Week 6 PFF Curiosities - BYU vs Texas State

-- A look at stats and trends as BYU moves to 6-0

The Zach to Dax Connection
Zach has thrown 38 passes that PFF deems "catchable" to Dax Milne. Milne's caught 37 of them. This isn't the case of numbers being boosted by a bunch of easy passes. Dax is second in the country with 9 deep receptions (catches on passes that traveled 20 yards or more through the air). Here's the list of the top ten leaders in deep receptions. Notice any weird outliers on this table? (Hint: I've circled one in yellow)

Zach and Dax have connected on 9 deep balls on only 10 throws, meaning they're connecting on 90% of deep attempts. That's crazy! The average for the rest of the guys on this list is right around 51%. It feels ridiculous to believe they can keep up this rate of success but like I've written before, Zach is making me believe in stuff even when logic says I shouldn't. 

But back to Dax - I cannot believe how well this guy is playing. He's become a weapon in all aspects of the game. He's our only receiver who's had success in the jet sweep action,11. Here's how our guys have done on jet sweeps or reverses so far this season.

Milne: 60 yards on 10 attempts
Epps: 18 yards on 2 attempts
Jackson: 12 yards on 4 attempts
Romney: 10 yards on 3 attempts
Gunther: 8 yards on 2 attempts
Pau'u: 2 yards on 3 attempts
Fall: 2 yards on 1 attempt and he's catching the ball all over the field. 

Here's a pic of his receptions by location. The three columns show if the catch occurred in the left, middle, or right side of the field, while the four rows represent the depth of the catch (bottom row is catches made behind the line of scrimmage, top row is catches made 20 yards or more down the field).

So in other words, sure, Dax has caught 9 deep balls, but he's also caught 12 intermediate passes (10 to 20 yards down the field), 6 short passes (between 0 and 10 yards), and 10 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. He's caught 10 passes on the left side of the field, 11 on the right, and 16 over the middle. He's everywhere! 

It's been an incredible year for Milne. Coming into the season I expected him to be fourth in the pecking order of targets (after Bushman, Romney, and Katoa). To see him go from walk-on to clear number one means he's the new Dennis Pitta. 

Isaiah Kaufusi - the Poor Man's Kyle Van Noy

Isaiah Kaufusi has been pure impact this season. He leads the team in stops with 17,22. Tackles that constitute a "loss" for the offense. See this link for explanation.  has forced two fumbles, is second on the team with 33 tackles, has one interception, and is second on the team with three sacks. I remember watching his recruiting film all the way back in 2014 and getting excited for this guy. 

BYU careers really can last forever. 

Building Depth at Corner - Safety Not So Much

Due to injuries, experimentation, and blowouts BYU's been able to get a lot of players reps at cornerback this season. Seniors Chris Wilcox and Kavika Fonua as expected are getting the most reps at corner and slot corner respectively, but Keenan Ellis (junior), George Udo (sophomore), and Micah Harper (freshman) have all played over 125 snaps this season. 

One of the best side effects of clobbering opponents is the opportunity to get bench guys some playing time. But the nice thing for BYU is a lot of these underclassmen snaps aren't just garbage time. Ellis got the starters reps against Houston, and Harper played as much as any corner during the Troy-Louisiana-UTSA stretch of games. Udo's season high in snaps came in the Houston game as well.

The scary thing is we are not seeing the same development at safety. 84% of the snaps played by safeties this year have come from Troy, Zayne, and Jared Kapisi - all seniors. It may not matter. Maybe our safeties will take advantage of this year's eligibility free pass and Troy will come back for his sixth season and Zayne will stay for his 22nd. But if both guys move on, the depth at safety next year looks a bit suspect.  

Sidenote: Of course, the positive side of this senior-heavy safety performance is that two guys who have been injured a ton throughout their careers -- Zayne and Troy -- have been healthy this season. Good for them. 

Injury Watch (Offensive Line version)

Hoge played only 31 snaps last week (Empey didn't play). Fortunately they weren't missed - that's what playing a team like Texas State will do for a depleted offensive line. Here's to hoping they can be on track for the showdown with Boise in two weeks.

Something I didn't realize

Masen Wake is a fullback in my mind, but he's actually played the majority of his snaps on the edge of the line of scrimmage in the manner of a tight end. He's lined up 117 times at an in-line position and only 30 times in the backfield. It makes sense - I wouldn't want to get blocked by that guy. 

Who Got Dem Snaps (WR edition)

With Romney injured and the score out of hand we saw more of BYU's "second tier" wide receivers (aka Cosper, Jackson, Epps, and Hill) than we had in the last couple weeks. The snaps were pretty much even amongst these four, but in both total snaps played and passing down snaps played, Kody Epps was the top dog. 

Like all BYU fans, I'm enthralled by the double minority status of Epps, as well as the eye-popping high school production. He's only had five touches this year (which have generated 51 yards). I keep hoping he'll encroach on Pau'u's reps, but Neil has done enough to cement himself as the #3 receiver. 

Max Tooley - 5 Tool player? 

Max is listed as a linebacker, but this year he's split his reps pretty evenly playing on the defensive line (67 snaps) and in the box (61 snaps). He's also dropped into coverage 47 times as well. In high school he played a lot of safety and running back. Last year he got 91 snaps as a slot or wide cornerback. I guess my point is this guy is experienced at a lot of positions. That versatility is in vogue these days, and should pay dividends for BYU down the line. 

From a critical standpoint you could say Max hasn't been good enough to start at linebacker, thanks in part to the awesome play of Keenan Pili and Payton Wilgar (as well as the aforementioned Kaufusi). But I'm just happy the coaches are finding ways to get him on the field. 

What can I say, I like BYU players named Max.