GAINESVILLE, Fla. — DJ Lagway continues to tack on nominations for preseason award watch lists by being placed on the 2025 Davey O’Brien Award preseason watch list. 

The award is named after Robert David “Davey” O’Brien who played at TCU from 1935 to 1938 and helped lead the team to a National Championship win in his final year. O’Brien is also the only player to ever win the Walter Camp Award, Maxwell Award and Heisman Trophy in the same year. The Davey O’Briend Award is given to the nation’s top returning college quarterback, and this year’s preseason watch list is made up of 36 athletes. Lagway is one of seven sophomores named to the list.

Lagway made a case for the Davey O’Brien Award after helping lead the Gators to a winning record of 8-5 to close out the season and had a record of 6-1 when Lagway started games. Lagway was one of the most prominent freshmen quarterbacks in the nation, tying the program record of most wins as a true freshman quarterback and led all FBS true freshmen with a 154.9 passer rating while ranking third among all FBS passers with a passing grade of 95.8 on deep balls.

The Davey O’Brien Award watch list is narrowed down to a 35-player QB class on Oct. 28, 2025, by way of fan voting on social media. From this class a list of semifinalists is named on Nob. 12 with the finalists being announced two weeks later. Finally, on Dec. 11, 2025. the winner of the Davey O’Brien Award is selected during The Home Depot College Football Awards.

Click here for more information about the Davey O’Brien Award and for the complete preseason watch list.