Russ Callaway, from ball boy in The Swamp to Co-OC at Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — More than two decades before Russ Callaway started coaching in The Swamp, he was on the sidelines as a ball boy during the Steve Spurrier era. Callaway, promoted this offseason to co-offensive coordinator, is now helping dial up plays on the field named after the HBC.

In discussing his decision to elevate Callaway’s role, Florida coach Billy Napier said he was impressed with how Callaway handled his increased responsibilities last year, prepared for meetings and interacted with players. He mentioned his success as Samford’s OC and time at LSU and in the NFL.

Napier also added this.

“It’s evident that he’s a coach’s son,” he said.

Callaway fell in love with football while sitting on the shoulders of Bo Jackson. His father, Neil Callaway, was the offensive line coach at Auburn for 12 years (1981-92) during Jackson’s career.

As a young boy, Callaway recalls Jackson returning to his alma mater and his father would bring him and his sister into the locker room to sing the fight song.

“I remember seeing Bo Jackson singing the song. He had me on his shoulders and everything,” Callaway said. “That’s kind of what started my love for the game.”

When his father was coaching at Houston from 1993-96, Callaway started bugging him about coming to practice so he could “learn everything”. He was too young to tag along there, but that changed at Alabama.

His father finally budged and put him in the equipment room. He would wash laundry and helped out the team managers. Then at practice, he ran balls onto the sideline.

“It was a way for him to get me out of his way so he could focus on work,” Callaway joked.

His father eventually let Callaway be a ball boy in 1999. They put him on the opposing team’s sideline during games, and he was an easy target for coaches.

Three in particular: South Carolina’s Lou Holtz, Mississippi State’s Jackie Sherrill and Florida’s Steve Spurrier.

“Those three, I think they all know my dad was on the other sideline, so they made it a point to kind of get me,” Callaway said. “Coach Spurrier, he knew who my dad was I think, and he’d yell, ‘Hey, you’re putting too much air in those balls!’ You know, he’d give me all of that stuff, and I was just in awe that Coach Spurrier was talking to me.”

That conversation happened prior to Alabama’s 40-39 overtime win over No. 3 Florida, snapping Spurrier’s 30-game winning streak at home. Shaun Alexander totaled 200 yards of offense and four touchdowns.

“I remember,” Callaway said. “That was one of the craziest games I’ve ever been a part of.”

Callaway, 35, was also a ball boy for two Florida-Georgia games when his father coached at UGA (2001-06). During a recruiting function last summer, Callaway reconnected with Spurrier and reminded him of their interactions on the sideline in 1999 and the early 2000’s.

“Of course, he tried to downplay it a little bit,” Callaway said with a laugh. “My dad was at Alabama at that time, and the Gators were super, super into it. And then he went to Georgia, and it was the same. So, they had heated recruiting battles.

“And I remember those conversations at the dinner table with my mom and my dad. ‘Can you believe what Coach Spurrier said?’ They had several. That’s part of being in the SEC, you know. But Coach Spurrier is a great coach and he’s a great man, and obviously I’m lucky to be a part of the Gator Nation like he was.”

Neil Callaway, 68, is currently the offensive line coach for the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions. Callaway had aspirations to follow in his father’s footsteps and, despite those battles with Spurrier and Florida, admired the Gators football program.

To now be coaching at UF is surreal for him.

“I never thought I’d be here. I just worked, a lot of hard work, my wife, my kids have put a lot into it,” said Callaway, who became emotional during his answer. “I’m super grateful for this opportunity. It means a lot — trust me. Being in the SEC at the University of Florida, is a big, big deal, and I know that.

“I’m super excited to be a part of it. I grew up in the game, been at every SEC stadium twice. And this was the one spot I was like, ‘Man, that would be really cool one day if I could be a Gator’, and here I am.”

Callaway was Samford’s offensive coordinator from 2015-19 before stints with LSU (2020) and the New York Giants (2021), where he worked with Florida co-offensive coordinator Rob Sale.

Callaway joined UF’s staff as an analyst and was promoted to tight ends coach in 2023. He had responsibilities in the offense last season with Sale and signaled in the plays from the sideline.

That experience helped him get a feel for Napier’s system and how he likes to call plays.

“Absolutely,” he said. “In what we do, that’s a big, important piece — communication. Because you’re talking to the quarterback, you’re talking to the tight end, the running back. It is a good way to kind of pick up the offense and learn the intricacies of the alignments, assignments, from the whole 11. So, it was a good opportunity to do that. It kind of prepared me for this upcoming year and what we got going on. So, I was grateful.”