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Kadarius Toney saved his best for last

Nick Knudsen

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Toney had one hell of a year

While most of the media’s attention has been spent gawking at the otherworldly Heisman numbers put up by Kyle Trask or the freakish nature of future first-rounder Kyle Pitts, senior wide receiver Kadarius Toney showed up week in and week out to piece together a season worthy of being mentioned alongside of the many greats who preceded his time on Steve Spurrier-Florida Field.

In 2020, Toney has registered career highs in rushing yards, longest rush, rushing touchdowns, reception yards, longest reception, and receiving touchdowns. Of course it helps when the injury bug doesn’t bite.

Toney missed six games due to injury in 2019, played in 12 games and served as a wildcat quarterback in Mullen’s first season, and appeared in only eight games as a freshman while battling different injuries.

The potential has always been there. We’ve seen flashes throughout his career, but Toney has not been a player the Gators could depend on weekly until 2020.

Game 1 – Ole Miss

5 REC, 59 YARDS, 1 TD
2 RUSH, 55 YARDS, 0 TD
LONG PLAY: 50 YARDS

Toney served notice on opening day. He had added some physicality to his game to go along with his top of the line agility and breakaway speed.

Game 2 – South Carolina

6 REC, 86 YARDS, 1 TD
2 RUSH, 4 YARDS, 0 TD
LONG PLAY: 57 YARDS

Toney 4.0 broke a touchdown run though a crowd of five Gamecocks. The run was set up off of an excellent route which caused the man in coverage to do a 360 degree spin to recover from a devastating juke step. Anybody else begin to make Tyreek Hill comparisons after this game?

Game  3 – Texas A&M

7 REC, 92 YARDS,  2 TD
1 RUSH,  9 YARDS,  0 TD
LONG PLAY: 37 YARDS

The Aggies keyed in on Pitts in the second half and allowed Toney to play a key role. In addition to a 37-yard touchdown reception on the opening drive of the third quarter, Toney caught back-to-back passes of 16 and 21 yards to lead the Gators down to the one-yard line where RB Dameon Pierce scored to put Florida up 38-31 with just over six minutes left in the game.

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Game  4 – Missouri

 4 REC, 60 YARDS,  2 TD
 3 RUSH,  23 YARDS,  1 TD
LONG PLAY:  30 YARDS

In one of Toney’s best runs of the season, the senior wide receiver took a screen pass, charged up-field and broke off of a tackle by 2019 First Team All-SEC LB Nick Bolton and scampered into the end zone. Seven touches, three touchdowns.

Game 5 – Georgia

 7 REC, 42 YARDS, 0 TD
3 RUSH,  -2 YARDS,  0 TD
LONG PLAY: 21 YARDS

A quiet seven catch performance in a game which featured running backs and tight ends lighting up the Dawgs on the wheel route. Clearly UGA focused its efforts in slowing Toney after Pitts left the game thanks to a targeting call

Game 6 – Arkansas

 7 REC, 57 YARDS,  0 TD
 1 RUSH, -1 YARDS,  0 TD
LONG PLAY:  21 YARDS

Another “quiet” seven catch game. A week after Trask served notice the nation that he might be a serious Heisman candidate, Trask lit up the Hogs for six touchdowns with big plays spread out amongst a lethal arsenal of playmakers .

Game  7 –  Vanderbilt

6 REC, 107 YARDS,  1 TD
1 RUSH, 5 YARDS,  0 TD
LONG PLAY:  36 YARDS

Trask connected with Toney on a 27-yard touchdown to cap the opening drive. Toney did lose a fumble in this game, but led the Gators in receiving.

Game  8 –  Kentucky

3 REC,  38 YARDS,  0 TD
0 RUSH, 0 YARDS, 0 TD
LONG PLAY: 50 YARDS

Kentucky flustered the Gators early in this game. The Cats ate the clock with long drives in the first half and Florida was staring a 10-7 halftime deficit until Toney returned this punt 50 yards for a touchdown to swing the momentum for good.

Game 9 – Tennessee

8 REC, 108 YARDS, 1 TD
1 RUSH, 7 YARDS, 0 TD
LONG PLAY: 23 YARDS

Toney put on a route running clinic against the Vols Mullen shows how much he loves working with Toney in this touchdown which was set up by the presnap motion.

Game  10 – LSU

9 REC, 182 YARDS, 1  TD
3 RUSH,  56 YARDS,  0 TD
LONG PLAY:  49 YARDS

On senior night in The Swamp, Kadarius Toney left it all on the field. Down 34-31 with about 5:30 left in the game, Toney broke off a 31-yard run and followed it up with a 15-yard reception to put the Gators in field goal range. When Florida needed a miracle late, Toney made a high-level catch through the fog, honing in on a laser from Trask which just missed the official and turned it into 18-yard reception. After being hobbled at the end of the play, Toney got up and caught a pass for nine-yards to put the Gators well within field goal range in the final seconds.

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The most fascinating part of the Kadarius Toney career arc is that we may not see many of these stories going forward in college football with the emergence of the transfer portal. Toney committed to Florida in 2017 as a three-star athlete out of Alabama. Though he received plenty of opportunities when healthy, it would have been easy to transfer when a new coaching staff took over in 2018. It would have been easy to lose faith and bail out (both Toney and the coaching staff) after missing six games last year with plenty of talent being infused into the program. However, Toney stuck it out, continued to improve and maximized his opportunity in a season where distraction was part of day-to-day life.

Kadarius Toney has played a key role in to the offensive renaissance Florida has experienced under Dan Mullen. His playmaking ability will be missed on Saturdays in The Swamp.

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