Callaway Picks Up Where He Left Off Among Young UF Receivers
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
Sophomore scored Florida's first touchdown of season on a 12-yard catch.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- One snap into the season and all eyes locked on Gators receiver Antonio Callaway as he raced downfield.
In Florida's season-opening victory over UMass, its first play was a deep pass from Luke Del Rio to Callaway, the talented sophomore from Miami who endured a summer of uncertainty. If the play worked – only moments after Steve Spurrier-Florida Field was unveiled during a pregame ceremony featuring the Head Ball Coach – you could have heard the Swamp roar down in Micanopy.
Del Rio's throw was long. Callaway's route wasn't precise. The crowd sighed.
Instead of a magical moment to open the 2016 season, the ball crashed to the turf incomplete. Still, the Del Rio-to-Callaway connection came alive in Florida's 24-7 win, none bigger than a 12-yard touchdown pass for Florida's first score of the season
While Del Rio finished 29 of 44 for 256 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start, Callaway was his favorite target, catching a career-high eight passes for 72 yards. Callaway's status for the opener remained uncertain until five days before the game when Florida head coach Jim McElwain announced he was cleared to play following a spring suspension.
"I thought he stepped up,'' McElwain said following Wednesday's practice. "He was ready to play and excited about playing and taking advantage of opportunities."
Florida's most dangerous offensive weapon a season ago, Callaway emerged as one of the top freshmen in the country, setting a school record for receiving yards (678) by a true freshman.
The Gators enter their Southeastern Conference opener on Saturday against Kentucky confident in Callaway. However, with the loss of junior-college transfer Dre Massey, a talented receiver McElwain envisioned as another playmaker to join Callaway, questions about depth at the position remain.
The Gators used six-man rotation at receiver against UMass. While they lost Massey due to a season-ending knee injury, they get junior C.J. Worton back. Worton missed the final stretch of preseason camp and the UMass game due to a high-ankle sprain.
"He'll roll those like those other guys did last week,'' McElwain said. "They all played pretty much the same amount of plays. It just adds to that rotation and picks up where, obviously without Dre going, there's some more snaps there that we can take reps off some of those other guys."
Worton has only six career receptions in 11 games, but he made an impressive leaping 46-yard touchdown catch against Alabama in last season's SEC Championship Game.
Meanwhile, three potential targets for Del Rio suspended for the opener are eligible to play against Kentucky: tight end C'yontai Lewis and freshmen receivers Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells.
Lewis served a one-game suspension for a physical altercation at practice with teammate Teez Tabor, and Cleveland and Wells missed the opener due to their involvement in a BB gun incident on campus shortly after they arrived over the summer.
"Tyrie and Rick are extremely athletic and fast,'' Del Rio said. "If you just saw them in the locker room, you probably wouldn't think that they're true freshmen because they're pretty developed physically. You know, the biggest thing with them is just getting comfortable. They both had [injured] hamstrings [during camp], so just getting them comfortable and reintegrated back into the offense."
McElwain said the plan for Cleveland and Wells is not finalized.
"They've missed a lot of practice obviously,'' he said. "They need to get up to speed a little bit. They should be ready to go if needed."
Another pair of freshmen receivers, Freddie Swain and Josh Hammond, had solid debuts. Hammond caught five passes for 38 yards and Swain had two receptions for 11 yards. Both players enrolled in January and are ahead of the curve.
"For as many plays as they played, they played pretty darn good,'' McElwain said. "There's a lot that they're going to learn as far as the speed and pace that you need to play at the collegiate level, and I'm looking forward to seeing them now."
The loss of Massey means the Gators must find the right fit in packages they had designed for him. Running back Jordan Cronkrite took a direct snap in a wildcat formation, a way the Gators had planned to get Massey extra touches.
Junior Brandon Powell had the longest reception for the Gators in the opener, taking a short pass from Del Rio and turning it into a 26-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Powell caught seven passes for 73 yards.
As the Gators continue to sort out roles at receiver, they know what they have in Callaway, who switched sides of the field and played primarily X-receiver in the opener. Callaway played mainly at Z-receiver a year ago.
"Playing a new position, I thought he handled that well,'' McElwain said. "I'm excited about his growth as a receiver. His upside is huge."
