One of the biggest concerns from Florida’s fanbase this offseason was whether Billy Napier would be hiring an offensive coordinator for the 2025 season. The Gators didn’t go outside of the program to hire an offensive coordinator, but instead promoted Russ Callaway, who previously served as the team’s co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach.
“Look, this is the University of Florida. I’m just thankful to be here. Very excited about where we’re headed and what we’ve done,” Callaway said. “Great to work with Coach Napier and the guys we have on offense. was born in this game, so I don’t really know what else to do. So, this to me is just kind of the next step, I guess, but I’m super excited and very fortunate to be here.”
Callaway is an up-and-coming offensive guru that has been on staff with the Gators since Billy Napier was hired in 2022. Compared to the three offenses he has observed during his time on staff, Callaway believes this is the Gators’ best group yet at nearly every offensive position.
“I’ll tell you what’s unique about this group. This is the first year I think since we’ve been here where we’ve had talent, we’ve had guys that worked, but our best players are about to work this year. And this is the first time I think we can really say that,” Callaway said. “Sure, we’ve had guys that have been really good players that have been about the work, but just overall as a unit, this is the first time that all the starters are not just the best players, but they’re the ones that are up here all day putting in the extra work, extra time. So, that’s really good to see.”
When it comes to who has influence on offensive play calling, it’s not just Billy Napier making the decisions on gameday. Many other coaches on staff have input on what is called, and coach Russ Callaway has more influence than he has in three years after his promotion to Offensive Coordinator.
“It starts at the top with us with Coach Napier. He’s extremely smart, knows a ton of ball obviously, but with myself and everyone else on offense that we have in position rooms, analyst roles, we have a lot of guys that have been in a lot of places and done a lot of things,” Callaway said on the offensive collaboration. “But I think the cool thing about our group is no one really cares who gets the credit. We just want to win and we got a really good group. I’m very fortunate. It’s fun to come to work, generating ideas, run game, pass game from Coach Napier all the way down to the student assistant. We try to involve everybody because then it’s collectively working, hitting on all cylinders. We saw that at the end of the year last year that it’s pretty special.”
Other than coaching changes during the offseason, potential personnel changes on offense have been something that continues to get brought up with the Gators adding more and more talent across the entire offense. Florida fans want to see more three and four wide receiver sets given the speed at receiver and Lagway’s arm strength. Callaway said they do plan to run more 10-personnel, but that their main goal is to get the best players on the field.
“I would say yes, but it’s not just that grouping,” Callaway said on their plans to play with more receivers. We also got really good tight ends, too. We have really good running backs. We’ve talked about doing multiple groupings with multiple people.”
“At the end of the day, the best players are gonna be on the field, bottom line. And week to week, it will change the game plan depending on what type of defensive structures that we’re seeing. That’s the NFL system that we run. We’re trying to get the best players the ball in space as quickly as possible, but we also want the match up to be right. So we want to get our strongest link on their weakest link. And that could be a STAR one week, it could be a safety one week, a linebacker, et cetera. But to answer your question, yes, there’s plans for multiple groupings, not just 11 and 12. But just trying to get all the guys that we have here that are gonna be finally healthy, get them involved and get them going,” Callaway added.
Having a balanced and extremely deep running back room has been a blessing for DJ Lagway and Florida’s offense in general. With players like Montrell Johnson Jr. heading to the draft, it will be up to Jaden Baugh, Ja’Kobi Jackson, Treyaun Webb and other underclassmen to keep the train rolling for the Gators on the ground in 2025.
“Our pass game is gonna be dictated on how well we run the ball. lf we can run the ball, we’re gonna be able to throw the ball down the field. And we can’t, then we won’t. But again, that’s complimentary football. That’s what we want. We want to be able to run it when we gotta run it. We’ll mix it up, take a shot, take a movement, whatever it may be, but it all works together,” Callaway said on Lagway and the offense. “And that’s why I think offensively, we have a chance to be really special with not just the quarterback that we have, who is obviously really special, but the receivers, the running backs, the offensive line, the tight ends, And that to me, in my experience, when you’re able to be really good at one thing, it makes the other thing that much better and then you can sprinkle in the wrinkles accordingly as you see fit. So, I’m excited to see that.”
With a healthy offensive line and running back room, Florida’s offensive should only take steps forward when the season rolls around in September.