2025 Florida Football Postgame Notes
No. 3 LSU 20, Florida 10
Tiger Field – Baton Rouge, Louisiana

OFFENSIVE NOTES

RB Jadan Baugh rushed nine times for 40 yards on top of a career-high seven catches and 59
yards receiving.
Baugh’s seven receptions are the most by a UF running back in 25 years – since Robert
Gillespie’s 10 catches vs. Tennessee on Dec. 1, 2001.
o He is just the third UF running back (Gillespie, Earnest Graham) with at least seven
catches in a game since 1996.
Baugh doubled his single-game receiving high (25) in the first half alone with three receptions
for a team-high 50 yards.

o He also recorded a career-high three receptions in the first half alone, marking his first-
career game with multiple catches.

WR Vernell Brown III tied his career high (five) in receptions in the first half alone, finishing with
a career-high eight catches for 62 yards.
QB DJ Lagway threw a touchdown for the eighth-straight contest, finishing 33-of-49 for 287
yards, one touchdown and five interceptions.
Lagway passed for over 200 yards for the sixth time in his career.
Lagway’s 49 pass attempts are the most by a UF quarterback since Kyle Trask threw 49 times
against Tennessee on Dec. 5, 2020.
o His 49 attempts are tied for the fourth-most by a UF quarterback since 1996.
Meanwhile, his career-high 33 completions are the most by a UF quarterback since Trask’s 35
against Tennessee in 2020.
o His 33 completions are tied for the third-most by a UF quarterback since 1996.
OL Caden Jones made his first-career start, doing so in his home state of Louisiana.
Lagway connected with WR Aidan Mizell to tie the game at 10-10 with a 10-yard touchdown
strike in the second quarter, marking Mizell’s third-career touchdown reception.
WR Eugene Wilson III has now recorded a catch in 17-straight games he has played in dating
back to his collegiate debut at Utah in 2023.
TE Hayden Hansen made his 25th-consecutive start, which is the second-longest active streak
on the team and leads all Florida offensive players.
Florida outgained LSU (366-316) and out-passed the Tigers (287-220) in Week 3
o Florida outgained LSU (188-166) and out-passed (155-123) the Tigers in the first half.
Florida has registered a passing touchdown in 32 of 41 games during the Napier era.
By totaling 50 more yards than LSU, the Gators have outgained opponents in 22 games since the
start of the 2022 season.
The Gators have won the time of possession battle in 19 of their last 28 games dating back to
the start of 2023.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

DB Dijon Johnson recorded Florida’s first interception in Tiger Stadium since Joe Haden in 2009,
breaking a streak of 33-consecutive quarters without a pick in Baton Rouge.
o It also marked Johnson’s first-career interception.
Florida has held opponents scoreless on their first drive in 11-straight games and hasn’t allowed
any first-quarter points in seven straight contests.
o The Gators followed with consecutive three-and-outs on LSU’s second and third drives.
Florida has recorded a takeaway in 14 of its last 16 matchups.
o The Gators have produced at least one turnover in 31 of 41 games in the Napier era.
Florida’s 20 points allowed is the team’s most since Nov. 9, 2024 at No. 5 Texas.
Week 3 marked the second time in the last three seasons LSU was held to 20 points or less at
home (joining 2024 vs. Alabama).
DB Sharif Denson logged UF’s first tackle for loss with his first of the season in the second
quarter.
EDGE George Gumbs Jr. led Florida with five tackles (two solo) while adding one tackle for loss
and one forced fumble.
LB Myles Graham tallied four tackles (three solo), one tackle for loss and two pass breakups.
DL Caleb Banks started and made his season debut.
DB Cormani McClain made his first start of the season including his second as a Gator.
The Gators allowed fewer than 100 rushing yards for the 11th time in the Napier era.
The Gators held their opponent to under 300 yards of offense for the 13th time under Napier.
S Jordan Castell extended his team-leading starts streak to 27 in a row as a Gator.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
WR Vernell Brown III returned LSU’s first punt for 20 yards to the UF39.
Brown produced a second 20-yard punt return to the UF45 in the third quarter.
Five of Brown’s seven punt returns this season have gone for at least 20 yards.
K Trey Smack opened the scoring with a 45-yard field goal on UF’s opening drive.
o Smack improved to 3-for-4 on 40-plus-yard kicks this season and 18-for-26 in his career.
o Smack finished 1-for-1 on field goal attempts to improve to 6-for-9 on the season and
41-for-51 in his career.
K Trey Smack went 1-for-1 on extra points to remain perfect in his career (82 of 82).
o Smack passed Jud Davis (81) for fourth all-time at UF in consecutive PATs made (82).
P Tommy Doman punted five times for an average of 43.4 yards, highlighted by a long of 51,
two of 50-plus yards and three inside the 20-yard line.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS (10)

RB Jadan Baugh (from QB DJ Lagway): 17-yard reception, first quarter
WR Michael Sturdivant (from Lagway): 18-yard reception, second quarter
RB Jadan Baugh (from Lagway): 25-yard reception, second quarter
WR Vernell Brown III (from Lagway): 15-yard reception, second quarter
WR J. Michael Sturdivant (from Lagway): 18-yard reception, third quarter
QB DJ Lagway: 10-yard rush, third quarter
WR Aidan Mizell (from Lagway): 22-yard reception, third quarter
RB Jadan Baugh: 13-yard rush, fourth quarter
WR Vernell Brown III (from Lagway): 16-yard reception, fourth quarter
TE Hayden Hansen (from Lagway): 16-yard reception, fourth quarter
SERIES UPDATES
Today’s game in Tiger Stadium marked the 72nd overall match-up with the Tigers (37th in Baton
Rouge) and the fourth under Napier.
With today’s loss, Florida dropped to 34-35-3 in the all-time series vs LSU while Napier falls to 1-
3 against the Tigers
Florida falls to 17-20 all-time in Baton Rouge despite being 12-11 since 1981.
Florida now has a 4-4 record when facing a top-five LSU team since 2007.
THE SCORING STREAK
Florida has scored in 464 consecutive games — an NCAA record and 55 games longer than any
other college football team in history.
o Florida broke Michigan’s record of 365 games (1984-2014) vs. LSU on Oct. 7, 2017.
o The last time Florida was shut out was on Oct. 29, 1988, vs. Auburn (L, 16-0).

GAME DETAILS

Florida Game Captains: #13 RB Jadan Baugh, #94 EDGE Tyreak Sapp, #29 K Trey Smack
Coin Toss: Florida won the toss and deferred; LSU received and UF defended the north endzone.
o The Gators won their third-consecutive coin toss to begin the season.
Attendance: 102,158

2025 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach
No. 3 LSU 20, Florida 10
Sept. 13, 2025

Opening statement…
“I want to compliment the players. The leadership of the team. I thought it was obviously a tough
early part of the week, but I do think the staff and leadership towards the players did a great job of
creating momentum towards tonight and having those players ready to compete and ready to play.
I thought they played with effort and toughness; the passion was there. I think we did a lot of good
things on defense, 10 first downs and really just held them to 316 yards and got a takeaway late. I
thought we did a nice job in the kicking game, controlled their returners. In general, that part of the
plan worked. Offensively, just not able to generate enough. I felt like when we had momentum, we
had a critical penalty or turned the ball over. So, right before half obviously was a big one, then the
one to make it two scores, and then you’re down two and you kind of play one dimensional at that
point. This is a team game. I know there will be a lot of dialogue and narrative about DJ, and he’ll
take complete ownership if he thinks he can do better and we all understand that. I do think that it’s
important for everyone to understand that at the end of the day he is still a young player. It’s
important for everybody. He’s an incredible teammate and an incredible young man. He works as
hard as any player I’ve been around and I think that tonight is not indicative of who he is as a
teammate, as a football player and as a leader on this team. He made mistakes, much like we’ve all
made mistakes in the past. One thing I know about him is he’ll take complete ownership of the things
he can do better. I would say that is my responsibility. I think being a leader on offense, helping him,
trying to help the players around him to play better to try to put him in a position where he has better
options and can make better positions. That’s part of coaching, so any time a team makes mistakes
it’s a direct reflection of the coaching and we need to do better in that regard. We got a group in
that locker room who put it on the line and did what we asked them to do in that regard. They
showed up to compete and we made too many mistakes to win the football game, it’s that simple. I
think parts of our team did enough to win and other parts didn’t. Hats off to LSU. They made some
plays, they have a good football team, a good veteran quarterback, a good, stingy defense and
some unique returners.”
On the penalties charged to the offensive line…
“A lot of our holding penalties tonight and in the past have been when the pocket is clean early in
the down and then the quarterback extends, or escapes or begins to scramble, and then we get our
hands outside the framework. I think a majority of the ones that were called tonight were that way,
and the one that was called last week was the same, the one that was called on Jake [Slaughter].
Those are the tough ones on the OL because they’re protecting the launch point and all of a sudden
that launch point changes and I think if you feel that happen, then your hands get outside the
framework and you have to cut them loose.”

On the offseason struggles DJ Lagway has faced…
“Look, I think we all understand the dynamic here. This was his fourth week of practice. He’s had a
very unique offseason. He’s missed quite a bit of time, but I would say that what he’s going to say to
you is that he’s not going to use that as a crutch. This is not a young man that’s looking for excuses.
He’s going to evaluate it objectively, independent of what’s happened in the past and he was
cleared and available. Ready to play, had a full week to prepare, and I think it’s a young player that
is going to learn from his experiences. We all understand that that contributes to it, but he nor our
staff is going to lean on that to allow that to be a crutch or an excuse.”
On giving Trammell Jones Jr. a look…
“No, I don’t really, I don’t subscribe to that theory. Yeah, DJ’s our quarterback. He’s one of the best
quarterbacks in the country. He’s made some tough throws, made good decisions tonight but he
also made some bad decisions tonight. And you’re talking about a guy who was a rookie himself.”
On Lagway’s issues on his interceptions …
“You guys watched the same game I watched, and I think we’ve got to continue to, we have to
continue to work through progressions. I think that’s part of it. Ultimately, I’d say if you get all of them,
that was probably the primary deal, was we got to continue to work our way through progression
and get on the next receiver. I’ll be able to answer that in depth Monday. Look, you guys will have a
chance to speak with him, but I think ultimately, there is lots to contribute to what happened.”
On the conversation he had with Lagway on the sideline …
“You know, we are right on the kick line, right on the 36. It’s a 10-point game and that’s a situation
where you would kick the field goal and try to get it to a touchdown game. So, we are going into
that series of downs first, second and third down understanding that, knowing that and then
obviously to turn it over would not be you know what we were looking to do in that situation. So,
that’s what we were talking about.”

2025 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Florida Student-Athletes
No. 3 LSU 20, Florida 10
Sept. 13, 2025

2 DJ Lagway, Sophomore Quarterback

On the game and his performance…
“I didn’t play well at all, and got to do better. Didn’t play turnover-free ball. Anytime you have five
turnovers in a game, you can’t expect to win a game.”
On if there were any common themes with his interceptions…
“Just bad ball placement, bad misread throws, and I got to play better. And like Coach Napier
always says, this is a practice sport. You’ve got to practice, you’ve got to play it, you’ve got to get
through it and I’ll continue to work and I’ll get better.”
On if his lack of offseason practice has contributed to his struggles…
“I would say it’s definitely been hard, but God does everything for a reason. I missed that time period
for a reason to assess some things and set back things and fix some things that I needed to fix, on
and off the field. I can’t never say that was a big problem, but I’ll just keep my head down, work hard
and continue to get better.”
On how he processes his performance against LSU…
“I’ve never had a performance like that in my life, so it’s kind of hard to process it, but at the end of
the day it’s all about how do you bounce back and how do you respond, and I’m planning on doing
so.”
On if it’s disappointing not seeing his film study translating to the field…
“There’s definitely always ways to improve the process, but like I said I’m just excited to get back to
work, just got to get this taste out of my mouth. I played horrible football today and I got to do
better.”
On what he and Coach Napier talked about after his fourth interception…
“We just talked about the situation of the game and what we were trying to accomplish there and I
kind of left it a little high on the receiver on the post route and I missed the throw. He just tells me, I
see what you were thinking there, but we got to play a little smarter in that area, trying to get three
points.”
On which interception bothered him the most…
“I’d say all of them bothered me, there wasn’t really one that stuck out to me. I feel like the one
before halftime really hurt, giving them three points before going into halftime. But like I said, all of
them were really painful, but I just got to play better.”

On the keys to bouncing back from this loss…
“We just got to rally troops. That’s all we can really do at this point. We’ve got to rally the troops and
bring confidence into guys. We’ve got to come around having swag, playing our game, we’ve got
to do better and improve our process and results will come.”
On if tonight’s performance impacted his self-belief and self-confidence…
“Not at all. I don’t put my confidence on how I feel into a game. My confidence comes from The
Lord. Of course I want to play better, but I’m not going to let this defeat my confidence, I know who I
am and I know what I can bring to the table, it’s just a matter of doing it.”

5 Myles Graham, Sophomore Linebacker

On the defensive performance on the night…
“I feel like we played well. We’re still not perfect, still not perfect football. It’s closer to the standard,
but it’s still not perfect. It wasn’t good enough for the win, so it wasn’t good enough. It’s not just on
the offense, it’s on us, too. We could have made some plays, capitalized on some more opportunities
to make more plays and get off the field, give the offense more time with the ball. So, it was a good
performance but not good enough.”
On any adjustments LSU made from last year to limit defensive pressure on the QB…
“I think it has something to do with scheme, but it’s not because of our rush hasn’t gotten any worse
or anything, they were getting the ball out pretty quickly so we have to play to try and cover so our
rush can try to get there quicker. So, that’s partly on me too.”
On the impact of the offensive turnovers on the defense…
“No, our defense is built to respond. Our defense is built to respond off of turnovers. What happens
over there has nothing to do with us. So, we have to play to our standard and just keep playing
football no matter what happens.”
On if they felt they were close to winning the game…
“I feel like it was a dog fight all game. I feel like they’re a great team, we’re a great team. We beat
ourselves, honestly, on offense, defense. We got to play better on both sides of the ball. It’s a team
game. It’s not just on DJ. It’s not just on the defense. It’s not just on one person. It’s on all of us and we
got to all around play better. The game slipped out of our hands two weeks in a row, so that’s a
problem that we’re gonna fix. We’re gonna get back to working. We’re gonna fix it.”
On rebounding from a loss like this and whether it gets any easier…
“We’ve seen how hard we work together the whole year, the whole offseason. I’ve seen how hard
DJ’s worked, first person in the facility, last one to leave, so I still believe in him. I still believe in all the
guys in the facility and the coaches and everybody. I’ve seen how hard we work. We bled together
all year, so this is not gonna phase us. We bounced back last year. We’re gonna do it again this
year.”

LSU vs Florida
September 13, 2025
Post-game Quotes
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly

OPENING STATEMENT
“One of the SEC classics. Two teams just battling and we did whatever was necessary to win this
game. Defensively, the five turnovers, playing to our defense, Grant Chadwick was outstanding,
we consistently flipped field position, and he had four punts inside the 20-yard line. Chadwick
was our weapon on offense today, and that’s how we needed to win the game. We came up with a
big running play at the end of game to put it away. Very pleased with our guys on the result
tonight and how they handled adversity. We lose arguably your best defensive player in the first
series, then his brother goes down, but we have a third Weeks. He did not fully understand what
was going on, but he was ready to play, and that’s what I love about this group. We keep battling
and our players believed they were going to win. There are ways to lose that game if we are not
smart, and we earned that win by managing the game. It is extremely difficult to win a game in
the SEC. Holding someone to 10 points on the offensive side of the ball, and finding a way to
win the game, I am extremely proud of our group.”
On Dashawn Spears Performance…
“His performance tonight has been a long-time coming. He has been grinding. Every day he
comes in and works hard as well as looking for an opportunity to get on the field and make an
impact.”
On Defensive Pressure…
“We felt DJ Lagway was never settled in the pocket. We moved the pocket and there was great
pressure. He could never settle and most of their interceptions were out of rhythm throws. Our
gameplan was to get him out of rhythm. We brought a lot of pressures, specifically with five-man
pressures, so we were in good coverage situations where we had zone defenders to have us in
good positions. There weren’t many situations where we had guys one-on-one in coverage. We
always had someway who was ready to assist and lap down for support.

LSU vs. Florida
September 13, 2025
LSU TE Bauer Sharp
On offensive struggles…
“That’s the name of the game, it’s adversity. We have a next play mentality and a 1-0 mindset.
That’s the name of the game; it’s a game of failure. I preach that to myself, and I preach that to
everyone else. If something goes wrong, you have to just keep moving on. Stuff didn’t go right
tonight; stuff doesn’t go right every night. That’s just the nature of the game, so we got to keep
moving on. Rely on the defense to make plays and bounce back.”
On the defense…
“I mean it’s awesome. Just thank you to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I got to give credit to
him just for this opportunity, but it is just so fun watching my best friends on the defensive side. I
room with Whit and West, they are my roommates. Watching them play, they’ll be back before
you know it. Even Pyburn and then young Zach Weeks got in too. Just watching them is a blast
just to see them go to battle.”
On the defensive injuries…
“I think that is a testament of what [Blake] Baker is instilling in every one of them. I think it’s the
next man up mentality. They are literally so tough. Every single one of them. If someone goes
down, someone steps up as a leader. I told [Harold] Perkins, I was like 40 went down, you got to
get a little extra loud tonight. Same with West, that dude balled his tail off. He’s awesome.
They’ll be back sooner or later, but it’s just next man up.”

LSU vs Florida Football
September 13, 2025
Post-game quotes
LSU Players

Sophomore Defensive Back Dashawn Spears
On what (the atmosphere) felt like…
“It felt amazing, the atmosphere, the fans, my teammates coming to celebrate me on the sideline.
It was just a surreal moment for me.”
Take us through that pick six that put the game away..
“We practice it in practice. I went over, I watched it in the hotel and I knew it was coming. If you
watch it back, I was creeping towards it, so I knew the slant was coming from the boundary, so I
just made a play.”
You knew it was coming when? You knew it was coming before the snap?
“Once the back went out, I became the shuttle forward. I went back to the hash. I saw him
creeping towards the boundary, so I knew the ball was going to come soon.”

LSU vs. Florida
September 13, 2025
LSU DE Jack Pyburn
On defensive game …
“Overall, this is why you come to LSU. This is why you come play for a coach like Blake Baker.
He is overaggressive and to be a successful defense, you have to be aggressive. You can’t be
scared, and we have the ball players to be aggressive. We have the guys in the secondary that are
going to make those plays, that are going to play man coverage, that are going to press, that are
going to make those key plays we need. We got guys on the [defensive] line that are going to
make the plays upfront. We’re going to stuff the run and that’s what we are built off of, being
fast, violent, physical and aggressive.”
On pressure towards DJ Lagway …
“It comes down to when you have good players in the secondary, you can be aggressive with
your rushes, you can be aggressive as a front and that’s something we’ve strived off of all camp.
Being aggressive upfront, being physical, dominant, getting after it and letting those guys in the
back make plays. It’s about winning one-on-one’s and if you want to win games in the SEC, win
a National Championship and win the SEC Championship, you must win one-on-ones, and
we’ve got guys that can win one-on-one’s.”

LSU v. Florida
September 13, 2025
LSU Punter Grant Chadwick
On his performance …
“Yeah, I was very pleased with how I played. There is a new game plan every week on special
teams. I think we executed that pretty well tonight. It is definitely a great feeling being able to do
that in this atmosphere.”
On Coach Brian Kelley calling him the offensive weapon …
“Yeah, definitely good. This week at practice he came up to me and said to be ready to make an
impact this weekend. I was ready. I tell [Garrett] Nussemeier before every game, keep me off the
field tonight, but I will have his back if he can’t do that.”