Cougars in the pros: Toolson signs in Germany, Wilson impresses with Jets

BYU men’s basketball alumnus Jake Toolson is taking his pro career overseas with German club BG Göttingen and Zach Wilson is impressing New York media with his play during the Jets’ offseason practices.

Basketball

Jake Toolson became the latest BYU men’s basketball star to make the move to Europe to continue his basketball career. Toolson began his pro career in the NBA G-League with the Salt Lake City Stars for the 2020-21 season, but his time was cut short because of injury.

The sharpshooting wing player signed with BC Göttingen in Germany, joining former Cougars TJ Haws, Eric Mika and Brandon Davies in Europe. Mika played in Germany for a time as well but now plays for Serbian club Partizan.

Toolson played his freshman season at BYU and returned to the Cougars after two seasons with Utah Valley to form a deadly senior trio with Haws and Yoeli Childs in 2020. The veteran squad was almost certainly headed for a deep NCAA Tournament run before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short.

Elijah Bryant played nine minutes off the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks in a game-two blowout against the Brooklyn Nets on June 7 in the second round of the NBA playoffs. He made his mark in the short appearance, putting up six points and three rebounds to close out the game. The Bucks are down 2-0 to the Nets as the series moves to Milwaukee for games three and four.

Brandon Davies played in the EuroLeague Championship with Barcelona on May 30, falling just short of winning it all. Davies was impressive despite the loss, putting up 17 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and a block against Anadolu Efes.

Davies was named to the All-EuroLeague team before the final, recognizing the former Cougar as one of the top players in Europe. Barcelona is now competing in the La Liga Spanish league playoffs, with Davies putting up double-digit points on several occasions to help his team into the semifinals.

Football

Zach Wilson continues to grab headlines as the No. 1 quarterback for the New York Jets. The team is currently in the voluntary OTA (organized team activities) portion of the offseason, with mandatory minicamps beginning next week.

Several members of the New York media said Wilson had his best practice so far with the Jets on Tuesday, praising his poise and impressive arsenal of throws. Connor Hughes of The Athletic tweeted that, “(Wilson) doesn’t just look good for a rookie. He just looks really good.”

Hughes and others have noted how both Wilson and the Jets are not treating his transition onto the team like that of a typical rookie. Wilson has taken far more first-team reps than any previous rookie according to multiple sources, and is delivering at higher level than previous first-year signal callers.

Golf

BYU men’s golf standout Peter Kuest is playing in the Challenge Tour in Europe this summer. He finished tied for 14th at his first tournament, the D+D Real Czech Challenge, last weekend, shooting an impressive 6-under in the third round and 12-under for the tournament.

The Challenge Tour continues on June 10-13 at the Challenge de Cadiz in Spain.