Coaches are finally putting trust in playmaker Toney
GAINESVILLE — Check out three thingswe learnedduring the No. 3 Florida Gators’ 38-24 win over South Carolina Saturday in the Swamp:
1. Coaches finally can count on receiverKadarius Toney.
Weighing Toney’s dynamic playmaking ability with his penchant to free-lance hasbeena delicate balance for Dan Mullen and his staff.
Toney has won the trust of his coaches by becoming amore complete player.
The converted high school quarterback’s route running, pass catching and overall reliability have turned him into a weapon the Gators are more apt to unleash.
Against the Gamecocks, Toney had a team-leading six catches for 86 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown highlighted by 50 yards gained and three broken tackles after the catch. During two games, Toney has11catches for145 yards after catching 10 passes during seven games of an injurymarred 2019 season.
“You can see howhe’s grown as a player for us in his ability to get open, his consistency in his routerunning,” Mullen said.
Toney also returned two punts for 42 yards and lined up on kickoffs, though the Gamecocks thought better of putting the ball in his hands and kicked away from him. The return role seemed custom-fit for such an elusive and explosive athlete but until this season Toney’s unreliable hands instead made him ill-suited for it.
Toney did have a 6-yard loss againstSouthCarolina while looking to make something out of nothing on a running play. It was the kind of decision-making that formerlymadecoaches cringe, but it nowis the exception.
The 6-foot, 193-pound Toney’s evolution and improvement could be without peer on the Gators roster while highlighting the fact he offers more than rawathletic ability.
“To be able to do all the different things he has to be smart and not really just intelligent, but a smart football player to learn how to do all the different things,” Mullen said. “He did a really good job of that today.”
2. UF’s defense continues to flounder too often at critical times.
The big plays were not the problem this week. The timely oneswere.
South Carolina’s offense did not run circles around Florida as Ole Miss did, but defensive coordinatorTodd Grantham’s group nearly ran out of gas against a methodical Gamecocks attack.
Former UF head coach Will Muschamp’s team ended up running 83 plays and had four scoring drives of at least nine snaps. South Carolina ran 18 plays on its final drive, covering 74 yards to reach the Gators 4 before failing to convert on fourth down for the first time in six tries on the day.
Florida also yielded six conversions.
In the end, South Carolina’s grind-it-out approach and lack of explosive playmakers were not enough to make the Gators pay.
But the performance exposed another aspect of a defense that a week earlier allowed Ole Miss to record nine plays of at least 20 yards. South Carolina managed just one.
The Gators were missing seven players on defense, including starting tackle Kyree Campbell and senior safety Brad Stewart for the second game. Mullen said he plans to identify what is behind his defense’s struggles.
Gators tight end is setting a pace that could land him in the Heisman race.en said. “We made some great plays, then gave up some plays that we should make. Some missed assignments there. We have to evaluate our assignments. Have to evaluate if we’re makingthe right call. Have to evaluate if we’re making tackles the rightway.
“Every little aspect.”
3. Kyle Pitts for Heisman?
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Gators tight end Kyle Pitts is setting a pace that could land him in theHeisman race.
Pitts’ two first-half touchdowns gave him six in six quarters of football this season and surpassed his 2019 total of five when he earned All-SEC honors. In just his 14th college start, Pitts has 12 touchdowns, tying the school record set by Aaron Hernandez, who started 19 games and appeared in 40.
Pitts now ismaking a case he is the best weapon in college football.
While the idea of winning the Heisman Trophy is far-fetched, the 6-foot-6, 246-pound junior clearly is a one-of-a-kind talent at his position. At one point Saturday, South Carolina used three defenders to cover him.
The Gamecocks did hold Pitts without a catch in the second half, but through two games he still has 12 grabs for 227 yards, averaging 18.9 yards— a clip fewwide receivers are able to achieve.
With eight regular-season games to go, Pitts is likely to become the linchpin of the game plans of opposing defenses.
If Pitts can stay on his current trajectory, he is sure to join the Heisman conversation — not that he will be listening.
“I try my best not to pay attention to those type of things,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll affect some players’ performances, so I don’t pay attention.”