Billy Napier bringing former Giants, LSU offensive assistant to Florida

Billy Napier is continuing to bring quality coaches to Florida. According to On3’s Matt Zenitz, the Gators are hiring former New York Giants and LSU offensive assistant Russ Callaway to their off-field staff.

“Florida is expected to hire Russ Callaway to its off-field staff, sources tell @On3sports,” revealed Zenitz. “Callaway worked for the New York Giants last season after stops at LSU and as the offensive coordinator at Samford.”

First, Callaway impressed as the offensive coordinator at Samford, as Zenitz mentions. After five seasons with the program, the coach joined LSU, where he worked with passing game coordinator Scott Linehan. Then, Callaway joined the Giants as an offensive assistant prior to last season, where he worked under Jason Garrett. It was originally reported the Giants thought highly of Callaway, but the team cleaned house after a dissapointing season under former coach Joe Judge.

Now, Russ Callaway is looking to rebuild his promising coaching career. The respected offensive mind will start his new venture with Billy Napier and the Florida Gators.

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Moreover, Russ Callaway isn’t the only former New York Giants coach to join Billy Napier in Florida. First, the Gators coach brought former Giants offensive line coach Rob Sale along with him to be his offensive coordinator.

Sale worked as the New York Giants’ offensive line coach this past season after three years at Louisiana under Napier. After starting at the high school level in 2006, Sale headed to Alabama as a strength and condition coach and offensive analyst from 2007-11. While there, he helped the Crimson Tide to two national titles in 2009 and 2011.

McNeese State brought him aboard from 2012-14 as offensive line coach and, eventually, co-offensive coordinator. After one year at Georgia in 2015, Sale worked at Louisiana-Monroe in 2016 and Arizona State in 2017 before landing at Louisiana in 2018.

When Sale and Napier worked together from 2018-20, Louisiana averaged 34.5 points per game and had a 28-11 record. The Ragin’ Cajuns recorded seasons with double-digit wins in 2019-20, the first time the mark had been achieved in school history. Additionally, they won the school’s first Sun Belt championship in 2020.

Additionally, Florida hired Sean Spencer as its next defensive line coach, Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel reported. He will also serve as the co-defensive coordinator for the Gators.

Spencer accepted a job as Duke’s co-defensive coordinator, but apparently changed his mind when Napier came calling. He spent the past two seasons working in the NFL with the New York Giants. Before that, he was a defensive line coach at Penn State from 2014-19. The Nittany Lions promoted him to associate head coach beginning in 2018.