2024 Florida Football Postgame Notes

Florida 31, Florida State 11

Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium – Tallahassee, Fla.
OPENING DRIVE: GATORS THUMP NOLES, WIN THIRD-STRAIGHT TO CLOSE OUT REGULAR SEASON

For the first time in 68 installments of the Florida-FSU rivalry, both teams started true freshman
quarterbacks in UF’s DJ Lagway and Luke Kromenhoek of the Seminoles.
Although Lagway was Florida’s fifth true freshman quarterback to start against Florida State, he
became the first of that contingent to defeat the Seminoles.
Florida has won four of the last six meetings against Florida State, with three of those wins being by
20-plus points.
Florida closed out the regular season with three-straight victories (def. No. 21 LSU, No. 9 Ole Miss,
FSU) for the first time since the 2019 campaign (def. Vanderbilt, Missouri and FSU).
The Gators conclude the regular season at 7-5 (4-4 SEC) with their best record since 2020 and
await their fate in their 49th all-time bowl appearance.
Florida outscored its opponents by 38 points (82-44) across its three-game winning streak.
Lagway improved to 5-1 as a starter, with his lone loss being to No. 2 Georgia, a game which the
Gators led prior to him departing due to injury (5-0 in games he starts and finishes).
The Gators posted their most sacks (eight), tackles for loss (14) and fumble recoveries (five) of the
Billy Napier era – each marking the team’s most in the last five seasons.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
True freshman QB DJ Lagway made his sixth-career start in Week 14 vs. FSU, completing 14-of-22
passes (63.6%) for 133 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for a 135.3 rating.
Entering Week 14 leading all FBS passers with a 97.3 passing grade on deep throws (20-plus yards),
Lagway completed two deep balls against FSU (21, 25).
Lagway threw multiple touchdowns for the second-straight week and third time in his career.
Lagway has passed for nine touchdowns to four interceptions in his six starts.
True freshman RB Jadan Baugh rushed 11 times for 81 yards (7.4 YPC).
Baugh accounted for four of Florida’s 10 explosive plays, posting rushes of 21, 12, 27 and 14 yards.
RB Ja’Kobi Jackson put the Gators on the board with his sixth-rushing touchdown of the season.
WR Chimere Dike had three explosive plays to push his season total to 21 catches of 15-plus yards.
WR Marcus Burke caught his second TD of the season to give UF a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
RB Montrell Johnson Jr. made his second-straight start (eighth of season) back from injury and
rushed 10 times for 99 yards (9.9 YPC) and one touchdown.
Johnson Jr. eclipsed 3,000 career rushing yards with a 65-yard TD scamper in the fourth quarter,
becoming one of 17 active FBS players to do so including one of four in the SEC.
The score marked Johnson Jr.’s 35th career touchdown (33 rushing).
WR Elijhah Badger extended his streak to 37-straight games with a reception (11th in FBS).
Badger finished with 789 receiving yards in the regular season, already ranking third behind
Kadarius Toney (984) and Ricky Pearsall (964) across the Gators’ last 10 seasons.
TE Tony Livingston hauled in his first-career TD with an eight-yard grab from Lagway in the fourth.
UF had three players rush for 50-plus yards for the first time this year (Johnson Jr., Baugh, Jackson).
The Gators rushed for 200-plus yards for the second time this season and 13th in their last 37 games.
Florida scored 30 points for the 18th time since 2022.
The Gators have punched in a rushing touchdown in 11 of 12 games this season and 31 of 37
contests since 2022.
The Gators have rushed for 100-plus yards in 11 of 12 games and 31 of their last 37 since 2022.
In 28 of 37 games in the Napier era, Florida has registered at least one passing touchdown.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
● The Gators delivered a season-high eight sacks and 14 tackles for loss – both being the program’s
most in the last five seasons – since Aug. 24, 2019 vs. Miami (10, 16).
● Florida’s five fumble recoveries marked the team’s most since at least 2000 and one shy of the
program record of six (three times, last vs. Vanderbilt in 1993).
● The Gators finished with at least four sacks in three-straight contests and at six or more for the
second time in the last three games.

● Across Florida’s three-game winning streak, the Gators have racked up 34 tackles for loss
highlighted by 18 sacks, in addition to 14 pass breakups, 12 hurries and eight forced fumbles.
o In that same span, UF has allowed 12 tackles for loss and six sacks.
● The Gators have recorded a takeaway in nine-straight games and 11 of 12 overall.
● Florida posted a first-half shutout for the third time this season (Samford, Tennessee) and held its
opponent without a first-half touchdown for the fourth time (Samford, UCF, Tennessee).

● Florida recovered multiple fumbles for the first time this season and has recovered a fumble in four-
straight contests.

● The Gators had two fumble recoveries in a half for the first time since Nov. 5, 2022 vs. Texas A&M.
● With five against FSU, the Gators now own 22 takeaways on the season.
● Florida has forced at least 15 fumbles in four-straight seasons.
● EDGE Tyreak Sapp logged a sack for the third-straight week, taking down Luke Kromenhoek and
forcing a fumble on FSU’s opening drive to increase his season total to a team-high 7.0 sacks.
o Sapp has 3.5 sacks the last three games alone.
● LB Jaden Robinson made it back-to-back sacks with Sapp to force a punt on FSU’s opening drive.
● Robinson finished with a career-high 2.0 sacks while adding five tackles.
● LB Jack Pyburn forced a sack fumble in the first quarter for the first sack and forced fumble of his
career while LB D’Antre Robinson came away with his first-career fumble recovery on the play.
● LB Shemar James forced and recovered a fumble in the second quarter, marking his first of the
season in both categories (second of career).
● DT Cam Jackson recorded his first sack of the season.
o Jackson came up with a second sack for UF’s eighth of the game.
o His career-high 2.0 sacks are more than he previously had in a single season.
● EDGE George Gumbs Jr. registered his first-career fumble recovery in the third quarter for Florida’s
fourth fumble recovery of the night.
● Gumbs Jr. later logged his fifth sack of the campaign for UF’s sixth of the game.
● DB Sharif Denson’s second sack of the year increased the Gators’ count to seven.
● DE Kamran James forced his first-career fumble, which was recovered by LB T.J. Searcy (first of
career) in the fourth quarter for UF’s fifth fumble recovery of the game.
● The Gators have produced at least one turnover in 28 of 37 games in the Napier era.
● Florida held Florida State to under 300 total yards of offense (239).
o This is the 10th time since the start of the 2022 season that the Gators have held an
opponent to 300 yards or fewer.

● Florida held its opponent to under 200 passing yards for the 15th time in the Napier era.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
● P Jeremy Crawshaw punted six times for an average of 43.2 yards, highlighted by two of 50-plus,
two inside the 20-yard line and a long of 53.
o Crawshaw has punted for 50-plus yards on 74 of 187 career punts.
● K Trey Smack connected for a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter to improve to 14-for-17 on
attempts this season.
● LS Rocco Underwood picked up UF’s third takeaway, recovering a muffed punt in the third quarter
for his first fumble recovery of the season (second of career).
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS (10)
● RB Jadan Baugh: 21-yard rush, first quarter
● RB Ja’Kobi Jackson: 13-yard rush, first quarter
● WR Chimere Dike (from QB DJ Lagway): 17-yard reception, second quarter
● WR Chimere Dike (from Lagway): 21-yard reception, second quarter
● RB Montrell Johnson Jr.: 13-yard rush, second quarter
● WR Chimere Dike (from Lagway): 25-yard reception, second quarter
● RB Jadan Baugh: 12-yard rush, third quarter
● RB Montrell Johnson Jr.: 65-yard touchdown rush, fourth quarter
● RB Jadan Baugh: 27-yard rush, fourth quarter
● RB Jadan Baugh: 14-yard rush, fourth quarter

SERIES UPDATES
● Today’s game was the 68th meeting between Florida and FSU and 30th in Tallahassee.
● With today’s win, the Gators improve 38-28-2 (.574) in the series vs. the Noles and 15-14-1 (.517) in
Tallahassee.

HC Billy Napier improved to 1-2 against FSU HC Mike Norvell.
Florida held FSU to its fewest points (11) in the series since 2009 (10).
THE STREAK
● Florida has scored in 460-consecutive games — an NCAA record and 53 games longer than any
other college football team in history.
o The Gators 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: #26 P Jeremy Crawshaw, #15 QB Graham Mertz, #15 LB Derek Wingo
● Coin Toss: Florida won the toss and deferred; Florida defended the north endzone.
o The Gators have won five-straight coin tosses.
● Attendance: 55,107

2024 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach
Florida 31, Florida State 11
November 30, 2024

Opening statement…
“Before we get going here, obviously what happened there at the end of the game is not who we
want to be as a program. And it’s embarrassing to me and it’s a distraction from a really well-played
football game. So, I want to apologize on behalf of the entire organization, just in terms of how we
represented the University there. We shouldn’t have done that and we won’t do that going forward,
and there will be consequences for all involved. I do think that we played complimentary ball. I
thought, defensively, we were really lights out. We had a season high in TFLs and sacks, limited the
explosive plays, and then, obviously created some takeaways and were able to take advantage of
those on offense and get some points from those. Montrell [Johnson Jr.] goes over 3,000 yards. And
look, I think we didn’t have our fastball on offense. I think it was evident there. We had some missed
opportunities, and I do think that it could’ve been worse, is what I would say. But I think we struggled
at times there. We got to play better around the quarterback. Obviously, across the board there, I
think we’ll look back at it and we’ll see that we got to play better around the quarterback. But in
general, good ball. Good to see us finish it there in the second half. And then, really proud of the
leadership of the players. We talked all week about finishing the race, and we’re here. Proud of our
team.”
On the defense being opportunistic with five fumble recoveries…
“Yeah, some of those were just takeaway behavior. We talk about putting takeaway behavior on the
film. Do it in practice, you do it in the game. Second, third, fourth, fifth defender in, being around the
ball. Population around the ball contributes to turnovers. The mission here was to come here and put
a bunch of identity clips on the tape, and I think we did that.”
On clinching the team’s first winning season since 2020…
“I think midseason is when it all kind of came together. Think the players did a good job of kind of
putting their blinders on in the first month, and didn’t allow excuses, didn’t allow blame. Really just
went back to work. Go back to that first open date, and I think that Tennessee game was pivotal.
The way they responded to that. Just in general, good to have some momentum, and I thought we
took advantage. That was the mission, was to capture the momentum we had tonight and I think we
did that.”
On the locker room excitement following the win…
“It’s a huge positive. It’s unfortunate that we have a distraction, that again is inexcusable. Look, our
guys deserve it. They’re worked their tails off. I’m proud of them. As a coach, you want to see the
players get some gratification from all their work. These guys, what we ask them to do, is not normal.
And all they’ve done is continue to show up, and they’ve brought the effort, brought the attitude
and they were ready to play.”

On looking back and identifying when the mindset got to where it needs to be…
“That Wednesday of that first open date, that’s kind of where I kind of saw our guys change tunes a
little bit. Change gears as competitors. Get back to playing the game, enjoying playing the game.
And then I think the way we competed on the road at Tennessee, in that first half we really showed
up and fought our tails off, and thought we were in position to win that game. Then obviously that
transitioned to Kentucky and then the way we competed against Georgia. All these things kept
adding up. But in general, taking pride in how we compete on game day. One thing we’ve learned
is you got to earn it. You gotta go take it. There’s no shortcuts. There’s no guarantee of a return. You
got to do all the work during the week and then when the ball gets spotted, you have to go execute.
You have to win one-on-ones. You have to communicate at a high level. You got to play with extra
effort. You got to play with physicality. So, we figured out that we could do it and that’s football. We
got some guys that can play, and they finally started playing with some confidence. I think belief is
powerful.”
On the touchdown before half followed by the pick to open the third quarter…
“We were trying to play make-it, take-it. I thought we managed the clock pretty good there. We
didn’t start the half very good, so I was disappointed with that. But yeah, to make it two scores and
really just kind of extend the lead, and get control of the game. At that point, although we were in
control the score didn’t reflect that. Making it two scores right before the half was big.”
On Lagway shrugging off a potential sack for an explosive play…
“Superman. There were a handful of plays that were off-schedule and I think that’s what he does.
He’s going to be frustrated because he knows there were six or eight plays out there where he could
have been better. But look, we got to play better around the quarterback. I didn’t think we were as
sharp. Every position there can be better around the quarterback tonight.”
On seeing Montrell Johnson Jr. returning from injury to eclipse 3,000 rushing yards…
“He worked his tail off to get over the high ankle, the bone bruise. Missed a chunk of the season there
in the middle. You could just see, just last week against Ole Miss, when he’s on, he’s a little different.
His patience, his acceleration, his vision. And then he showed some finishing speed tonight. I mean,
3,000 yards. How many backs in the country right now have got 3,000 yards rushing? So, he’s taken
full advantage. And he’s a class act off the field. He’s everything you would want a player to be in
terms of representing the program.”

2024 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Florida Student-Athletes
Florida 31, Florida State 11
November 30, 2024

2 DJ Lagway, True Freshman Quarterback

On the rivalry win…
“It’s pretty cool, just to see the stadium. You always watch, see it on TV, and just seeing the horse and
stuff like that in the middle of the field, it’s pretty cool to go there and see that. And then go play and
get the dub, especially, in those stadiums, it was great.”
On escaping a sack for a big play…
“Just playing football. Just going out there, having heart, just competing. It wasn’t the prettiest game,
there was a lot of mistakes that we made offensively, and just going out there when my team needs
me to make a play, just got to make a play, just doing everything I can do to get the W, you know.”
On how he is feeling from a health standpoint …
“Yeah, I am feeling a lot better since LSU. It’s just a week-by-week process just to get it back. I am
starting to be able to move a lot better now, as you can see. You know, I feel like it’s getting better
each week and it’s just going to continue to progress.”
On how big that touchdown was right before the half…
“It was huge, especially, you know we had some communication issues in the redzone that led to the
pick, so it was huge for me to come back to [Marcus] Burke, ‘cause he felt like he let everybody
down. But it’s a team effort, we just all had to get on the same page and it felt great to go back to
him on that route and get that touchdown.”

1 Montrell Johnson Jr., Senior Running Back

On going out with a winning record…
“It means a lot for the future of this program. Just knowing that these guys, myself included, have set
the standard and the platform for the guys in the future. Just to go out and make this program great
again.”
On not being able to play last week…
“He kind of addressed it in the locker room. He said there’s no place for this. We’re not the type of
program. Again, there’s no place for this. It’s football. We’re trying to become a winning program
and winning programs don’t do that.”
On what he has seen from DJ as a leader…
“As a leader, I have seen a lot of maturity at his age that you don’t see a lot, just kind of becoming
that natural leader that this team needs right now. Just like whenever guys mess up, you know a lot of
young guys don’t want to speak up, but he’s the opposite of that. He speaks up, he speaks his mind
and that’s going to be great in the future.”
On what it means to rush for 3,000 yards…
“I don’t really know how to feel about it, honestly. Obviously, it means a lot to me, but I just feel like
going out there, getting a win with the team, just going out the right way, that means more to me.”

6 Shemar James, Junior Linebacker

On how he felt after the rivalry win…
“Happy, so happy, so happy y’all. Like [Tyreak Sapp] said, you know two losses in a row to these guys,
and it was great to get that bad taste out of our mouth and come into their house and get the dub.”
On his fumble recovery and getting the ball back to the offense…
“Yeah, it felt great for myself, for the team. You know, that was just a big turning point in the game,
just any big play on defense getting the ball back to the offense. And it was great like you said, I
almost ran to the endzone with it but, the ref gave me a couple of choice words, but it was good.
Yeah, I had to make sure we got it back.”
On the amount of forced and recovered fumbles the defense had…
“Yeah, I mean shoot we practice that in our takeover circuit throughout the week. We expect that.
That’s kind of our standard, get the ball out, get it back to our offense. You know, we wanted to
score on defense but we unfortunately couldn’t do that, but it’s coming.”
On The improvement in manufactured defensive pressures and coverages …
“Yeah, I think you kind of explained it well. Just guys being comfortable in the defense. Coach
Roberts and Coach Armstrong, they kinda draw things to kind of get the quarterbacks looking this
way and the pressure is coming from the other way. Like kind of disguising different coverages just to
get to the quarterbacks. I think it’s just guys that got that confidence that can disguise very well and
we hit a lot tonight.”

94 Tyreak Sapp, Redshirt Junior EDGE

On what the win means to the team…
“It was like a relief, off my back. I’ve gone two years, two years losing to these guys. That’s a great
group of guys that they put together, always find a way to put a team together. It’s always a
challenge, it’s a rivalry game, we don’t like them and they don’t like us. So, for two years, this has
been sitting on us, sitting on me and Shemar especially, because we were here to see it. It was just
great to see the work that we’ve been putting in since the offseason. This is one of the best ways to
end it.”
On the feeling in the locker room after this three-game win streak/turnaround…
“It’s gratifying, but it’s great to know that we earned it. I tell my guys, we don’t ‘deserve’ anything.
We ‘earn’ everything that we have and everything that we get. Nobody gives us anything, because
when people play the Florida Gators, they’re going to put their best foot forward and try to destroy us
just because of who we are. We accept that challenge… week in and week out, we take that
personally and go to work…”