Trying to tackle Kadarius Toney is comparable to catching lightning in a bottle.
And when a defender does get his hands on him, the Florida wideout packs a thunderous punch as well. Georgia coach Kirby Smart has seen it firsthand.
“He's extremely hard to tackle. He's got extreme one-step quickness, and he plays powerful,” Smart said Wednesday of Toney. “When people hit him, he doesn't go backwards. He's physical in what he does and he's become a better receiver. They're using him really well.”
The former high school quarterback from Mobile, Ala., still gets his fair share of screen passes and end-arounds — like the 16-yard touchdown he scored against Mizzou — but the continued evolution of his route-running ability has made him a nearly unstoppable force this season.
Check out the move Toney puts on Tigers safety Joshuah Bledsoe at the line of scrimmage to get open on his 30-yard TD reception.
“We know he’s a playmaker,” UF coach Dan Mullen said of Toney. “You put the ball in his hands and watching him make people miss or break tackles is one thing. The thing I’ve been most pleased with is his route-running and his ability to take that talent and his quickness and his escape-ability and put that into route-running context and be a great route runner.
“He's such a quick change-of-direction guy. So his ability to change direction on a route, set you up one way and then go a different way, I think that's what you want. And he's so quick that he's able to do that at a high level. So that's one of the things that's made him I think even such a better player this year.”
Toney's improvement in the area of route-running has been key for Florida's offense. He's tied for first on the team with tight end Kyle Pitts in receptions (22), and ranks second on the squad in receiving yards (297) and touchdown grabs (6).
He caught just one TD as a junior and sophomore, but now No. 1 is more of a threat to score.
"Much more," Smart said. “He was always good and I thought Dan always used him, but Dan had more weapons around him when he was younger. He had other good players, you know, like [Freddie] Swain and the other guys, Tyrie [Cleveland], [Van] Jefferson. They had some really good wideouts. But now, it's like he's a more polished receiver on the top of the utility stuff.”
It's not a coincidence that he's currently rated as the third-best college wide receiver by Pro Football Focus. He's fast and physical, opponents have a hard time bringing him down, and his hands have improved along with his knowledge of the route tree.
Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham has taken notice of Toney's growth as well. He's just happy he isn't in Smart’s shoes Saturday.
“It's a hard deal because he demands double teams to try to keep him at bay," Grantham said, when asked how he'd defend him. “But when he gets the ball in his hands, he still makes more than one guy miss, so he's a problem. I'm certainly glad that I don't have to go execute that question.
“He’s elite as far as his cutting ability. Coach [Billy] Gonzales has done a really good job of developing him as a complete wideout. If you look at where he was year one that we came here, to the routes he can run now and the things he can do as a complete receiver, it changes how you can play the guy. And I think that's the biggest thing that I see with him.”
No longer is Toney a gadget player who only appears in limited packages. He has developed into an every-down receiver and boosted his draft stock considerably as a senior.
“KT is one of the most versatile players in the country,” Gators WR Trevon Grimes said. “We all know that. It was just a matter of time before you guys knew that and everybody else in this world knew that. We see it every day in practice — the one-handed catches, the spins, the jukes.
“It was just a matter of time before the outside world caught on to how good he is. He’s more fluent. He’s more confident playing receiver. I’m excited for him. He’s taking off.”
