Playmaker Toney expected back for Georgia game
GAINESVILLE — The Florida Gators’ offense has been much more opportunistic during coach Dan Mullen’s second season, even without its most versatile playmaker, Kadarius Toney, available the past six games.
Toney’s return from a shoulder injury in time for a Nov. 2 showdown with rival Georgia is sure to boost the game-breaking potential of an attack that has shown the ability to score quickly.
“He’s an explosive guy with the ball in his hands,” Mullen said Wednesday. “Having that back, obviously the more playmakers you have, the more explosive you can be. So I think it will great to get him back out there.”
Big plays were in short supply for the Gators’ offense last season.
That began to change with Toney’s 66-yard touchdown on the season’s opening drive Aug. 24 against Miami. The junior receiver’s catch and run during the Gators’ 24-20 win against the Hurricanes was the first of seven plays of 60 yards or more for UF, more than all but two teams in the nation: Colorado State, with nine, and Oklahoma State (eight).
The Gators had just four in 13 games last season.
Toney, though, suffered a shoulder injury during UF’s next game, a 38-0 win Sept. 7 against UT-Martin, robbing the Gators of a player able to change a game’s momentum in a flash.
“We’ve missed him and his playmaking abilities,” quarterback Kyle Trask said. “It’ll be good to have him back. He’s just got the ‘it’ factor, and he’s going to move the ball down field for you.”
Toney averaged 10.9 yards on 46 touches from scrimmage as a sophomore and was expected to be a key cog in Mullen’s offense.
Without him and injured starting quarterback Feleipe Franks, the No. 7 Gators (7-1, 4-1 SEC) have been able to find other ways to attack teams with Trask, tight end Kyle Pitts, a veteran wide receiving corps and a run game beginning to find its footing.
UF has proven able to sustain drives like it did at LSU, going 75 yards on at least eight plays four times during a hard-fought 42-28 loss. The Gators’ ability to hit the home-run play was critical in an
Oct. 5 win against Auburn, culminating with an 88-yard run by tailback Lamical Perine during his team’s 24-13 win. Last weekend at South Carolina, tailback Dameon Pierce ripped off a 75-yard touchdown during UF’s 38-27 victory.
“We have a bunch of playmakers on this team when they get in the open field,” Trask said. “You know a lot of the people that are making these plays, they’ve been here last year and they’ve had a whole year under their belt and they’re dangerous in the open field, so when they get the opportunity, they’re taking advantage of it.”
Trask said those big plays create energy among the entire squad.
“I think it’s huge,” he said. “Not only does it give us a confidence boost but it also helps the defense and special teams make sure that they’re playing with a lot of energy and playing with full speed.”
The Gators also expect to receive a big emotional lift against
Georgia with the return of defenders Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga. The dynamic duo off the edge of the defense will be on the field together for the first time since Zuniga sustained an ankle injury in the first quarter of UF’s 29-21 win Sept. 14 at Kentucky.
Zuniga, who entered the Kentucky game with three sacks in two games, re-aggravated the injury during the first half of the Gators’ Oct. 12 visit to LSU. Greenard sat out most of the LSU game after he injured his ankle a week earlier against Auburn.
Greenard has 28 tackles, including 6.5 for loss — four of them sacks.
“I think any time you get guys who are playmakers and guys that affect the game against both the run and the pass and who can win one-on-one blocks, it’s going to excite you,” defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said.