Bru McCoy makes most of long-awaited Trojans debut
Bru McCoy has been a man on a mission this year.
A mission to move past all questions and conversations about his trying 2019 and lost first season with the Trojans. More so, a mission to remind everyone why he was a 5-star prospect coming out of local football powerhouse Mater Dei High School and why his arrival at USC was billed as such a big deal in the first place.
So what a narrative it was Saturday for McCoy, in his first game in a Trojans uniform, to provide two of the biggest plays in USC's improbable and incredible 28-27 win over Arizona State.
"More than anything just happy to be out there, happy to help the team get a big win. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to play a game, so there were a lot of jitters heading into the game," McCoy said. "But by about the end of the first quarter, it just felt like playing ball again. I was just excited to keep playing and executing."
McCoy didn't know what to expect from his role. He played limited snaps in the first half, picking up 6 yards on a forward pitch play.
"I didn’t have any expectation to play more or less at any point in the game. Just had to be prepared whenever I was called upon," he'd say later.
And indeed his time would come.
With just under 3 minutes remaining and USC needing a miracle (or several miracles) to avoid a demoralizing defeat, McCoy and his former Mater Dei teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown ran vertical routes down the left side on a free fourth-down play after Arizona State had jumped offsides. Because the penalty removed any potential consequences, quarterback Kedon Slovis lofted the ball toward a well-covered St. Brown in the end zone. The ball would carom off his hand and right to McCoy, who was next to him for the first touchdown in the Trojans' final-minutes flurry.
McCoy and Slovis both indicated that St. Brown intentionally tipped the ball up to give someone else a chance to make a play on it.
"We called a freeze play, so we didn’t even have a play called at the time, but they just jumped offsides, so we ran verts. Amon-Ra did a great job just being aware. He realized it was a free play, so since it's a free play might as well give an opportunity to somebody. So he tipped the ball up, just was situationally aware, and I was able to make a play," McCoy said.
Both players were situationally aware, for that matter.
And if that had been McCoy's only contribution, it would have made for a significant debut. Instead, moments later he was falling on a successful onside kick recovery, which further extended the Trojans' long-odds comeback.
"I’d never repped an onside. They told me on the sideline that I was going to be the one running down for the onside," McCoy recalled afterward. "Honestly, I thought I messed up. I thought I could attack the ball. I was kind of waiting for that big one to jump up and go get it, but it stayed low. It kind of fell inside and I was staring at the ball the whole time, and I was able to fall on it. I felt someone tugging on it from behind, and I saw it was one of my teammates, so I just let it go."
And the rest, as they say, is history. USC would drive down and score the go-ahead touchdown on a 21-yard strike from Slovis to Drake London and the defense would make a final stand to pull off the wild comeback.
As for McCoy, he finished with 5 catches for 51 yards -- including that 20-yard touchdown.
"Bru's had a wonderful camp and really felt confident in him going and playing today and he made some big plays in the game including that touchdown. But you look at his 5 catches and 51 yards and we needed every yard today and he was a part of that," coach Clay Helton said.
After missing last season -- a combination of a relentless illness and as a result USC never formally petitioning the NCAA for his eligibility after his transfers to and back from Texas -- McCoy had indeed drawn rave reviews all preseason.
And not to say the former 5-star prospect was ever the opposite, but he conveyed a humbleness from the experience in all his comments this spring and fall. His consistent message was that he just wanted to get back on the field in whatever role was afforded him.
With the Trojans stacked at receiver with established veterans St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns and star sophomore Drake London, it was a mystery as to how much opportunity there would actually be for McCoy.
But USC did show some intriguing four-wide sets (really five-wide at one point with a split out tight end) featuring McCoy. He seems too talented to not find ways to get involved, and while it may be cliche to say, he also showed a flair for the moment Saturday while delivering when it mattered most.
He was asked when those early jitters wore off and he felt at home again on the football field.
"I couldn’t really pick out a particular moment. More so the moment where the butterflies subside and you’re looking at the game objectively, like, let me just go out there and play the game," he said.
It was also fitting that his first big moment came alongside St. Brown. They were very close as teammates at Mater Dei, as McCoy has discussed in the past.
"Absolutely, playing with Amon-Ra was very nostalgic in a sense. It feels good. I love being out there with Amon. It was just getting our groove," McCoy said Saturday.
Odds are the two will be sharing more end zone celebrations the rest of this season.