Rob Calabrese (born March 5, 1990) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is the quarterbacks coach for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He previously served as an offensive quality control coach for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

Early life and playing career

A native of

Islip Terrace, New York Islip Terrace (formerly known as Germantown) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Islip, New York, Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The populati ...

, Calabrese played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

at East Islip High School, where he broke the school records for career passing yards and touchdowns, set by former NFL MVP and Calabrese's mentor Boomer Esiason. Calabrese played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

from 2008 to 2012. As a true freshman, he led the team in passing yards, completions, and passing attempts. After starting the first two games in 2009 as a sophomore, he was benched for Brett Hodges and spent the remainder of the season as a reserve quarterback. He suffered a serious knee injury as a junior in a game against Marshall and sat out his senior season. As a redshirt senior, he split time at both

and wide receiver while taking on more of a mentor role.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

At the conclusion of his playing career, Calabrese joined the coaching staff at nearby

Oviedo High School Oviedo High School is a grade 9–12 public secondary school set on a campus in Oviedo, Florida, a community situated in southeastern Seminole County operated by Seminole County Public Schools. Academics Oviedo High School has been rated an ...

in the Orlando area as their varsity quarterbacks coach in 2013. He joined the coaching staff at his alma mater

in 2014 as a graduate assistant. He was not retained following the departure of

George O'Leary George Joseph O'Leary (born August 17, 1946) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets from 1994 to 2001 and the UCF Knights from 2004 to 2015 ...

and the hire of Scott Frost. He was hired as the running backs coach and assistant special teams coordinator at

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

in 2016 before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2017 to replace

Rich Scangarello Rich Scangarello (born April 15, 1972) is an American football coach who most recently was the offensive coordinator for the University of Kentucky. He was previously a quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He has also spent time as t ...

Denver Broncos

Calabrese was hired as a quality control assistant on January 23, 2019, once again working under

, the newly hired offensive coordinator for the Broncos. Calabrese was rumored to be a possibility to start at quarterback for the Broncos in 2020 for their game against the

Saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...

after all of their quarterbacks were ruled out due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

protocols and he took offensive practice reps. However, the NFL quickly shot down the idea due to not wanting teams to stock up on players by referring to them as coaches.

New York Jets

On January 18, 2021, Calabrese was hired by the

to be their quarterbacks coach under head coach

Robert Saleh Robert Saleh (born January 31, 1979) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). A defensive coach for much of his 20-year coaching career, Saleh has served as an assistant co ...

References

External links

Denver Broncos bio

Wagner Seahawks bio

UCF Knights bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calabrese, Rob 1990 births Living people People from Islip (town), New York Players of American football from New York (state) American football quarterbacks UCF Knights football players American football wide receivers High school football coaches in Florida UCF Knights football coaches Wagner Seahawks football coaches Denver Broncos coaches New York Jets coaches