The 2024 season for the Gators and Billy Napier is turning into something impossible. If we look at the schedule itself, it’s like Napier has been dropped in to have a fistfight with a Godzilla. Going up against powerhouses like the Longhorns, Mississippi, the Bulldogs, etc, the 3 times national champs and their dreams to make it to the playoffs seem bleak. If the schedule wasn’t enough, as Napier and his team head into their 4th game of the season, he is going to lose out on his WR. 10 players were suffering from different injuries and have been ruled out from the Aggies game.

And on that list was WR Eugene Wilson. Graham Hall took to X on September 15th to let us know that ESPN has revealed that Wilson has suffered a “mild meniscus injury”. While the guy won’t need any surgery or anything, he still did receive an injection and has been ruled out of the Aggies game. Wilson made quite the impact for Napier and the Gators during the Samford game. The dude locked in 1 touchdown and had 141 yards under his belt. Wilson reportedly suffered a lower-body injury and was previously marked as “questionable” (regarding his return to the game) throughout the week. This makes things bad because Napier is already operating the team with a major handicap; The roster lost WR Kahleil Jackson (ACL injury) before the 2024 season even began, and against their current schedule, this loss could result in the team not making it to the playoffs.

We already saw how the Gators struggled during their season opener against Florida State, followed by the disastrous game against Miami. Now with Wilson getting added to the list of players not appearing for a few matches, Napier will find himself at the mercy of a few freshman receivers. However, there is still one silver lining that Napier could exploit to grab some wins.

Billy Napier’s savior

The Samford game was pure domination for the Gators. And one of the primary reasons why this was the case was QB DJ Lagway. Locking in 3 TDs and covering 456 yards, Lagway was brought on to cover for Graham Mertz as Mertz was dealing with an injury. DJ dominated by connecting 18 out of the 25 passes. This brings us to what Hightop Sports noted back on September 7th.

“We saw Abrams and Hawkins on the depth chart heading into Saturday. These guys have been getting many reps from DJ Lagway,” Shelton from Hightop had mentioned. With Jackson and Wilson both out, Napier’s best course of action would be building chemistry between his freshman roster and DJ Lagway. We saw what Lagway is capable of during the Samford game, so it makes perfect sense to use him to make some noise. While Mertz is a solid QB, he is not even close to DJ if we compare both. Moving on, lets on hope it doesn’t get worse for the Gators.