Toney an unpredictable playmaker for Gators
GAINESVILLE — You can’t coach it, practice it or predict it.
When Kadarius Toney touches the football, good things usually happen for the Florida Gators.
Even the times they don’t, coach Dan Mullen does not head back to the drawing board. Why bother?
Toney’s frenetic, freelancing style is impossible to scheme for or against.
“I mean, we coach him up: ‘Here’s where we’re blocking, here’s where it’s supposed to go,’ ” Mullen said. “He just goes. … Yeah, sometimes he stays on the same side of the field.”
Wherever Toney ends up is anyone’s guess, including Florida’s do-everything sophomore.
The Gators, though, often end up with a first down.
Entering Saturday’s visit from Idaho (4-6), Toney has run and caught the football 34 times in nine games for UF (7-3) and averages 11.4 yards per touch. On 18 occasions, or 55 percent of the time, he picked up a first down.
The past two games against Missouri and South Carolina, Toney picked up eight first downs during 10 tries and averaged 17.1 yards per touch.
Toney’s increasing workload and production are a sign Mullen is beginning to trust Toney’s unpredictability — or at least accept it.
Football coaches are notori-
ously controlling and averse to too much excitement. Sometimes, though, a coach just has to let go and let talent take over.
Mullen has done it before and is learning to do it again with Toney.
“I’ve had a lot of guys that are very unpredictable. Five of them down in the locker room right now,” Mullen joked. “No, but we’ve had guys that are athletes like that. Percy Harvin could do things, make special things happen. Chris Rainey, when we were here before, can make some special things happen.
“You snap him the ball. You put the ball in their hands and something exciting happens.”
Toney’s vision and acceleration are special. His ankle-breaking wiggle, though, is exceptional, if not unprecedented at UF.
“You never really know what to expect,” receiver Josh Hammond said. “He could break for 80; he could run for 80 yards and only get 12 yards cause he cuts back so many times. But he’s definitely a special player when he has the ball in his hands.”
Toney, who averages just under four touches from scrimmage, gets the ball in his hands only so much in Mullen’s offense.
At Blount High School in Mobile, Ala., Toney was the offense. He accounted for 100 touchdowns (69 passing, 31 rushing) during his final two seasons.
“Man, that’s a different type of guy,” said tailback Lamical Perine, who hails from Theodore, Ala. “I played against him, so I wasn’t surprised. It’s just something he does. He’s talented out there.”
Toney arrived in Gainesville hoping for a shot at quarterback. But at 5-foot-11, he soon needed to find another position, landing at receiver and also lining up at quarterback in the Wildcat formation.
Toney’s hands remain a work in progress, but have vastly improved despite a fumbled punt return last week against South Carolina when he stepped in for injured Freddie Swain. Toney’s background at quarterback gives Mullen some options in the Wildcat package.
The Gators’ capitalized with a double-pass at Mississippi State, ending with a 20-yard throw from Toney to Moral Stephens for the game’s only touchdown in UF’s 13-6 win.
The execution of the play was flawless, but Toney might be at his best when he is allowed to improvise.
“It ain’t like he just goes out there and draws a play for me, you feel me,” Toney said of Mullen. “So whenever the play comes to me I just make the play, honestly. That’s how I feel.”
The feeling is becoming contagious.
Toney has accounted for just 406 yards from scrimmage, including his touchdown pass. Those totals are sure to keep going up as player and head coach strike the right balance between producing big plays and doing the little things.
“I just get concerned with ball security and also him understanding the scheme,” Mullen said. “If we got a great play you gotta just run where you’re supposed to run when we got a great play. Don’t just take off and run somewhere else.
“Also, don’t over coach him to hammer him from doing that.” Follow our Gators coverage on Twitter at @osgators and on Facebook at facebook.com/osgators. Edgar can be reached at egthompson @orlandosentinel.com