Florida Promoting Assistant Russ Callaway to TE Coach

Florida Gators promote defensive intern Russ Callaway to assume vacant tight end coach position.

Billy Napier is promoting defensive assistant Russ Callaway to fill the Gators' vacant tight end coach position, All Gators can confirm.

The hire was first reported by On3's Matt Zentiz.

Callaway, 35, steps in for former coach William Peagler, who was one of the three assistants to depart for the NFL in the last month. Peagler joined the Arizona Cardinals as a defensive line assistant one year after his arrival in Gainesville.

Callaway's already assumed his positional coaching duties this spring, leading the tight ends since practice began on Saturday.

Initially joining the Gators as a defensive intern in 2022 after one season with the New York Giants as an offensive assistant in 2021, Callaway brought NFL expertise to the Florida staff to the opposite side of the ball. He filled an off-field position left open by senior analyst Paul Pasqualoni when he departed for the defensive line coaching position with the Carolina Panthers last offseason.

Callaway's resume boasts intriguing qualifications, serving on staff at prominent SEC schools LSU and Alabama during his coaching career and flipping between the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

With the Tigers in 2020, he was deemed a senior offensive assistant and analyst under Ed Orgeron.

Nearly a decade prior to then, he manned assistant defensive coordinator duties and assisted with inside linebackers on a Kirby Smart-controlled defense under Nick Saban's Crimson Tide. Bama won back-to-back BCS National Championships during his span in Tuscaloosa.

Leaving the Tide for a gig at Murray State, Callaway occupied time as the Racers' wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. He then departed for Samford in 2015 — where he spent six total seasons — operating as the wide receivers coach (2015-16) before being elevated to the Bulldogs offensive coordinator spot (2016-19).

The former Valdosta State quarterback will get his first break at controlling his own position group at the power five level with the elevation to tight ends at UF.

His coaching rise has come slowly but steadily since his college graduation in 2010, something Florida took a liking to during its search for a replacement for Peagler.

The Gators now have one offensive assistant position accounted for, but are still in the process of pinpointing a new wide receivers coach to fill the void Keary Colbert left behind at this time.

That announcement is expected to come soon.

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