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Florida Gators TE Coach Russ Callaway Reveals Role in Offense

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Florida Gators TE Coach Russ Callaway Reveals Role in Offense


Entering year three of the Billy Napier-era of the Florida Gators football program, there’s been plenty of change both within the roster and the coaching staff. 

However, one change didn’t come from the outside. It came from an inward promotion. 

After one season as the Gators’ tight ends coach, Russ Callaway took on more responsibility within the offensive scheme after being promoted to co-offensive coordinator in February. One of those expected responsibilities is having more input in the play-calling and design, which was inconsistent at times last season. 

Despite rumors swirling and calls from fans for Callaway to take full control of the Gators’ play-calling, he said it’s a team-effort across the board.

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“I think really it’s overall a team effort,” he said on Tuesday. “When I got here a few years ago, I worked with Coach Napier in the past, Coach (Rob) Sale in the past, and I believe, and we believe it’s about getting your players in the best situation possible.

“So I don’t think I would necessarily put my own spin on it. It’s really a team effort. It starts at the top with Coach Napier and Coach Sale and myself and all the other coaches we have on staff.”

That’s not to say, though, that Callaway can’t have a major impact on the offense despite not having the final say on plays. His greatest success came during his time with FCS Samford, where he spent four of his five years on staff as the offensive coordinator. 

Known for an air-raid attack, Callaway led the Bulldogs to tremendous success in the passing game. In 2018, Samford led the FCS in passing (392.7 yards per game) and sixth in red zone offense (90.2%). 

The Bulldogs were also top-15 nationally in the FCS in team passing efficiency (155.24), scoring (35.1 points per game) and total offense (446.2 yards per game). He wants to continue that success with Florida.

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“Obviously you want to generate as many explosives as possible. Really that starts with really good players, to be honest with you,” he said. “We do have a very solid core coming back. We feel really good about the guys in the room — quarterback room, receiver room, running back room. It goes back, again, week to week, what are we seeing that they’re doing defensively, and how can we get the guys in the right spot to make them the most — the best chance to succeed?”

A lot of the play-calling and scheme decisions will come on a week-to-week basis, Callaway said. However, the plan to get the ball into playmaker’s hands, namely sophomore wide receiver Eugene Wilson III, remains the same. 

“We do a really good job, and we’ve done it in the spring, of tracking real time how many times Tre’s touched it, how many times the running backs have touched it, the other receivers, so forth, and so on,” he said. “I think it’s one of those things it’s kind of the flow of the game. If we’re rolling and Tre’s touched it five times in the first half, okay, we’re doing really good spreading the ball around. Or if it’s not going great, then maybe we’ve got to maneuver a couple of things here or there.”

Callaway’s promotion isn’t the only play-calling-related change heading into the 2024 season. Nation-wide, programs can now use communication through quarterbacks’ helmets, similar to the style NFL teams use. 

Callaway, although in favor of the change, is realistic with the struggles that could come with using the equipment. 

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“We’re kind of still working through the kinks of it with camp because this is the first time that we’ve done it. I do think there will be some benefit with different ways that people get in the play calls,” he said. “However, there are certain backup plans you have to have in place if something were to go wrong with the headset on GameDay. Sometimes it will go out for a drive, maybe get you cut off. You’ve got to have different ways to get the play in.” 

Despite the vast changes throughout the program, Callaway sees a difference in the culture of this year’s Gator squad. This was evident during the voluntary workouts in the offseason while the coaches were hosting recruiting weekends.

Not expecting any players to be on the field to be working out while visits were taking place, Callaway explained he saw many players from many different position groups participating in workouts.

“I looked at a couple of our coaches, and I said this is the difference in the team this year,” he said. “They want it. They got that Gator in them, and that’s kind of what we’ve been preaching. To have that mentality and what we’re looking for, the work ethic on and off the field, I really think this group has it.” 

The 2024 Florida Gators will put that into practice throughout fall camp, which continues with a practice partially open to the media on Wednesday, in preparation for its season-opening matchup against Miami on Aug. 31. 

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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’

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Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’


It only took three weeks for a group chat for conservative students at Florida International University (FIU) to become a place where participants eagerly used racist slurs, prompting widespread condemnation from community leaders.

Abel Alexander Carvajal, secretary of Miami-Dade county’s Republican party and a student at FIU’s College of Law, reportedly started the chat after the killing of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, in September 2025.

But on Wednesday, the Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp conversations in which the college Republicans made racist, sexist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, including variations of the N-word used more than 400 times. Knowledge of the chat’s existence was revealed on the same day that Republican lawmakers in Florida pushed forward a bill to rename a one-mile stretch of road alongside FIU in honor of Kirk.

William Bejerano, who the Herald noted once tried to start an anti-abortion group at Miami Dade College, was the most prolific user of the N-word. Using the slur, Bejerano called for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting.

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Dariel Gonzalez, then the College Republicans’ recruitment chair, who has recently applied to become a GOP committee member, responded to the calls for violence by saying: “How edgy.” He repeatedly used “colored” to describe Black people, including writing: “Ew you had colored professors?!” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague,” according to the Herald.

Carvajal, who was appointed to a two-year role on the city of Hialeah’s planning and zoning board earlier this year, confirmed to the paper that the group chat was his doing, but he denied knowledge of the problematic comments until the publication contacted him about its logs last week.

“It’s been five months since this was sent and this is the first time I’ve seen this message,” Carvajal told the Herald.

“I guess to an extent, I bear some responsibility, cause I created a chat. But if I had seen this at the moment, I would have removed [Bejerano] from the chat. I probably would have even blocked his number.”

The Herald found that Carvajal had deleted 14 messages sent by other participants in the chat and 42 of his own messages before the publication obtained the chat’s logs.

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He also participated in some of the racist discussions. While referring to a Black student who allegedly left FIU’s College Republicans after a member of the group “called her a [N-word]”, the Floridian reported that Carvajal wrote: “Why didn’t miggress leave?” Elsewhere in the chat, the publication reported that Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet” and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children and Black people, in general.

At one point, Gonzalez wrote: “You can fuck all the [K-word, a slur for Jewish people] you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”

Ian Valdes, the Turning Point USA FIU chapter president, responded, “I would def not marry a Jew,” before changing the group chat’s name from “Uber [R-word slur for disabled people] Yapping” to “Gooning in Agartha”. “Gooning” is a gen-Z slang term for male masturbation, while “Agartha” is a mythical white civilization promoted by Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful leaders in Nazi Germany next to Hitler.

Gonzalez reportedly described Agartha to the group chat as “Nazi heaven sort of”.

Kevin Cooper, the first Jewish chair of the Miami Dade Republican party, condemned the group chat in a statement published to X and called for Carvajal’s resignation.

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“The majority of our board voted to request Carvajal’s resignation. We have commenced removal proceedings and look forward to resolution from the Republican Party of Florida,” he wrote.

That call was echoed by Juan Porras, a Republican state representative and Miami-Dade GOP state committee member, who said in a statement: “Leadership carries responsibility. When someone in a leadership role engages in this kind of behavior, it damages the trust placed in our party by voters across Florida. For that reason, I am asking the Miami Dade Republican party secretary to step down from this position.”

In a joint statement, Florida Republican state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodriguez denounced the chats and called for the expulsion from party leadership of its participants.

“The individuals in the group chat have exposed how profoundly misaligned their beliefs are to the views of the Republican party of Florida,” their statement said. “We call for the immediate expulsion of the individuals disseminating from any level of leadership of the Miami-Dade Republican Party … We will not tolerate bigotry or discrimination.”

Multiple leaked group chats from young Republicans have created controversy in recent years.

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Last year, Politico published messages from a group chat of more than 100 conservatives across the country in which users also made racist and antisemitic comments. In 2022, a Young Republican group chat from North Dakota was revealed as a cesspool of homophobic and antisemitic rhetoric.



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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'

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Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization'


A federal court in Tallahassee has issued a temporary injunction blocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a “terrorist organization.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s order comes nearly three months after DeSantis signed his executive order on Dec. 8. The order directed Florida’s executive and Cabinet agencies, as […]



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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip

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Gas prices rise in South Florida amid U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, as the stock market also reports a dip



Four days into the Iranian conflict, gas prices are rising at many stations in South Florida.

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“I’ve traveled all over the United States,” says Stacey Williams. CBS Miami spoke to him as he was gassing up on the turnpike. He paid $66 for 20 gallons of diesel to fill his pickup truck. Williams has noted the fluctuations in fuel as he drives to locations for his work on turbines. He just spent three weeks at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant south of Miami.

“The salary we get paid per hour does not add up to what we pay for gas, housing, and food,” he says.

Mitchell Gershon is also dealing with the higher gas prices. He has to fill three vehicles constantly for his business—Thrifty Gypsy, a pop-up store at musical venues. He’s back and forth from Orlando to Miami and says fuel is costing him 20% more. When asked how he handles these fluctuations, he said, “Have a little backup cash so you are ready for it.”

The rise in oil prices contributed to a drop in the stock market on Tuesday, which means some retirement accounts dipped, too. CBS Miami talked to Chad NeSmith, director of investments at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, for perspective on the drop.

“We are seeing most of the pullback today. Yesterday was a shock,” he says. He’s not expecting runaway oil prices but says investors should stay in the loop: “Pay attention to your portfolio. Stick to your goals. Have a plan because these things are completely unpredictable.”

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That unpredictability has Williams adjusting his budget. “You just cut back, cut corners, all you can do,” he says.



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