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PROVO — Brayden El-Bakri figured his legacy with the BYU football team would come for a big hit.
That’s the main purpose of the junior fullback, who walked on at BYU and has progressed to a starting role after a second-team all-state high school career when he played running back and middle linebacker at Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights.
But El-Bakri made headlines for a different kind of hit — on special teams — in the Cougars’ 41-20 win over San Jose State that snapped a seven-game losing streak.
For El-Bakri, it was all the same.
“Isn’t that what fullbacks are for?” he said nonchalantly after Wednesday’s practice. “You never plan on something like that to happen; you just try to make a play for your team.”
The Cougars had just gone up 7-0 on Tanner Mangum’s 23-yard touchdown toss to Micah Simon in the first quarter. But as has happened to BYU several times during its 2-7 season, the Cougars wondered if they could maintain the momentum of a fast offensive start against the 1-8 Spartans.
Enter El-Bakri.
The former Bengals lacrosse and baseball player ran a “twist” play drawn up by special teams coordinator Ed Lamb on the ensuing kickoff. Kamel Greene took three blockers on the kickoff, allowing El-Bakri to blitz the field untouched that ended in a jarring hit that pried the ball loose from San Jose State kick returner Rahshead Johnson.
🎥: This Brayden El-Bakri forced fumble and recovery set up BYU's second TD and an early 14-0 lead over San Jose State pic.twitter.com/GWkPSUV3hR
— Brandon Judd (@brandonljudd) October 28, 2017
Lamb called the moment “a blue-collar play,” and gave credit to El-Bakri, Greene and the rest of the overlooked kickoff coverage team for making a play that has received as much attention as any other storyline during BYU’s disappointing football season.
“There are a lot of plays that a receiver or quarterback can make that not a lot of people can relate to,” Lamb said. “But when a guy can run down on kickoff coverage and basically just make a play on courage and passion, it’s something that everybody can relate to.
El-Bakri collided with Johnson with a hit so hard that Johnson fell to the turf unconscious, dropping the loose ball, while El-Bakri was initially called for a targeting penalty on the fumble recovery.
The call was eventually reversed, and Johnson walked off on his own power after a lengthy injury stoppage.
“I didn’t even feel it, honestly,” El-Bakri said in describing the hit. “There are just some times when you are going so fast that you don’t feel anything. I just saw the ball come out, and jumped on it.”
And the message was sent. BYU ended the ensuing drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Bushman, and the foul taste of a losing streak was on its way into the rearview mirror.
Despite a seven-game losing streak that ensured the BYU football program’s first losing season since former coach Gary Crowton’s final year in 2004, the Cougars wouldn’t go quietly into the sunset.
“They’re called special teams for a reason, right? They are special,” El-Bakri said. “They hold a special place in my heart and in the game. They’re awesome to get momentum going.”
El-Bakri already held a place in the Cougars’ trivia book, if for no other reason than his first career touchdown came via a 1-yard scoring plunge in an 18-16 win over Arizona in Kalani Sitake’s debut as BYU head coach last year.
And though the former Brighton fullback has only totaled 42 rushing yards and 137 receiving yards while wearing a BYU uniform, it’s easy to see El-Bakri holds a “special” knack for making big plays in critical situations.
“That’s the man. I can’t praise Brayden enough,” teammate Tuni Kanuch said. “He comes in, he works hard, and he’s a walk-on; he doesn’t have a scholarship or get any payment for this. That guy is just gritty, he’s tough, and he’s the man.”
In a lot of ways, El-Bakri has become the poster child for BYU’s 2-7 start to Sitake’s second season. Overlooked and underwhelming amid a dismal season, the Cougars have scratched and clawed for anything to give them a little bit of momentum heading into Saturday’s 8:45 p.m. MDT kickoff against Fresno State — one of the great turnaround teams in college football at 5-3 and in first place in the Mountain West Conference’s West Division.
El-Bakri’s hit, by multiple accounts from players and coaches, can be just the spark they are looking for.
Now they need to turn the spark into a flame.
“You always need momentum, and whenever you can feel that rise on your team, it’s always a good thing,” El-Bakri said. “Everybody gets to play more loose, with less fear and less stress, and it helps open everything else in the game plan.”
BYU proved it wasn’t going to back down against an overmatched San Jose State team.
Can they keep up the momentum with the final month of the season?
For that answer, they can look again to an overlooked and under-recruited walk-on fullback.
“What Brayden did so well was he did not flinch,” Lamb said. “I’m really sure he kept his eyes open all the way through the contact, kept his face up, and I’m not sure the runner ever saw him coming.
“The excitement got into the team, and we were able to carry it into the game.”
