A week ago, Kadarius Toney took to Twitter to suggest that he might opt out of the 2020 football season.
My first reaction was a quick, “no!” to be honest. I want to see him get a full season once fully comfortable in Dan Mullen’s offense because he’s an exciting playmaker. There aren’t and haven’t been many Gator players who could take it to the house on any play in the last decade, but Toney is one of them.
I caught myself almost immediately, though, because once my gut is done talking, I am fully supportive of anyone opting out of the season for any reason. There are so many unknowns with COVID-19 still, and among the biggest of them is what’ll happen on college campuses once the general student bodies return. I still am not sure how safe players will be this fall if programs go into full training, practicing, and playing.
And Toney also tweeted a reference to a youth sports coach from his hometown who died of coronavirus complications about ten days prior. When someone you know succumbs to a disease, it changes your perspective.
If Toney does opt out of the season, I can’t help but think he’s done at UF. He still has a redshirt season to use, and I don’t think he’d get drafted based on his existing body of work. That said, the reports from last winter said he was considering entering the NFL Draft early, and at least one beat writer said he very nearly chose to go pro. It was to the point that there were assurances floating around out there about him being a lock to get an undrafted free agent contract even if he wasn’t selected, and even that Seattle was a team that would want to do so. I cannot verify the veracity of any of that, but we don’t get that far down the road with players who aren’t close to leaving early.
The premature end to Toney’s career at Florida would leave a tough legacy. It’d be hard not to see him as the new Andre Debose, a player with visibly superlative talent who never fulfilled his promise on the college level.
Toney came in as a high school quarterback who never had the size or arm to make it as such on the next level. He quickly moved to receiver, and he showed flashes from the start of unfair amounts of elusiveness. He also showed a lack of discretion when using it, a common trait for players accustomed to juking every high school defender they come across. College defenders are bigger and faster, and you can’t always spin move your way away from them.
Nevertheless, he provided an outlet for creativity even for the relatively staid offensive minds of Jim McElwain and Doug Nussmeier in what turned out to be a lost year in 2017. His quarterbacking history made him a threat to throw the ball in addition to run or catch it, and he’s turned the tide in more than one game. His 50-yard completion was instrumental in the comeback against Kentucky in ’17, and his 66-yard screen pass touchdown against Miami last year made a huge difference in a four-point win in which the offense largely struggled to get moving.
Part of the promise of Mullen’s arrival was that he would use the talent to the fullest. It doesn’t feel like that’s happened with Toney yet.
He was still learning the position of receiver in 2018. Plus, as Mullen occasionally said in response to questions about the matter, Toney freelanced too much for the head coach’s taste. The plays are designed to do something specific, and they tend to work when everyone does his job. A premier “no no no YES” player, Toney could make spectacular things happen when not doing the play as written. He could also turn 2nd-and-manageable into 3rd-and-long just as often, and Mullen can only abide that kind of thing for so long.
I was hoping to see more from Toney in 2019. It was his third year as a receiver and second in the system, but injury cut his campaign short. Once he did come back, Mullen didn’t go out of his way to get Toney the ball. The story from more than one beat writer was that Mullen was please with the way the offense developed and found a rhythm while Toney was out, so he didn’t want to disrupt things too much. Fair enough, and Toney did have a nice receiving game against FSU.
The 2020 season should’ve been when it all came together. In his fourth year as a receiver and third in the system, there shouldn’t have been any concerns about coaches knowing Toney’s skills and him knowing what the coaches want. With four senior receivers gone, he was one of just three wideouts returning along with Trevon Grimes and to a lesser extent Jacob Copeland with any significant experience. There shouldn’t have been anything standing in his way to being one of the clear top options in the offense.
Except there might be one now: the novel coronavirus. Toney doesn’t appear to have made a final decision, and maybe he will still go. I hope that Florida puts enough measures in place that everyone feels comfortable to participate in whatever the season ends up being, and also that those measures come through and fulfill their intended effects.
It’s selfish to an extent for me to want to see Toney in the orange and blue again when he has health concerns now and may have a variety of reasons to want to go pro next year anyway. I wish him the best whatever happens. But I would love to see him make some more Gator magic before he goes.