Florida football received massive news regarding its future Dec. 15, as starting quarterback DJ Lagway announced his intention to enter the transfer portal.
Lagway spent the better part of two seasons as UF's signal caller, accumulating 4,179 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
Now, with Lagway off to his next destination, where will Jon Sumrall and Florida turn for its open quarterback position?
Rising sophomore Tramell Jones Jr.:
Lagway's backup in 2025, Tramell Jones Jr. made two appearances for the Gators and showed flashes of what made him a highly-touted recruit.
A four-star from Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Jones parlayed his strong offseason into UF's relief role. He first appeared in Florida's opener against Long Island Aug. 30, where he completed 12 of his 18 pass attempts for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
“Tramell has earned the job,” former Florida head coach Billy Napier said after the 55-0 win over the Sharks. “This is an opportunity to give him a lot of work, and we felt strongly about that.”
Jones would later substitute in for Lagway when the sophomore was benched after throwing three interceptions against Kentucky Nov. 8. In the second half of that contest, Jones completed 9 of his 17 throws for 60 yards.
Overall, Jones earned a 65.6 Pro Football Focus grade, just behind Lagway's mark of 66.4. However, Jones' passing grade of 71.7 surpassed Lagway's 62.2 mark.
Incoming freshman Will Griffin:
One of the most decorated high school quarterbacks in Florida state history, Will Griffin enters UF with plenty of hype.
A consensus four-star recruit from Tampa, Griffin was named the 2025 Gatorade Florida Football Player of the Year after throwing for 2,534 yards and 37 touchdowns in his senior season.
Overall, Griffin threw for 12,299 yards and 143 touchdowns during his time at Jesuit High School. That touchdown mark places him No. 2 all-time in Florida high school history.
Griffin originally committed to UF in June of 2024 and he officially signed with the Gators Dec. 3 of this year.
Transfer portal options:
A number of experienced quarterbacks have already entered their name into the transfer portal, presenting intriguing options for Sumrall and new offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner.
Chief among these options is former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt. In two years starting for the Sun Devils, Leavitt threw for 4,513 yards, 34 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He also added 749 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground.
Faulkner is no stranger to working with a mobile quarterback. He helped lead Georgia Tech's Haynes King to three consecutive successful seasons where King recorded at least 2,000 passing yards, 500 rushing yards, 10 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing touchdowns.
Michigan State's Aidan Chiles also entered the portal moments after Lagway. While Chiles has not been nearly as productive as options like Leavitt, he has a dynamic arm and has flashed special ability. In 2025, he completed 63.1% of his throws for 1,392 yards, 10 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He also added 227 yards and 6 touchdowns on the ground.
Another portal addition Dec. 15 is Nebraska's Dylan Raiola. The Buford, Georgia, native completed 72.4% of his throws in 2025, racking up 2,000 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
Other experienced signal callers in the portal include Harvard's Jaden Craig and Old Dominion's Colton Joseph, both of whom have been highly productive, albeit against moderate competition.
A more inexperienced, but potentially high-upside option is Notre Dame's Kenny Minchey. Minchey was in a close quarterback battle against now-starter CJ Carr in South Bend, Indiana, this past fall, and he entered the transfer portal at the conclusion of the 2025 season.
The wild cards:
With Faulkner calling the offensive shots, he might want a quarterback he is familiar with. That would be Georgia Tech's Aaron Philo.
A three-star recruit in the 2024 recruiting cycle, the rising redshirt sophomore has played sparingly in relief of King, completing 57.8% of his throws for 938 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. However, Philo has graded out strongly from PFF, earning a 91.3 and 80.0 offensive grade in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
While he hasn't had a real chance to emerge just yet, Philo's relationship with Faulkner has strong roots, as the coach heavily recruited him coming out of high school.
"Philo is proving that he can go into game and tough situations and go deliver the football," Faulkner said in July. "Some of the biggest situations. All of last year, he was able to go in and win games ... And you saw what he did when his number was called."
Another potential option could be Duke's Darian Mensah, who played under Sumrall at Tulane in 2023.
Mensah has emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the ACC in 2025, completing 67.9% of his throws for 3,646 yards, 30 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Overall, Mensah earned a 89.6 PFF overall grade en route to leading the Blue Devils to become ACC Conference Champions.
“I love Darian to death — I’ve said this publicly," Sumrall said in 2025. "If you play one snap, 100 snaps, 1,000 snaps for me, I’ll love you for the rest of my life. I care about him, wish him well. … I’ve got nothing but love for Darian."
Neither Philo or Mensah have entered the transfer portal at the time of writing.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his sixth semester at The Alligator and now serves as The Alligator's Football Reporter and is a junior sports journalism student. He previously served as The Alligator's Sports Editor, and served as reporter for women's tennis, volleyball and lacrosse. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. He wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Tomas Kopecky).
