Florida OC Russ Callaway reveals plans for more personnel groupings: ‘Not just 11 and 12’

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s offense in 2025 will include an expanded role for tight ends coach Russ Callaway coach. This offseason he received his third promotion at UF in as many years, being elevated to the title of offensive coordinator.

Gators coach Billy Napier is going to continue calling plays, but Callaway will be even more of a leading figure with Florida’s offense and game-planning after impressing Napier last year when he took on more responsibilities as Co-OC.

“Look, this is a University of Florida. I’m just thankful to be here. Very excited about where we’re headed and what we’ve done. Great to work with Coach Napier and the guys we have on offense, ” Callaway said. “This to me is just kind of the next step, I guess, but I’m super excited and very fortunate to be here.”

One of the intriguing storylines this year on the offensive side of the ball is how the scheme could evolve given the Gators’ personnel. They have weapons at wide receiver and running back, a veteran offensive line, their returning starter at tight and one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in DJ Lagway.

“Look, 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,” Callaway said. “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.

“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.”

What kind of wrinkles could we see with the Gators? The offense has used a lot of 11 personnel (one RB, one TE, and three WRs) and 12 personnel (one RB, two TEs, and two WRs) in the past.

However, given UF’s talent at receiver, Lagway’s arm and the O-line’s ability to pass protect, could we see more four- and five-receiver sets this year? Gators Online asked Callaway on Saturday.

“Yo 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 said. “So I would say yes, but it’s not just that grouping. 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.”

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