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New Mexico State running back Kadarius Calloway.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers recently parted ways with a pair of veteran running backs, Michael Wiley and Owen Wright, and we now know the impetus may have been an impressive tryout at rookie minicamp by undrafted free agent Kadarius Calloway.

“(Running backs coach) Skip Peete said Kadarius Calloway is probably the Bucs’ second-fastest RB,” Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote on his official X account. “They moved on from two veteran guys in Wiley and Wright in the past week to give a spot to an undrafted rookie, just to see what he can do with the chance.”

Calloway, 6-foot and 213 pounds, reportedly ran a 4.50-second 40-yard dash at New Mexico State’s Pro Day and was 1 of 3 UDFA rookies to sign contracts after impressive minicamp tryouts alongside Georgia Tech wide receiver Dean Patterson and Tarleton State edge rusher Yasir Holmes.

Calloway seemed focused on his tryout from right after going undrafted.

“Time to clock in,” Calloway wrote on his Facebook page on April 28, along with an edit of him in a Buccaneers uniform.

Running Back Legends From Hometown

It’s worth pointing out that Calloway’s hometown, Philadelphia, Mississippi, produced 2 of the most mythical running backs in football history.

The 1st was Billy Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner at LSU and the obvious inspiration for the 1981 Frank DeFord novel “Everybody’s All-American” which was turned into a movie in 1988 directed by Academy Award nominee Taylor Hackford and starred Dennis Quaid, Jessica Lange, and John Goodman.

The 2nd was perhaps the greatest running back recruit of all time in Marcus Dupree, the subject of the ESPN 30 for 30 “The Best That Never Was” — Dupree played college football for Oklahoma, but only played 4 seasons of professional football in the UFL and NFL.

Kadarius Calloway’s Long and Winding Road to NFL

To say Calloway took a circuitous path to the NFL is being pretty generous — in 5 college seasons, he was at 5 different colleges.

Calloway enrolled early at Alabama as a defensive back in 2021 but left before the season began for famed junior college powerhouse East Mississippi Community College, where he played in 2021 and 2022.

He transferred from EMCC to Cal, where he played in 2023, followed by 1 season at Old Dominion in 2024 and a final season at New Mexico State in 2025.

Unfortunately for Calloway, he never really produced big numbers anywhere he went. He had a career-high 671 yards of total offense and 6 touchdowns at Old Dominion, where he averaged 7.1 yards per carry, took a big step back with just 124 rushing yards at Cal in 2024, then finished with 613 yards of total offense and 3 touchdowns at New Mexico State in 2025.

Now, Calloway seems locked into a battle for the 4th running back spot on the Buccaneers’ roster with Josh Williams, who served a 6-game suspension for violating the NFL’s drug policy as a rookie in 2025.

“There are certainly gonna be some interesting battles for special teams, roster spots, and practice squad spots this upcoming training camp for the Buccaneers,” Bucs Gameday’s Josh Hill wrote on his official X account. “QB 3/PS: Connor Bazelak vs Jalon Daniels, RB 4/PS: Josh Williams vs Kadarius Calloway.”