Scouting Lenz: Kadarius Toney, WR, Florida
As a high school quarterback in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama, Toney was an electric dual-threat. The three-star chose Florida over the University of Alabama. It was clear to coaches early in his career in Gainesville that he was a playmaker. Toney received limited playing time as a freshman. Dealing with injuries in his first three years, he was exciting any time he touched the football, including a 66-yard reception in week zero against Miami that caught the attention of NFL scouts. He finally broke out in 2020, gaining over 1,100 all-purpose yards. Toney is the X-Factor for Florida’s offense and stresses defenses, whether he touches the ball or is just used as a decoy. He also accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl, where he was one of the stars of the week during his return trip back home.
The Evaluation
Possessing ridiculous flexibility, suddenness and change of direction, there are few defenders, let alone humans that are able to match and mirror Toney’s movements. He is explosive in-and-out of his breaks. If given free access, he can beat most defenders in a foot race. His speed makes it extremely difficult to stick with him on crossing routes. Pair his flexibility with very quick feet, which enables him to set up defenders at the top of his routes and you have a nightmare matchup in man coverage. At Florida, Toney gets plenty of manufactured touches such as screens and end arounds. On these plays, he demonstrates nice patience to let his blocks develop with sudden acceleration. He will tend to lower the shoulder and owns better contact balance than many running backs. While his size of 5-foot-11 and 193 pounds will inevitably limit him, he has the hops to make the occasional play at the catch point, if the pass is perfect. Toney has to do a better job of avoiding second-level zone defenders that can knock him off his routes. As a blocker, he competes, displaying hunger for contact but is inefficient due to his size. While he possesses the quickness and foot speed required to beat press, he has not seen a lot of it and struggled when he was bracketed. In the NFL, Toney will primarily be a slot receiver who can be motioned all over the field and requires a high number of touches to capitalize on his ability to be a dangerous ball-carrier. He can separate on all three levels of the field and needs to be accounted for in every defensive gameplan. In the right situation, Toney could become the focal point of an offense with division rivals dedicating time to finding answers to the question: ‘How are we going to stop Kadarius Toney?’
The Tape
Against Missouri, Toney showed off his ability to win vertically against single coverage. This is what can happen if safeties are not paying attention to him:
Texas A&M had a similar problem when Florida was able to match Toney up with a safety, watch how quickly he turns on the jest and runs right by him:
In the same game, he scored on a crossing route. Once again he was too fast to not pay extra attention to him:
Can he do it on end arounds? Find out for yourself:
Toney can separate on two way goes as demonstrated in the Texas A&M game:
QB | RB | FB | WR | iWR | TE | LT | RT | OG | OC | DT | NG | 3-4 DE | 4-3 DE | 3-4 OLB | 4-3 OLB | ILB | CB | iCB | FS | SS
