If your first introduction to Antonio Callaway was his miraculous 63-yard touchdown reception to beat Tennessee you probably wouldn’t have known that all of that was new to him. Not winning, Callaway had done that all throughout his playing career. He just had never played receiver before coming to Florida.
“I was a running back my whole life,” Callaway said on Tuesday before being asked how the adjustment has been to a new position. “It feels regular (now), like I’ve been playing it all my life. It feels like I’ve been a receiver all my life. It’s easy, comes easy.”
It certainly looked easy for Callaway his freshman season. He racked up 35 receptions, for 678 yards and four touchdowns. All of those numbers were third best among freshmen in the SEC and his 19.37 yards-per-reception was the best for any freshman in the entire country.
Callaway was poised to have a breakout season but a tumultuous offseason set him back. Callaway was accused of sexual assault, and although no criminal charges were ever brought up, nor was he ever investigated by the Gainesville or Alachua police departments, he was subject to a Title IX investigation. Callaway was told in January that he was not permitted on campus nor would he be around the team or his teammates.
Due to the nature of the university investigation and the allegations, the coaching staff was only able to have limited contact, if any, with Callaway.
“It’s really rough. We have a great relationship. I talk to him all the time about adversity and when it comes how do you handle it is your true character,” receivers coach Kerry Dixon said. “He handled it well. That’s just a tribute to the type of person he is. Of course, we couldn’t be in contact as much as we normally would, but it was great. Anytime I had a chance to talk to him, I just talked to him about overcoming.”
Callaway won his Title IX hearing in August and was to resume classes on campus as well as rejoin the team and participate in games. He’s put the situation behind him but never thought about transferring because of the support and the relationships he had from his teammates and coaches.
Callaway kicked the season off in style. He led the team with eight receptions for 72 yards in the season opener. His encore was a five catch, 129-yard performance with another score. Callaway was forced to sit out against North Texas but followed up with 134 receiving yards on four catches against Tennessee, his fifth career 100-yard receiving game. Unfortunately, all four of those receptions came in the first half of the Tennessee game and Callaway hasn’t topped 50 yards receiving in a game since September. 335 of his 485 receiving yards came in the first 10 quarters he played this season, including both touchdowns. Since then he’s had just 150 receiving yards in 4 1/2 games and no scores.
Earlier this year Callaway returned an onside kick for a touchdown. The kick return touchdown made the sophomore the only Florida Gators football player to score five different ways (passing, receiving, rushing, punt return and kick return) during his career but this season hasn’t gone as he’s expected.
“The losing part. That wasn’t part of the plans,” he said. “I ain’t used to losing.”
Callaway was double teamed for most of the game against Arkansas. The sophomore doesn’t think he’s had many, or any, one-on-one matchups this season and that’s fine. He’s a team player just waiting for the offense to click and one of the other receivers to step up into a bigger role.
“I think we’re one person away on each play. That’s where the continuity part comes from. But he’s actually done a good job of developing, understanding the playbook a lot better,” Dixon said of Callaway. “He just has to focus on doing his job 100-percent every single time. And once we get that on our corps, we get everybody clicking, we’ll produce.”