JACKSONVILLE – This was a perfect fit for the Jaguars at the perfect time.
When Brayden Berezowitz discusses Caleb Ransaw, he describes a talented and versatile player with high-end physical attributes able to play safety at a high level in the NFL.
The description goes beyond physical, and that's where Ransaw perhaps feels most like the right player for the new Jaguars regime.
"He is the ultimate team guy," Berezowitz said.
Ransaw, selected by the Jaguars No. 88 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, was listed as a cornerback entering the draft and played mostly nickel in his lone season at Tulane in 2024. The Jaguars expect him to play safety in the NFL, though General Manager James Gladstone emphasized during the draft he can play all secondary positions.
"One of the things that really jumps out more than anything is the versatility," Gladstone said. "He'll have the entire defensive back group that he'll be moving in and out of."
Berezowitz, spears/nickels coach at Tulane University, said while Ransaw worked at five secondary positions collegiately, "his best position could definitely be safety in the NFL."
"He could play corner, safety or nickel but safety is probably the best spot," Berezowitz said.
Berezowitz, who called Ransaw the "best take-the-air-out spatially-aware-tackle-in-space guy that I've been around," said Ransaw played safety at Tulane to the benefit of the program and the detriment of himself.
"He sacrificed for us," Berezowitz said. "He played nickel in our scheme, which did not give him a ton of production because of what we made him do. He was our best cover guy, so we had to put him in the slot and make him play a lot of man, so he didn't get a lot of ball production because of the scheme.
"He would have been our best safety, corner, nickel. He could have played all five. He trained at all of them, but for us to be successful we had to use him at nickel."
Ransaw (5-feet-11, 197 pounds), who played three seasons at Troy, was a third-team All-American Athletic Conference selection for Tulane in 2024 when he registered 34 tackles with four tackles for loss and a sack with three pass breakups.
"Caleb is everything you want in a football player – as a coach, as a teammate," Berezowitz said. "He's super-talented, obviously. A lot of people didn't know how athletic he was until he went to the combine. We knew that here, but because he's so spatially-aware and so efficient with his movements, you don't see it.
"A lot of guys who are as twitched up and as fast as him run all over the field and have inefficient plays where you can see they're super athletic and you see it pop. He's so patient and efficient that a lot of times people know how freaky an athlete he was.
"He plays the game at this own pace. He's very gifted."
Berezowitz said Ransaw's influence on a team is more than just statistics. After earning honorable mention All-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2023, he transferred to Tulane. During the summer before the 2024 season, he developed a cyst in his throat and lost 12 pounds.
"He has a strict regime every day," said Berezowitz, who also coached Ransaw in 2022-2023 at Troy. "He texted me and told me, 'Hey, when you go back, go get my board and my markers cause I'm not missing my times.' All he was thinking about was, 'I can't let someone go up on me.' He was drawing on the whiteboard in the hospital and watching PFF on his iPad the entire time.
"He's a football junky. All he does is football."
Berezowitz said Ransaw remained on Tulane's campus through the '25 draft, working with younger players until 9:30-to-10:30 at night.
"He's a great teammate because he brings other guys with him," Berezowitz said. "Everyone gravitates towards him. He doesn't like attention. He's very low-key. With his Twitter stuff, he doesn't have a bunch of followers.
"He's a joy to be around because he's so easy to coach."
And in a Jaguars regime defined by Gladstone's focus on "intangibly rich" players who raise a team by being themselves, Berezowitz said Ransaw fits that description.
"He just makes everyone around you better because of the way he works," Berezowitz said. "Everyone's just like, 'I'm going to go do an extra workout with him,' so before you know it, it's one guy with him and then that guy's trying to get better. The next thing you know there's seven dudes working out together. That's who he is.
"He's not an outspoken guy. Guys just gravitate towards him naturally. It's really cool. He is special as a player, but he's more special as a person. He's the complete package."
