Patrick Toney to Call Plays for Florida Gators Defense
Head coach Billy Napier shared on Friday that co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Patrick Toney is the man in charge of the Florida Gators' defense moving forward, as Toney will serve as the play-caller on that side of the ball.
Toney, 31, was named co-defensive coordinator alongside defensive line coach Sean Spencer in January as members of Napier's inaugural coaching staff. Spencer will have input as to how the defense operates, but at the end of the day, Toney will make the final call on play selection and, presumably, the starting lineup.
“Patrick Toney will call the defense," Napier explained. "Sean obviously is a veteran coach that has a tremendous input and background at multiple stops, but Patrick will do the play-calling.”
This is a role that Toney has acclimated within over the last two years, as he was promoted to defensive coordinator at Louisiana, under Napier, before he even turned 30. Despite his young age, Toney is well-respected by coaches across the nation for his quick development and success as a coordinator.
In 2020, Toney's first year on the job, the Ragin Cajuns' team defense ranking jumped up 14 spots to No. 33 nationally, improving from 371.9 to 355.4 in yards allowed per game. The unit improved in that category again in 2021, finishing as the No. 26 defense in the country in team defense (340.9 yards allowed per game). Louisiana also ranked No. 11 in points allowed per game (18.5) this past season.
Napier credits Toney as someone who is always aiming to learn and perfect his craft as a coach, according to The Advocate (Louisiana), which is a big reason why Toney earned play-calling responsibilities on Napier's debut staff at Florida.
“[Toney is] always learning," Napier said in 2021. "He and I, we work well together, because we’re always trying to tinker and improve what we do and try to position the team for success.
"I love coming to work every day knowing we’ve got one of the bright, young, up-and-coming football minds in our building. I think we’re all going to be telling stories about ole ‘PT’ one day.”
Based on the characteristics of his unit at Lousiana, according to Sports Info Solutions, Toney is expected to deploy a nickel-base defense with five defensive backs usually on the field. The front six defenders tend to split pretty evenly between a three defensive linemen, three linebacker front and a four defensive linemen, two linebacker look.
Toney typically sends four rushers on a given play, per SIS, and has spoken at length about coverages to pair with his pressure packages as well as coverage technique. Expect Florida to call a mix of zone and man coverages moving forward.
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