Antonio Callaway’s catch will go down in Florida Gators history

Train right Jill, Big Ben in.

That’s the play that the Florida Gators ran on fourth down and 14.

Sure, fourteen yards stood between Florida and a first down but there was more than that. The Gators had been miserable on offense for nearly 55 minutes of the game. There were close to 100 recruits watching the offense sputter through a game that Florida trailed 20-7 in the second half. The winning streak over the Tennessee Volunteers had long been forgotten as students ran out of the stadium and across the street to their favorite watering holes.

Train right Jill, Big Ben in.

It’s a play that the Gators work on every day in practice, an “alert down” play that Florida’s practices during situational drills. The play is designed to pick up a chunk of yards and then for the receiver to get down in case Florida has to hurry up to the line to spike the ball or rush the field goal unit on.

Will Grier described the play as two double ins, either receiver running the in is an option. He found Antonio Callaway, but the freshman from Booker T. Washington High School did anything but get down.

Grier dropped back into a clean pocket. For as much as the Florida Gators offensive line has struggled this season, they played their best game of the season against Tennessee — the best defensive line they have faced this season.

With a clean pocket Grier looked left, scanned back towards the middle of the field and spotted Callaway. The redshirt freshman quarterback double clutched the ball but stepped into his throw and hit Callaway right between the numbers. Malik Foreman collapsed down on Callaway. The quick receiver planted his right foot into the turf of Florida Field and turned 180 degrees to his left at the Tennessee 45-yard line and took off.

Three Tennessee Volunteers had an angle on him but Callaway was playing with house money. The Gators had already converted the fourth down — the third fourth down conversion of the possession — to extend the drive. Out of nowhere, sophomore receiver Brandon Powell turned around and took off towards Callaway.

Powell launched his body into one defender and caused the two other to have to adjust their route and that was all that Callaway needed. The freshman speedster took off down the sideline

Is it Doering’s got a touchdown good?

You bet.

Could this torment Vol fans like “Run Lindsay Run!” tormented Florida fans?

You bet it will and the fans that chanted the 11 years in a row that Florida has won in a row as they left the stadium will make sure of it.

Callaway isn’t an unknown. The freshman looked good returning punts on Thursday, had four catches for 60 yards coming in to the game — three less than he would have on one play at the end of the game. Callaway caught a career high five passes for 112 yards and the score to put Florida over the top was the first of his career.

But if you didn’t know him before tonight, that play, that moment with 90,000 fans losing their collective minds, the feeling of Rocky Top falling flat for an eleventh consecutive season; in that moment you knew who Antonio Callaway was and you’ll never forget him.

And he’s only four games in to his career.

“That kid right there is going to be something special one day,” junior linebacker Jarrad Davis said of Antonio Callaway. “I’m telling you. He’s going to be something special. He’s awesome.”

Train right Jill, Big Ben in.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

4 COMMENTS

  1. Truly a remarkable evening in Gator Town. That throw, catch and run for the TD reminded me of the playoff win- Tebow’s toss to Demaryius Thomas in Denver. Unreal, or rather surreal, crowd goes nuts people jumping everywhere. The crowd shots are as good as the plays themselves. I guess it ain’t over ’till the fat lady sings. One of the most exciting games I can remember, and neither of us are ranked. How cool is that? Swamp was rocking tonight. Sure seems louder than the last four years. Everyone in the organization deserves credit tonight. Gut check win-good for those kids…Go Gators.

  2. I’m still shaking my head. I was a little nervous not having Treon to fall back on if Will started struggling, but then again having him go wire to wire with those stakes on the line gave him a ton of experience. We would have found a way to lose this game under the old staff and the weak psyche of last years team.

    I keep reading stuff on other boards from fans saying Grier isn’t much different than Driskel or Brantley ….are you kidding me? The kid has moxie and raises his performance level when the pressure is on. Makes you wonder why we just don’t run the 2 minute offense all the time. He looked like a polished 3 year starter on those 2 final drives.