GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Electrifying - thats what comes to mind when you see Kadarius Toney on the field. Every time the versatile athlete was given the ball last season, he somehow found a way to move the sticks.

"What did he average nine yards every time he touched the ball last year? 11? 10? 9," said Gators head coach Dan Mullen.

Mullen was close. Toney averaged 11.6 yards per play in 2018.

"Any time we need a first down we give him the ball," said Mullen. "In theory we should get a first down then."

“No. I don’t keep up with stats," Toney told reporters after practice on Sat. "I just play. But that’s pretty good, though, ain’t it?”

Yeah, it's pretty good.

Toney saw action in 12 games last season - seeing time at wide receiver, special teams and even as the team's wildcat quarterback. The Alabama native finished with 629 all-purpose yards - recording 12 explosive plays.

“Kadarius Toney, he’s an athlete, playmaker, he just does what he does," quarterback Feleipe Franks said. "You don’t have to coach him up too much on how to do certain things, like routes and stuff. There’s different things in routes we run in our offense, like option routes, you don’t have to coach him up on. He just goes out there and plays football. He’s an athlete, he just goes out there and makes things happen.”

He makes things happen all over the field.

As a receiver he caught 25 balls for 260 yards and one touchdown; on the ground he ran for 240 yards on 21 carries; six kick-off returns for 133 yards; and he even threw a 20-yard touchdown pass on a trick play.

"KT, definitely is a big part of our offense," said Franks. "He is definitely one of our best playmakers, and you know when he does touch the ball, you see on Saturday’s, he just makes something electric happen every time."

“I don’t really think about what I’m doing," said Toney about his play style. "I just see a hole and I hit it. If i see a hole on the other side of the field, that’s where I’m going. That’s the way I look at it.”

During Mullen's first season in Gainesville, the Gators head coach and Toney had to learn to work together. Mullen had to learn to allow some flexibility at times, while Toney had to learn how to become a complete receiver.

"I think one of the things… I haven’t done a good job offensively, in just forcing us to just put the ball in his hands. I’ll be honest with you, about half the time he touches the ball the play doesn’t look anything like we designed it to look at in practice," said Mullen after Florida's win over South Carolina. "But exciting things certainly happen. We’ll try to continue to do that and make sure he gets touches.”

“I think I evolved very slow, but tremendously," Toney said about his evolution as a receiver. "I think I’m more of a receiver now that I was my first year when they switched me to receiver. I feel like I’ve grown under Coach Billy G[Gonzales]. I’ve grown up under him. I feel like I’m more complete now.

“I’m more comfortable, knowing the system, the different things I can do, how to maneuver in it, know the ins and outs of it," said Toney about how he has changed. "Just more comfortable, I feel like more comfortable.”

"I think he’s been a complete receiver since last year, he goes out there and listens to coach G and he’s like a sponge, always getting in information from them," said Franks. "He wants to become a complete receiver, which I think he’s becoming, it just takes time.”

Toney did start receiving more touches.

He also earned the staff's trust. So when it came time to decide who would wear the No. 1 jersey this upcoming season, Toney and CJ Henderson received the nod.

“It was very exciting," Toney said about earning the No. 1 jersey. "Just to know who was in the number and continue the tradition."

"He has done everything we have asked him to do, he does and has performed at a high level on the field, " said Mullen.

"A number is, like, what you represent, what you make of it, really," added Toney. "You can get any number and turn it into something. It’s really what you do with it.”

Toney is often compared to another great Gators athlete who wore the No. 1 jersey, Percy Harvin.

"He’s an explosive player," said Toney. "I try to be more explosive, but I see the caliber, the type of player he was. That’s intriguing.”

Toney is not Percy Harvin. He is Kadarius Toney.

And Toney is ready to make his own legacy at Florida.