Nice to see Zach Abolverdi writing for The Sun again, if only as a correspondent.
And, yes! Give Toney the ball! Oliver Barry CRS, GRI Real Estate Broker PARKS Real Estate Services 305 B Indian Lake Blvd Suite 220 Hendersonville TN 37075 Office: 615-826-4040 Mobile: 615-972-4239 [email protected] Begin forwarded message: > From: Shane Ford <[email protected]> > Date: November 12, 2018 at 10:13:21 AM CST > To: GatorNews <[email protected]> > Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Toney touches lead to exciting plays for Gators > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Toney touches lead to exciting plays for Gators > By gatorsports (Gainesville Sun) - November 12, 20186 > > > > > Florida receiver Kadarius Toney looks for running room Saturday against South > Carolina at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. [Cyndi Chambers/Gainesville Sun > Correspondent] > By Zach Abolverdi, Gainesville Sun Correspondent > > Florida wide receiver Kadarius Toney has become the wild card in Dan Mullen’s > offense, and the first-year coach showed his hand once again Saturday. > > Toney had 84 yards of total offense in the Gators’ 35-31 win over South > Carolina, rushing for a season-high 51 yards on four carries and catching a > pair of passes for 33 yards and a touchdown. > > This performance comes on the heels of Toney’s career-high 95 total yards > against Missouri. And with his numbers against the Gamecocks, he has now > surpassed his rushing and receiving stats for 2017. > > “That comes from preparation and putting faith in Coach Mullen to get the > ball in my hands whenever he can,” Toney said. “It feels good to execute the > plays that he’s drawing up to help the team.” > > Saturday was only Toney’s second time this season with four carries in a > game, and he has only caught four passes once in 2018 (against Vanderbilt). > Mullen acknowledged that he needs to do a better job of getting Toney more > touches. > > “When he touches the ball, really exciting things happen,” Mullen said of > Toney after the game. “I haven’t done a good job offensively, in forcing us > to just put the ball in his hands. About half the time he touches the ball > the play doesn’t look anything like we designed it to look at in practice, > but exciting things certainly happen. We’ll try to continue to do that and > make sure he gets touches.” > > Toney also took on punt return duties Saturday because of Freddie Swain’s > injury. He muffed a punt in the third quarter and South Carolina recovered, > scoring a field goal off the turnover. The Gamecocks had a touchdown drive on > their next possession and went up 31-14 with less than 20 minutes left in the > game. > > “I always play with a chip on my shoulder and that just made the chip even > bigger. So it just made me go harder,” Toney said of the muffed punt. “I was > mad, but I didn’t let that overwhelm me. … My mentality is, if I do something > bad, give me the ball again, I’m going to show you what I can really do. > > “That was just an error. Everybody makes errors, but how you bounce back is > really what makes a person and makes their character.” > > Toney redeemed himself after South Carolina took a 17-point lead. The Gators > drove into the red zone on the ensuing series and called his number on > second-and-7. Toney caught a screen pass and evaded three defenders on his > way to the end zone for an 18-yard score, his first receiving touchdown of > the season. > > That’s his favorite thing to do on offense. > > “A screen play,” Toney said, “because I know I’m getting the ball for sure.” > > He also touches it in the wildcat formation, but the former high school > quarterback doesn’t care for that package. > > “Nah, not really. It’s all right,” Toney said. “I moved away from > quarterback, so it’s like going backward. … I can do that, but it’s not my > main game. My main thing I do is receiving.” > > Toney said he gets “a lot” of tweets from fans who want to see him play more > wildcat and get reps at quarterback. The injury to backup quarterback Kyle > Trask only led to more lobbying. > > “That’s all I see on social media. I just ignore it,” Toney said. “But if Dan > Mullen wants me to get in the wildcat more, I’ll get in there. … I know > everybody just hesitates for me to get back in the shotgun. It’s kind of fun > though, just to give the people what they want.” > > Toney lined up in the wildcat three times Saturday and attempted a trick play > on Florida’s go-ahead touchdown drive, but the Gators couldn’t execute it. > However, he put the offense in scoring position on that series with his > 33-yard run on a reverse. > > “We lined up in the same formation … and right when they were trying to > clutter the spot, we hit them on the other end,” Toney said. “I saw it > developing, honestly, when we kept pounding and pounding. We got closer to > the end zone and they threw like their whole team over there almost. I kind > of figured it was going to come soon enough.” > > Given his play the last two weeks, Toney’s role will likely expand to take > advantage of his elusiveness and play-making ability. That excitement is > needed for an offense trying to become fun again. > > “That’s a different type of guy,” running back Lamical Perine said of Toney. > “They’ll have a run that’s supposed to go left and he’ll cut it back all the > way to the right and score. So you never know what to expect with Kadarius. > He’s a talented, good kid, man. He’s done a lot for this program and he’s > going to keep doing that.” > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Sent From Shane's iPhone > Go Gators! & Skål Vikes! > -- > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 > National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 > National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "GatorNews" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GatorTalk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
