There will never be another Gator quite like Kadarius Toney. His dazzling elusiveness was apparent from his first spring game, and his speed made him all the more dangerous as an offensive weapon. Some periodically wanted him to turn into the next Percy Harvin, but that never happened because he was the first (and only) Kadarius Toney. Our experience as fans was all the more richer for it, too.
So while there won’t be another player who performs quite like Toney, Florida could use another story like his. The brilliant Toney of 2020 was someone we’d been waiting to see for a while. While his talent was obvious, it took him until his fourth season to put it all together to become a complete player. To wit, his team-leading 70 receptions in ’20 were 20 more than he had in his entire career up to that point.
There is little doubt that UF has a large stable of capable skill position players. Running back goes five deep, the team left spring feeling good about at least seven receivers, and all four tight ends have differing skills sets that could get them on the field in situations.
At the same time, if your offense has 16 points of emphasis, it has no points of emphasis. The Gators could use one or two players to pull a Toney and transform into a top-shelf playmaker this fall. Here are the candidates to be such a breakout player.
The cheater’s answer: Jacob Copeland
The top-rated recruit in Dan Mullen’s transitional class according to the 247 Composite, Copeland has waited his turn behind a number of eventual NFL Draft picks. He steps up as the obvious No. 1 receiver this year, so much so that he’s going to wear the vaunted No. 1 jersey.
BREAKING: #Gators WR Jacob Copeland will wear the #1 jersey this season 🐊#GoGators #JUMPMAN pic.twitter.com/rA5IfkUhDO
— Gators Uniform Tracker (@GatorsUnis) July 14, 2021
This will be Copeland’s fourth season, and he might go from having reception counts in the low 20s the past two seasons to a much higher number. His career figure to beat is 45, which he may or may not surpass depending on the run-pass balance of the new 2021 offense. All of those factors point to a Toney-like progression.
Still, Copeland has had some occasional standout performances, including five catches for 123 yards against LSU last year. Toney didn’t break the century mark in receiving yards until midseason of 2020 against Vandy.
The answer might just be Copeland, but he’s very much the easy answer.
Not really the same thing: Emory Jones
Also entering his fourth year with a chance to blow away career stat totals is the new guy behind center. Jones has shown some flashes of talent with his stellar running ability without ever having an all-everything kind of season.
Much like Copeland, he’s been waiting his turn, though. Toney’s unique talents could’ve gotten him more usage earlier in his career, but for whatever reason it wasn’t until ’20 that it all came together for him. Copeland’s story is less that, since he largely does the same kinds of things as a Van Jefferson or Trevon Grimes.
Jones, while getting spot work for very specific things not unlikely pre-2020 Toney, never had a real shot of passing up his elders. Mullen’s history with quarterbacks is one of favoring experience, and even future Heisman finalist Kyle Trask couldn’t pass up Feleipe Franks until the latter had a season-ending injury. I was one of the ones who suggested Jones might get real playing time early in his career due to his ability set more closely matching Mullen signal callers of old, but in reality it was never going to happen.
Besides, the dynamic at quarterback is different than the other non-lineman positions on offense. Jones having a breakout season just won’t feel the same as Toney’s breakthrough 2020.
Fitting the bill: Keon Zipperer
Zip was one of the higher-rated recruits out of the 2019 class, but this Kyle Pitts dude took up a lot of the oxygen at the position in the intervening time. For perspective, eight of Zipperer’s 11 catches in 2020 came during games that Pitts missed.
He’s a different kind of player, less a receiver who blocks in-line sometimes and more a true H-back. Put it this way: Pitts would never have appeared as the fullback in the I-formation as Zipperer has occasionally. That factor makes Zipperer a bit more Toney-like; sure, he was waiting his turn to a degree, but his contrasting skill set meant he might’ve gotten more usage with a faster development timeline.
If the Florida offense turns substantially more to the run as we’re all expecting, the change should make Zipperer the top tight end on the team in terms of usage. Kemore Gamble is less of a blocker, and the younger guys have an experience deficit.
We won’t see Zipperer turn in a receiving season like Pitts did a year ago, which is no slight because Pitts was highest-drafted-tight-end-ever material. We should, however, see Zip get a lot more snaps, which means a lot more chances to show out.
Others
Ethan discussed Lorenzo Lingard earlier this week, so I won’t repeat his work here. I will just note that as a Toney comparison, he’s not a direct parallel. Injury only set back Toney for part of one season, whereas Lingard lost a lot of the past two seasons to knee trouble. From a narrative perspective, he’s closer to being the next Malik Davis than the next Toney.
None of the receivers other than Copeland really fit the comparison, and even he doesn’t entirely. One guy who might at least have a significantly more productive final season than all his others combined is Rick Wells, who finally started seeing the field regularly in the back half of last year.
In fact with Toney, Trevon Grimes, and Copeland out of the Cotton Bowl, Wells led the team with nine targets and six receptions. He won’t play his way into the first round as Toney did, but after years of working with Jones among the reserves, his rapport with the new pass distributor might get him a lot more catches than season preview coverage so far seems to be expecting.