In an unguarded moment Saturday night, in the immediate aftermath of the Florida Gators' latest disappointment, quarterback DJ Lagway told reporters that he was hurting.

The preseason injuries. The seven losses. The firing of coach Billy Napier. It was a lot to bear.

And after Lagway said the hard thing out loud, that this year was "emotionally draining," he sat dejected in Florida's locker room.

Interim head coach Billy Gonzales had heard Lagway's comments and now he saw that his 20-year-old quarterback could use a kind word.

"After the press conference," Gonzales said, "after he had done it, he was sitting in the locker room. I was going in to change before we got on the bus and, again, same thing I told you a couple of weeks ago, when I sat with (receiver) Dallas (Wilson) on the bus, when he got injured. I saw DJ sitting there in the locker room and I sat down and put my arm around him, told him I loved him, told him ”Listen, this is just a minor thing. We’ve got to continue to work through it. I got nothing but tons of respect (for you). I think you're a heck of a football player, and continue to hold your chin up.”

It's fair to say that the 2025 Gators — and Lagway because he is the face of the team — have fallen far short of expectations. The sophomore quarterback's struggles, the halftime benching at Kentucky, they are the most replayed storylines of the program's worst season in decades.

"I watched it again on where (Lagway) says, 'You know, that starts with me,' and I don't want him to think that," Gonzales said. "I want him to understand that I want him just to relax and go play. The decision processes, yeah, we've got to continue to work on making great decisions, but go be a great player and that, that's your weapon: Go be a great player. You do that naturally.

"But I want to make sure he understands that we love him, we care about him, and again, he's done a fantastic job. He put us in a position to be where we needed to be in the fourth quarter. Again, it takes a team to be able to finish it, not just one individual."

At his Monday press conference, Gonzales also shared updates on injured players and what his battered defense can do to prepare for No. 23 Tennessee on Saturday night at The Swamp.

Q: Lagway showed he was a dual threat (in the Ole Miss game) in terms of the running aspect. Is he finally healthy?

Gonzales: When you start looking at if he’s healthy, that pairs with what kind of run game is he doing? He's a willing runner, and I think that's first and foremost. When you’re talking about quarterbacks that can run the ball, are they willing? He's more than willing. He's big, he's powerful, he's strong. And then it adds another dimension to our offense when you have a quarterback that can run. So, I look forward to him continuing that process. But yes, he has been healthy.

Q.  You came up under a guy there who abhorred rivals. I mean, he made a point of doing something special each week. How do you channel some of that energy this week yourself and what's your approach to a team like Tennessee? You got FSU on the horizon and two big rivalry games.

A. We talked about that in the staff (meeting) yesterday. Just talked about making sure our players stay focused and extra motivation, how the motivation comes from. And again, these players, the one thing these players understand is that at Tennessee, there's a deep-rooted history, both Tennessee and the next week. But we’re focusing on this week. They’re an exceptional football team, but obviously our players understand that this game has always been a heated rivalry, so we will continue to talk to our players about it. We will continue. We have throughout the summer, we always show videos from rivalries, players from the past, players from our team right now, and past players making plays, both offensively and defensively. So, we'll have some video looping going on just to make sure our players understand the importance of this game. But as a competitor, I think we've sold a fact to our players and as a staff, competitors, they want to compete no matter who they're playing against. Whether it's in front of 100,000, whether it's in the backyard with their uncles, their family members. If you're an athlete and you're a competitor, you want to win, you want to compete no matter what the stage, no matter who you're playing. So, our players are excited, I'm excited, our players will be at a high level, competing at a high level, and they have an opportunity to play back in The Swamp. But I think that's the one thing you want to talk about, something that gets you fired up, the opportunity to play back home in front of The Swamp in a night game. Our players will be ready to play.

Q.  Obviously, the (Tim) Tebow game (2006, Tebow's freshman year) vs. Tennessee was pretty epic.

A. Gonzales: There's a bunch of them, from Jemalle Cornelius to Dallas Baker, making a couple of big plays. Trevon Grimes scoring on a little screen. There's a bunch of memories that you have. We had some great plays in last year's game. So, we've just got to put it together. This game, our players are excited, again, have the opportunity to go compete. They're excited to play for each other, continue that process. Our goal is to continue to keep pushing them as a coaching staff, continue to play and continue to keep working hard. 

Q. The (first) Tebow game (against Tennessee) was the first time we kind of saw what he could be. There were downs where you could put him in to run the ball.

A. I’ve got to go back to look at the game on that one. I can't remember that far. But yeah, well, he's big and strong, and he did plenty of that over the years, too. So, special. The great thing about Tim, when we're talking about competitors, Tim's legacy, his competition level, was elite. I still remember Jemalle Cornelius was a team captain for us, and I still remember they ran stadium steps back in the day, they had a team run and Tim beat all the receivers. And (Jamalle) took great pride. He was a team captain. He took great pride in being a leader, and being able to compete at a high level and Jemalle said, ‘Coach, that guy's different. He beat me running the stadium steps!’ So that just kind of tells you about what kind of competitor Tim was.

Q. Has Urban (Meyer) talked to the team at all?

A. I haven't talked to Coach (Meyer) for a couple of weeks. I know we texted last week back and forth, but I'll reach out to him. I'm not sure what day he's coming up. And obviously, that'll be something that we talk about as a staff. I think anytime you get a great mind, a great coach, a great motivator, and have an opportunity to speak to a team, I think that's obviously something that you look forward to.

Q. It's two (straight) weeks Florida has given up to 200 or more yards on the ground. Is there anything you can put your finger on?

A. No, you know, and again, I said the players, they played extremely hard, and I was talking to (defensive coordinator) (Ron) Roberts this morning, and he said, “Listen, we played extremely hard.” If you look at the film again, the players played hard. Now, that doesn't mean we played well at all in all phases at all times. I think we went back to the same thing again. We were talking about it this morning. We've got some players in position to make tackles, and we didn't make tackles, whether they didn't grab cloth, whether they ducked her head at a time, whether we got moved out of a gap. Again, we played hard, but as a coaching staff, we got to make sure that we're playing well in our players. Again, that's where I said, we got to take accountability as a coaching staff and the players, to go make those plays. But you're exactly right. We got to be better, and it's something I mentioned earlier. We've got to be better at stopping the run.

Q. Tennessee's tempo, too, and (head coach Josh) Heupel, it’s another high-powered offense you’re facing. What's the challenge defensively in regards to that?

A. Yeah, absolutely. Tennessee, I'm just looking at some notes here. Tennessee offensively this season, the second in the nation is scoring offense, second in total offense, third and first down offense, third in passing offense, 14th in passing yard. So, they are definitely a high-powered offense and will be another challenge for our defense. I'm expecting the defense to come out and do exactly what they did the last couple of weeks or last couple games that we've played, go out and compete. This is a little different. They do throw the ball a little bit more than they do run, but they do have a sol solid run game as well. I looked at their passing game and run game as far as what they're doing per game. Runs per game, they're averaging 37 passes per game. They're explosive. They take some shots downfield, like I got done talking about what we need to continue to do, and then they've got a quarterback that's come in and done a fantastic job from this year.

Q.What are the expectation for (defensive lineman) Caleb Banks? Is he ready to play.

A. Yeah, he's he's been cleared, so obviously his return to play is going to be based on his body and how he comes through and performs this week at practice. But everybody's a little different. It takes some players a little bit longer, more time, to come back (and be ready to play in a game). But I know as far as his attitude and willingness and eagerness to come back, he wants to come back immediately. So, he wanted to play this past week, so, it'll be nice to get him back, another big body up front to come help us in that run game as well.

Q. Are you going to let him go back in there and let him go?

A. No, he started practicing last week, you know, so he went through, I want to say, I was talking with coach (Roberts) about this. I think he got 25, I think he has somewhere around 25 reps or so last Wednesday, in that return to play area. So, again, the plan is to get him those reps, get him in Saturday. He wanted to warm up, we wanted to get some reps of him warming up. And now, obviously, we'll monitor how he's doing throughout practice to make sure that we're putting him in a proper position. So, he's healthy.

Q: How about (receiver) Vernell (Brown III)? He warmed up a little bit before the (Ole Miss) game and then he couldn’t go.

A. Same thing. You know, obviously, he's a tough character as well. He got hurt a couple weeks ago, came back, gave it a shot. He sat out, gave it a chance, came back and played. He's a tough young man. He tried to go again this week and was just sore. It’s one of those things from a receiver coach, you want to make sure your receiver can lift his hands up consistently and go get the ball. Then you just got to make sure that you're taking care of him, try to get him healthy for the next game. So same thing, same plan for him is to continue to try to get out there. Every player's different again how their bodies respond. Some players can get back a little quicker, but individual player knows their body. And when he's healthy, he'll come back.

Q. Jadan Baugh, the numbers aren't just popping off the page, but he's going to get 1,000 yards from scrimmage and what's it say about him considering that I think he's a focal point often of defenses?

A.  Well, he's the guy to stop as far as the run game for us. He's done a great job, a big, strong running back, broke out last year for us, is putting together, like you said, quietly putting together really solid year. But the other part that you got to remember is he's an exceptional pass catcher, and I think he's done a great job coming out of the backfield for us. He's a kick returner for us. He's a punt returner for us. He's been handling some of those duties as well. That kind of tells you what kind of athlete he is. We depend on him and we're going to depend on him for the next two games as well.

Q. It’s the first game at The Swamp since Oct. 18 and what would be your message for fans from these last two games?

A. Continue to come support us. This is the University of Florida, and it's a special place. I've said this before, it's a special place, it's a special university, one of the great traditions that we have is selling out The Swamp here. The atmosphere in the middle of the fourth quarter, it's going to be pretty cool again. You get a night game again, so I think that's something that I know our players look forward to. the excitement, in the fans, and the energy that they bring. So, our players will play off that as well, too, but no, we're looking forward to having an opportunity to come compete against a high-level team in The Swamp.