used his 6-3, 210-pound frame to manhandle press coverage, gain separation from the corner at the line of scrimmage, and dart past a chasing safety for a score. As long as Wilson remains healthy, he appears to have the blend of physicality and speed needed to be an instant impact type of receiver in the SEC next autumn.
Five-star freshman Vernell Brown III also looked the part, showing an explosive burst on 4 receptions and the type of open-field speed that will make him a problem for defenses in the years to come. Another highly touted freshman, Naeshaun Montgomery out of Miami, scored on a 51-yard touchdown reception and tallied 70 yards on 3 catches.
It wasn’t just Florida’s freshmen. Aidan Mizell appears primed for a big redshirt sophomore campaign, flashing great hands and speed on a pitch perfect route for a 24-yard touchdown just before halftime. Sophomore Tank Hawkins was also effective, running polished routes and finishing with 4 receptions for 48 yards.
The Gators clearly have an assortment of weapons on the boundary for Napier and quarterback DJ Lagway to play with this autumn. But questions will linger through the summer about the health of Lagway, one of the SEC’s best returning quarterbacks and the unquestioned key to Florida’s College Football Playoff aspirations.
Lagway played just a handful of plays on Saturday afternoon, handing off on all of them as he continues to rest his shoulder and also battles what Napier characterized on Saturday as a “lower body” injury. Napier insists his quarterback will be fine, that the lower body injury is nothing to worry about and rehab on the throwing arm injury is proceeding as planned.
“DJ is doing great. He’ll start throwing in a couple of weeks,” Napier said, adding that everything in terms of recovery and return for Lagway is on schedule. “When we start OTAs in June, he’ll be 100%.”
Nonetheless, Florida fans have to worry about Lagway’s health and any potential setbacks on the road to recovery. If Lagway has any setbacks upon his return and misses additional time or worse, requires surgery, Florida’s prospects for a big fourth year under Napier obviously diminish greatly. It’s difficult and unfair to Napier and Lagway to speculate too much on the precise nature or severity of Lagway’s injury. Florida has revealed all it needs to under the current NCAA rule structure. Napier is also famously forthright and transparent, and there’s no genuine benefit, to either Napier or Lagway, to being coy about the severity of the injury. Still, questions will linger into the offseason. Is Lagway OK? Has he fully healed? Only Lagway playing football games and making big time throws will squelch those lingering doubts.
Florida’s line of scrimmage depth is as advertised
All spring, Napier praised Florida’s growth on the line of scrimmage, calling the units as deep and battle-tested as he’s coached at Florida.
The offensive line backed up the big talk on Saturday, paving the way for over 250 yards rushing on the afternoon, including a monstrous 198-yard, 3-touchdown performance by Ja’Kobi Jackson and over 100 total yards from returning All-SEC freshman Jadan Baugh.
Florida’s improvement along both lines of scrimmage was a massive reason for the way Florida turned around its season after a 1-2 start and closed 2024 on a 4-game winning streak. When Florida’s best 2 offensive linemen, Jake Slaughter and All-SEC tackle Austin Barber, elected to return for their senior seasons, there was hope that the Gators would filed one of the most dominant offensive lines in the SEC. On Saturday, the first and second units looked sharp, getting a consistent push in the run game and holding up well in pass protection. They looked the part on Saturday afternoon, anchoring an offensive explosion despite the lack of DJ Lagway in the passing game.
After 2 years of low-scoring spring games under Napier, including a 10-7 clunker 2 seasons ago, the scoring was a welcome sight for fans and coaches alike.
Napier rightly attributed talent accumulation at Florida, with a word of caution that there was still plenty to prove.
“We watched the Playoff the last couple of years. To go the distance, you need explosive playmakers on offense, right? Especially in our system. Our backs were productive today. I thought the skill players were impressive. So yeah, I’m hopeful that’s an indication of where we’re at. But I’m also evaluating the defense, and in general, I’m hopeful the indicator is that we’ve got more speed on our team, more play-making ability, more matchup players. We’ve recruited that way. I think we’re playing to our strengths. We’re making progress there.”
The Gators are making progress. The question now is whether they can parlay that progress into a fast start after going just 7-6 in the months of August and September in the prior 3 seasons under Napier.
National champions take center stage
I don’t think I’m breaking any news or dishing out any oven-mitts-required hot takes here, but Florida didn’t draw nearly 60,000 to their spring football game to watch backup quarterbacks Aidan Warner and Harrison Bailey duel it out in the April sun.
No, the people were here to celebrate the 2025 college basketball national champions, who were honored in an extended halftime.
The Swamp rocked with approval as videos of Florida’s 36-4 run to the SEC Tournament crown and national championship played on the video screens. Florida’s third national basketball championship banner was revealed to the crowd, drawing more cheers, and individual players were interviewed, often concluding the interview sessions with the moniker and mantra this team embraced as they ran through March: Gator Boys Stay Hot.
The Swamp’s loudest roars of the day came for Walter Clayton Jr., both when he was introduced as the program’s first Consensus First-Team All-American and the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament, and when he addressed the crowd individually, admitting that the title meant more to him because of his roots as a Florida boy and childhood Gators fan.
For his part, Florida head coach Todd Golden said the day was a fitting but bittersweet way to have one more day with one of the greatest SEC basketball teams of all time.
“Amazing. I thought our guys deserved something like this, to be celebrated one last time before our guys before guys start going their separate ways. It’s bittersweet in that regard, but awesome to be able to celebrated together,” Golden said Saturday afternoon. “We kind of made a commitment to our program, to our staff, that we were going to enjoy this one way or the other. And obviously being fortunate enough to win on Monday night, we understand how lucky we are, we understand how amazing of an accomplishment this is, and we didn’t want to take it for granted.”
Judging by Florida’s attendance for the spring game Saturday, Florida fans didn’t want to take the moment for granted either.
It likely was not lost on many in attendance that Florida’s basketball success has historically beget football success. After all, during Urban Meyer’s torrid run through the SEC from 2005-2010, 2 of Florida’s 3 claimed football national championships were bookended by hoop titles under Billy Donovan.
Whether Napier can follow suit and deliver Florida a championship remains to be seen.
On Saturday, Gators showed up loudly to celebrate the champions they had, the unforgettable underdog Gator Boys, a team without a single top 100 recruit, picked 6th in the SEC, that came together and bucked every expectation to win the program’s third national championship. On Saturday, celebrating that took a back seat to no one.
Neil Blackmon covers Florida football and the SEC for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
