Linebacker Toohill a disruptive presence
Casey Toohill, overshadowed by Joey Alfieri and NFL-bound Peter Kalambayi earlier in his career as a Stanford outside linebacker, is making the most of his starting opportunity this year.
The redshirt junior had a career-high seven tackles, a sack, two quarterback hurries and a pass breakup in the win over USC on Saturday night, helping extend the Cardinal’s streak of not allowing a touchdown to 107 minutes, 38 seconds.
“I was excited by our passion, and our preparation for the game — I thought that was really stellar as well,” Toohill said. “There’s a lot of aspects I think we need to get better at, but the passion and effort we played with was really impressive.”
The ninth-ranked Cardinal will try to slow down an uptempo UC Davis offense that has rolled up yardage in a 44-38 win at San Jose State and a 54-21 rout of San Diego. The Aggies are ranked No. 23 in the FCS Stats poll. In the FCS coaches’ poll, the Aggies were listed just outside the top 25. Among FCS teams, they are tied for second nationally in points per game (49) and are fifth in total offense (530.5 yards per game).
Stanford missed quite a few tackles in the opener against San Diego State, but improved in that respect against the Trojans.
“We still gave up too many big plays,” Toohill said. “That’s kind of our focus going forward.”
Victories over San Diego State and USC will enable Toohill and other players from Southern California to claim bragging rights in their communities, he said. Toohill, safety Frank Buncom and inside linebacker Jordan Perez are all from the San Diego area.
Toohill credited defensive coordinator Lance Anderson with giving him plenty of playing time as a reserve in his first two seasons after redshirting in 2015. Despite what Toohill said were numerous mistakes, Anderson “always let me play. So I wasn’t too concerned about who was ahead of me.”
Head coach David Shaw raves about Toohill’s athleticism.
“Casey runs a 4.5 (in the 40) and he’s explosive,” Shaw said. “He has a 34- or 35-inch vertical (leap). As young ballplayers become veteran players, you challenge them differently. The thing with Casey that coach Anderson has been pushing for a while is: Show that athleticism on the football field.
“He’s such a conscientious guy, he wants to get everything right. Sometimes you’ve got to cut loose. In training camp, you saw him cut it loose as a pass rusher — being physical at the point of attack, getting off blocks, showing great hustle. I couldn’t be more pleased with where he is.”
A two-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection, Toohill will get his degree in political science in June but doesn’t envision a career in politics. The teammates he thinks are most likely to run for office someday are inside linebacker Bobby Okereke and cornerback Alameen Murphy. Both are “great leaders and well-spoken,” he said. Briefly: Stanford had 29 former players make NFL opening-day active rosters or practice squads this season. Only USC (36) and UCLA (30) had more among Pac-12 schools. … The 11 a.m. kickoff for the UCD game is the earliest home start in program history. The Cardinal’s last game that began earlier than 11 a.m. Pacific time came at Northwestern in the 2015 opener (9 a.m. PDT). Stanford lost 16-6.