An eventful offseason in Gainesville for Florida wideout Antonio Callaway appears to be spilling over into the 2017 season.
The Gators’ star receiver pleaded no contest no contest to a drug charge last month and now it seems his legal counsel has initiated a federal Title IX investigation into an alleged sexual assault incident from December of 2015. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights was already investigating the matter after the woman involved questioned how it was handled by the school and now Callaway’s side is formally doing the same.
Per the Times on Thursday:The complaint argues that UF’s then-associate dean had improper communication and an “improper work relationship” with the woman’s attorney. Johnson has argued that the UF official, Chris Loschiavo, served as “the investigator, the prosecutor and the judge” in the case and that he did consulting work for an outside firm with ties to the complainant’s attorney.
UF fired Loschiavo last August and determined he had “both a conflict of interest and a lack of independence.”Callaway was originally suspended by the school for spring practice last year as a result of the matter but was reinstated to the team for the 2016 season after being cleared by the university and turning into the team’s top offensive and special teams threat as a sophomore. The ongoing Title IX case and the citation for marijuana possession this summer has caused many wonder if Gators head coach Jim McElwain will suspend the receiver for the team’s opener against Michigan but so far he has declined to definitively rule one way or the other when speaking to the media.