Max Tooley's pick 6 shows strong defense, but BYU has work to do on special teams

TAMPA — Maybe Max Tooley was auditioning to be the next BYU wide receiver when he saw the ball fly out of South Florida quarterback Gerry Bohanon's hand and into his fingertips.

Or maybe he just wanted to make up for lost time.

Whatever it was, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound junior from Bountiful High made no mistake, launching himself up to snag the ball with both palms, securing it as he landed untouched in the middle of the USF backfield, and racing 33 yards for the first pick six of his collegiate career en route to the Cougars' 50-21 win over South Florida at Raymond James Stadium.

If Tooley's eyes looked big enough to swell out of his football helmet Saturday night against a Bulls squad that is just 3-19 under third-year coach Jeff Scott, it may be because they were. Not even a southeastern squall could slow him down.

This one was for all those missed chances and almost picks, especially ones the redshirt junior saw the past month of training camp.

"I feel like this camp, I've missed a couple of picks that I shouldn't have," Tooley said after the 25th-ranked Cougars moved to 1-0. "I've been dreading that. So I've been telling myself this whole week leading up to the game, that if it's in my hands, there was no way I'm going to drop it.

Tooley is used to making plays out of a backfield since the days he played running back in high school, when he ran for 1,550 yards and 16 touchdowns in two seasons. He also caught 17 passes for 147 yards and a score — most of them similar in speed to the screen pass he saw in front of him early against USF, when his pick six was part of a 28-0 first-quarter run that helped the visitors roll to a 38-7 halftime advantage.

"I feel like I can have some decent hands if I need to," said Tooley, who pulled down his first returned interception as a collegian to go along with "a couple" in high school. "Swing screens aren't the fastest balls out there, so it was one for me to take."

Scott said Bohanon was expecting Tooley to be blocked on the swing pass and didn't lay the fault of the interception on his Baylor transfer quarterback who completed 17-of-30 passes for 172 yards and the pick.

"They like to drop eight people and there's a lot of guys back there," the third-year head coach said. "I just never felt like, you know, maybe there was one or two drives. But outside of that, we really were not able to get in a rhythm."

So how would an offensive player known for his soft hands rate Tooley's ball control and 33-yard finish? BYU running back Lopini Katoa, who has caught 78 passes out of the back field in the past five years for 744 yards and six touchdowns, was highly complimentary.

"That was A-1 right there. It doesn't get better than that," Katoa said. "He jumped that, and I knew nobody was going to catch. He just took off."

Tooley wasn't the only defensive player who broke out in a big way for a BYU squad whose defense has been doubted in recent months. With the type of offense the team has put up — the kind capable of dropping 50 points for only the sixth time in the past four years against FBS competition, for example — that's OK, too; these players understand it.

And while Puka Nacua was drawing headlines with his fast, two-touchdown performance in less than a half and Cal transfer Chris Brooks had his first breakout performance in a BYU uniform with 135 yards and a touchdown, it was the defense that quietly got their own job done.

The Cougars held USF to 293 total yards, limited Bohanon to 17-of-30 passing for 172 yards and an interception, and kept the Bulls to 4-of-12 on third down and just one fourth-down conversion on four attempts.

Jacob Boren had a career-high six tackles to lead the defense, as well as the first sack of his career for the former walk-on from Highland High. Tooley, Payton Wilgar and Ben Bywater added five stops, with Jakob Robinson and Vanderbilt transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally added four apiece.

An offense that scored 50 points and a defense that gave up 14 still had plenty of things to work on, though. Perhaps the most glaring issue was BYU's breakdowns on kickoff coverage, highlighted by Jimmy Horn Jr.'s 89-yard kick return touchdown to open the second half.

The score came on the following play from Jaren Mangham's 1-yard touchdown dive with 14 seconds left in the first half. The Bulls (0-1) still trailed 38-14 — but had all the momentum.

Until, that is, they didn't. Boren had a sack, and the Cougar defense forced a safety on a muffed punt snap out of the back of the end zone, and Chris Brooks' 52-yard touchdown run put the game away for good.

Now about that kick return.

"There are some things that they did differently, and some things that I think we could've done differently. For the most part, the defense gave up 14 points, I'm happy with that. Special teams gave up 7, I don't like that," said BYU coach Kalani Sitake, who took the blame for the kickoff coverage breakdowns. "I thought the offense could've scored a little more … but I'm happy with the way they controlled the clock and mostly protected the ball."

Tooley was as big a part of that defense as anyone with his interception, after cementing his spot in BYU's flash linebacker rotation. He's taken to the hybrid role well, and with the absence of fellow flash linebacker Chaz Ah You, Tooley has embedded himself atop the depth chart in a role that also includes Tavita Gagnier and Morgan Pyper.

"Flash is a good spot for me," Tooley said of the part-linebacker, part-safety position. "I'm a bit undersized as a linebacker, so I have to use my speed to my advantage. Being in the field with more space, I've played it before but never in this hybrid role covering more ground. I feel comfortable."

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