Feature on UK center Jon Toth

Jon Toth has never played a game at Florida, but the sophomore center believes Kentucky is ready to open Southeastern Conference play in Gainesville Saturday afternoon.

“We have two wins under our belt and we are feeling confident. We know we can be a lot better still, but it is nice to be 2-0,” said Toth. “Getting two wins shows that we have improved and moved on from last year. We are looking forward, not back. But I definitely think everyone is ready for SEC play. We have a year under our belts in this offense and now we just have to buckle down and be assignment sound.”

Toth’s improvement has been instrumental in UK’s 2-0 start. He came to UK following his all-state career in Indianapolis expecting to play in the offensive line, but not at center. He was redshirted in 2012, started 11 games last year despite a battle with tonsillitis that led to him dropping weight and opened this season by being named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week.

“A lot of my friends, family and extended family texted me after I got that. I am happy for all the love they showed me and that I could do something like that,” Toth, who plans a major in engineering, said.

He says the transition to center under coach John Schlarman involves being “extremely consistent” on every play.

“You are in the middle of the line and that’s where a lot of runs start. You can’t let anyone get penetration. On the line you have to be consistent and not let penetration happen and get moving around. So learning to be consistent is the toughest thing for me even now,” Toth said.

“It is definitely hard. You have to watch out for yourself because it is easy to get rolled up. You just have to get moving or you are going to get rolled up. You have to keep your feet moving at all times and get movement off the ball.”

He said there would “hopefully” be days during the season when he is not sore from the contact.

“But you will be sore because you are getting constantly banged up during games,” he said.

Running backs coach Chad Scott sees a definite change in Toth’s leadership and confidence.

“Last year I didn’t pay a lot of attention to him, but now I see him being more vocal, more confident. He’s making his calls louder and the adjustments he makes with the line that go back to the running backs are more confident. I would say his leadership ability by being more vocal and just so much confident is the biggest change in him this year,” Scott said. “We have to look at him. When we make our calls, he’s the first guy we look at him for the calls and they communicate well.”

Scott likes the way the lineman interacts with his running backs.

“He is loose with them. He treats them like they are one of the offensive linemen. He’s really good where last year we were a work in progress. This year we are more like one in sync,” Scott said.

While Scott is not sure Toth is ready to physically challenge a player for making a mistake, he could see the day coming where he will.

“He could do it, but right now (tackle Jordan) Swindle does that. “But the fortunate thing is that we have had good communication. So that has not been a problem. But I think with his approach, he could.”

Toth isn’t sure he could be a head smacker.

“We try not to smack people in the head unless they really need to wake up. We try to encourage people to do the right thing and do the right thing all the time,” he said. “I kind of like to stay in the shadows. Just kind of observe. I am not really the most vocal guy in terms of leading the team. I kind of leave it up to Swindle. You don’t need three leaders up there. I kind of like to lead from the trenches and get us in the right calls.”

Offensive coordinator Neal Brown just likes that Toth is a bigger, more physical player this year. He noted in the preseason how Toth’s “behind is a lot bigger” than it was last year.

“He got sick right in the middle of the year and lost some weight. He’s back up to over 300 pounds. A lot more confident. He’s getting us in some really good calls right now. We ask our center to do a little bit more than probably the normal teams. We ask him to set our protections and things like that,” Brown said.

Toth said he lost his appetite and ate little when he had tonsillitis during the middle of last season even though he did not miss a game.

“It felt kind of like the flu. Sore throat, fever, didn’t feel good at all,” he said. “It didn’t really bother me as much as you think on game day. You feel kind of crappy, but still the excitement of game day gets you going and you kind of put that in the back of your mind and go out there and perform. Being sick was just not something I was consciously thinking about.”

He said it was not hard to put weight on during the offseason.

“Just kind of eat good food and eat a lot of food, more than you normally would. But that’s not something I have a tough time doing. I like eating. Lot of meat, lot of veggies, fruit, good stuff. It was all good,” he said. “I have heard that my butt and legs are bigger. I noticed it when we tried on our slacks from last year’s Cat Walk and my thighs would not fit in the same pants.

“More strength definitely helps a lot and you have to play with leverage. You can have all the strength in the world, but if you don’t stay low, you still can’t block anybody in this league.

“When you are going against the big guys in the middle it is a disadvantage when you don’t have that extra mass behind you to help you get your momentum going or get their momentum going the other way. Everyone is tough to block in the SEC. Everyone is a big guy and all strong and play hard. So the weight helps.

“I wanted to be a tackle when I came here, but you have to learn every position and you learn quickly that you will play wherever they want you to play. I never really disagreed with any of the coaches’ decisions about where they wanted me and I am happy with where I am.”

Toth says he’s improved at “recognizing” defenses.

“I am better making correct calls and being able to help people out and telling them what to do at the line of scrimmage,” he said.

Toth seldom is recognized when he’s out in Lexington, something that suits him.

“I don’t really mind it at all. Just whatever. I wouldn’t really be happier if everyone recognized me everywhere I went. I kind of like not being recognized everywhere,” he said. “Sometimes people will notice because of my size, but it’s not, ‘Oh my God. That’s a lineman from Kentucky,’ unless you are wearing all Kentucky stuff. It doesn’t bother me to not be recognized.”