Callaway had diluted sample for NFL combine drug test

Published on Wednesday, 4/25/18, at 9:10 a.m. Eastern.

At a time when first downs and touchdowns were quite rare for the Florida football program in 2015 and 2016, 3-star recruit Antonio Callaway provided Gator fans with just about all of its exciting offensive moments. His presence on offense and special teams, along with an outstanding defense, were the main reasons why UF won the SEC East in back-to-back seasons.

However, his involvement along with eight other UF teammates in a credit card fraud scandal led to nine season-long suspensions in 2017.

At this time last year, ESPN’s NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. had Callaway at No. 12 overall on his Big Board. Nearly all NFL scouts have a first-round grade on Callaway, especially with his return ability on special teams.

But according to multiple reports in the last two weeks, at least three NFL teams had Callaway completely off of their draft boards due to his propensity for off-the-field trouble. He was arrested on May 13 of last year for possession of marijuana (prior to the credit card scandal) and had a sexual assault complaint filed against him (but subsequently dropped) when he was a freshman.

Due to these red flags, most draft experts have been saying he might not get picked until the fourth or fifth round. And that was before Tuesday when reports leaked that teams were informed that Callaway flunked a drug test at the NFL combine.

Malki Kawa, Callaway’s new agent who was hired just two weeks ago, confirmed the positive drug test was due to a diluted sample. Diluted samples are considered positive tests because they indicate that an individual is attempting to beat the test by drinking large amounts of water along with some sort of masking agent.

With this additional issue, you have to wonder if Callaway is going to get picked at all this weekend. My guess is the Raiders, Bengals or Cowboys will pull the trigger on him but probably not until the fifth, sixth or seventh round.