Slow down fellas.
Yes, he's magic with the ball in his hands, but as a QB he is inaccurate and has a weak arm, and we have no idea how good he would be at seeing the field and making progressions.
He's no Mike Vick or Lamar Jackson. Those guys are faster than Toney and throw bullets.
As a WR or RB, he's not a good blocker. Not to say he can't become one, but he's just never had to do it. Given how quick he is with lateral movement, you would expect him to develop into a good blocker, but that will take some time.
As a WR, he doesn't have great hands and doesn't know how to run routes. Again, not to say he can't turn into a great player at the position, he just doesn't have the experience.
He's a true freshman. Remember Percy as a true freshman? He was a sensation. Let me remind you what his first 4 games in O&B looked like:
Game 1 Southern Miss: 3 catches, 4 carries
Game 2 UCF: 4 catches, 2 carries
Game 3 UT: 1 catch, 1 carry
Game 4 UK: 1 carry
(he did suffer some injury against UT that limited him)
That's 16 touches in his first 4 games for Percy.
Through 4 games, Toney has 6 carries, 11 catches, 2 passes, and 1 KO return. Let's not count the return and just say 19 touches for Toney in his first 4 games.
Percy did get a little dinged against UT but unlike Toney who was a QB in HS, Percy was an ATH in HS playing both RB and WR so he was more polished.
Malik Davis is also a true freshman but he was a 4 year starter at RB in high school.
I love Toney and I've said before the staff needs to get the ball into his hands because he makes things happen. I don't have a lot of nice things to say about our coaching, but they have been giving him more and more each week. Somebody earlier in the thread lamented that we don't have a few plays for him as QB. We do. The announcers call it a "wildcat" but it's still Toney playing QB. He has both run and thrown (or tried to throw) out of that formation. He has the talent. He just needs to develop (which is something this staff has not excelled at). We can't just feed a true freshman playing a new position the ball 30 times a game and expect to set the SEC on fire.
The kid is a stud, but we need to be a little patient.
The next play I want to see out of him is an option with him at QB and Malik Davis as the pitch man. All we need is a block to set the edge and that play could be fun. I think that's a better play than having him throw the bubble screen.
Alex.