Florida Football Update - Montrell Johnson Injury / DJ Lagway's Role

why don't we catch up on some Florida football right here at the voice of college football appreciate you all stopping by of course we've got uh David Waters here from Gator breakdown it is the go-to when it comes to the Gators David how you doing today pretty good Mark pretty good just uh you know about it's been about a week since Florida hit the field for fall Camp so of course the big news of montro Johnson's injury that's kind of headline so far uh but uh you know still kind of underwear practice for right now pad's coming on pretty soon and uh maybe so we'll get some more about what's coming out of fall camp but uh you know just is what it is right now well I was going to ask about the running back position at some point so let's start right there since you mentioned uh Montreal Johnson so what Florida's had obviously with he and Travis etan has been a one-two combination that's been as good as any in the SEC now assuming that mon Johnson's going to be okay long term uh we cam Carroll coming in from tane he's had his own injury issues we got uh tan Webb if I pronounced his first name correctly in regards to possibly a complimentary guy so how do you think that onew combination is going to work out this year yeah you mentioned cam Carroll as well and Mark he got injured last year I don't know if he'll be available this year uh he missed spring as well and you know he's still kind of recovering from that he suffered a major major knee injury last year so so it may just be be for his benefit to take another year off and with losing Montreal Johnson after this year help get be be a guy another guy in the rotation next year so but look we're talking you know 2024 season right now and as I said fall Camp not getting off to the best injury news now look it's not serious for Montreal Johnson he still may play the Miami game for everything I can gather at probably less than 50% chance but we'll see uh you know it came out um Saturday that he got injured Friday in Friday evenings practice um Billy naer did have a press conference Saturday but the word about the injury didn't really start filtering out till after the press conference so nobody got to ask him about it but once I started hearing about it I did reach out to Florida they re you know they replied back to me saying he had a KNE scope he's weak to week uh so we'll see what that means for Florida of course you have that early season you know stretch you open up with Miami two weeks later you play Texas A&M so you know you want Montreal Johnson back as soon as you can get him back but you don't want to you don't want to sacrifice him for the rest of the season if you're bring him back too early as well just because of how you know tough and hard the schedule is for the Gator so trayon web will be the first guy up and coming you from here in Jacksonville I followed his high school career uh you know got he got a few carries last year uh so he'll be the guy and then fl's really excited about the two true freshman that they have Jaden ball put together a really good spring game but a really good spring as well Katie Daniels who mostly played in a run heavy offense as a quarterback um but had a really good spring as well and then jacobe Jackson was a a jco transferred transferred in last year didn't play a whole lot but uh he may be pushing for for the number two reps right now so as pure running backs Mark fla feels pretty good about where they're at but of course these guys are young there's a lot of inexperience there so you kind of Turn the Page and expand out what you ask running backs to do and pass blocking and pass catching is part of that as well so those guys being inexperienced fits third and seven against Miami in the third quarter and you need a big conversion are those guys going to be able to hold up and pass protection for for for grah mer so you know as pure running backs I don't think there's much of a question those guys can get the job done as well Billy na had pretty good track record of playing young running backs montre Johnson back at Louisiana Trevor etn a couple years ago there at Florida they they recruit and develop running backs pretty well but at the same time you know with the inexperience are these guys going to be ready to do the other things they they are asked for in this offense David I don't know that if people nationally because of the record the last couple years really understood how good Ricky peaw was until maybe they watched the NFL draft Yeah realized uh what NFL Scouts thought of him because he was really that good uh is there going to be a collection of guys that has to fill that void or with Shamir dek Elijah Badger maybe somebody else on the roster another Alpha Dog go-to guy that Alpha doll is going to be Trey Wilson who was the true freshman last year for Florida uh he's going to be the alpha dog he's from everything I can gather in this first week Mark when I said there a not much coming out well what is coming out is Trey Wilson's unguardable right now so good news for Florida on that front you know and kind of going back to the running game a bit that can also be limited you know monos Johnson if he's going to miss some time Mark can also be limited by this Gator passing attack you got Graham Merz coming back in his second year you got a weapon like Trey Wilson you mentioned Elijah Badger and shimray DK transferring in as well I do think as a top three receiving core is better than what Florida had as a top three receiving Core last year even with Ricky purol I do think the potential of the top three and so Florida is a little bit deeper at the position I think at w receiv than they were a year ago it won't be mostly Ricky prol it won't be mostly Trey Wilson I think they can count on other guys as well mainly through the guys in the transfer portal but Marcus Burk is turning heads for a Do or Die year for him khil Jackson got a lot of the snaps last year and then they're look really looking for the true freshman from last year Andy Jean Aiden maelle to step up their game as well so I think Florida is deeper uh you know at the wide receiver position and I do think you know with the way Billy napers recruited having a quarterback come back like Grant Merz I think you could see that maybe Florida is going to start turning the page and opening up this offense a bit more anyway at the quarterback Position will stay right there when you've got a stud like DJ lagway waiting in the wings does he become more of that traditional third string quarterback because he's developing or they just don't deal with guys like that anymore you got to get him on the field as soon as possible if something happens to Graham Merz it's not going to be this Colorado State transfer or I can't think of the freshman who played last year uh Brown uh how do you think that depth chart lays out yeah of course you know gr Ms comes back second year it's his team it's his offense DJ lague is the number two Mark he's not your third string Klay Millan the Colorado State transfer did you discuss look he started some games at Colorado State so you're talking about depth at a position Florida's deeper at quarterback to Max Brown who you mentioned who started the FSU game last year he transferred to Charlotte so you know for Florida you got three guys there I think you'd feel confident in him somewhat Merz of course him coming back six year overall lague the star stud and then if you get the clay Millan I don't it still would send with this schedule it would certainly be you know call 911 you'll see what happens with with with with an emergency for Florida uh but at least he's started some games at least he's played a lot of college football uh and you would see if if you get that far don't think you will but if you get that far at least there's something there more so than there was with Max Brown last year so yeah it's going to be Graham Merz DJ lagway I think will get snaps I think he will play uh for lack of a better comparison Chris leak Tim TBO situation that we saw in 2006 for Florida maybe something similar to that I can see lague getting 10 snaps 15 snaps a game if it comes to it short yard situations Red Zone situations uh but it's make no mistake about it Mark even with that this is gram mer team uh they really are behind gr merch now if the season goes even with that if the season doesn't go the right way if there's a bad start you know do you turn the page somewhat to build up DJ lague but at the same time Mark we know how difficult November is for Florida do you throw DJ Lag Way against Georgia against Texas against LSU oh Florida State you know so I think there's a balancing act as far as that goes as well so we can clip that off David uh David Waters says this is going to be 2006 we'll just leave it at that uh sure if you want to get Gator Nation stirred up or everybody else out there stirred up too Mark first you go go go ahead go ahead