Brian Callahan's strong history of working with quarterbacks has led him to his biggest opportunity yet, and that means a chance to develop Will Levis into a star.

The Tennessee Titans on Thursday formally introduced Callahan as their next coach. Conversation in his news conference quickly turned to Levis and how the former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator would build around the Titans' second-year quarterback.

Callahan said that after he took the job, he called Levis and also saw him at the practice facility before the news conference.

"I can’t wait to get to work with him," Callahan said. "He’s got a lot of really special physical talents that I’m excited to see if we can go make better. Everything about him so far has been fantastic."

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Callahan, who said he will be the offensive play caller, had seen Levis play this past fall. "Watching him learn, saw a lot of really positive things," he said. "His competitive instincts were really impressive."

Since he entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2010, he has had a knack for coaching quarterbacks. He has spent time in quarterback rooms with Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr and Joe Burrow, drawing rave reviews from each.

Levis started nine games as a rookie, throwing eight touchdowns and four interceptions. Injuries limited him late in the season when he missed time with separate ankle and foot injuries. His best performances, such as his four-touchdown debut against the Atlanta Falcons and his comeback win over the Miami Dolphins, showed the promise of why the Titans traded up to draft Levis in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

But with a less-than-stellar offensive line in front of him and underwhelming targets on the perimeter, there were other games where Levis struggled to make a difference for an offense that stalled out more often than it sustained drives.

Callahan's Cincinnati offense tended to heavily favor the pass. The Bengals passed on more than 60% of their plays in four of Callahan's five years as offensive coordinator. Plenty of that production revolved around Burrow, but the Bengals still threw the ball plenty in 2019 before they drafted in Burrow, in 2020 after his season-ending injury and in 2023 when backup Jake Browning took over after another Burrow injury.

Burrow has played two complete seasons as a pro. Those seasons would have ranked as the best and second-best passing seasons by any Titans quarterback since the team moved to Tennessee in 1997.

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Brian Callahan on Tennessee Titans' Will Levis: 'Special physical talents'