GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway continues to add to his preseason watch list nominations by being placed on the Walter Camp Award watch list for the 2025 season.

The Walter Camp Award was founded in the name of Walter Camp who was one of the main contributors in making the game of football into what it is today. A player at Yale, Camp competed from 1877 to 1882 and served as the captain of the team in 1878, 1879 and 1881. His contributions off the field were even more important than his performance on the field. Camp helped create the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), served as Yale’s first football coach from 1876 to 1910 and helped lead the adoption of new rules that helped make the game safer and help differentiate football from rugby.

Each year, 45 collegiate athletes are named to the preseason watch list. The qualifications for this nomination include contributing to the game of American football, upholding the ideals of Walter Camp and supporting various humanitarian programs and activities.

Although early in his career, Lagway has already started to make headway into football history. Being one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks in the country, everyone was keen to see how he would perform on the college football stage and he lived up to expectations despite playing through a few injuries. Lagway earned eight different Freshman All-American honors, was named the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl MVP and was prominent figure in helping various nonprofit organizations in the Gainesville area. Lagway even created a foundation of his own to help support the local youth in Gainesville with UF Health through community initiatives.

From the list of 45 athletes, a committee made up of 133 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors will narrow it down to a group of 10 semifinalists in early November and then to a group of three finalists in early December with the winner being announced Dec. 12, 2025.

More information about the Walter Camp Award and its watch list can be found here.