Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Picture Steve Addazio and his coaching staff in old housework clothes, wiping their brows as they pour concrete into a wall encompassing the whole of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. When it comes to Boston College football recruiting, this is not far from the truth.

The Eagles lost out on a recruit earlier on Sunday, but they made up for it later by getting their sixteenth commitment of the 2014 class. That young man is Kevin Bletzer, a safety from Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury. Coach Kevin Lempa has been identified as the primary recruiter. It is surmised that Bletzer was offered after camp and accepted.

His website lays out some of his personal achievements. As a sophomore, and presumably as a junior, Bletzer was the starting strong safety on Catholic Memorial’s varsity football team, and was named one of Massachusetts’ top twenty players to watch by the Boston Herald for 2012. He also played some wide receiver, according to his Hudl page.

A three-sport athlete, Bletzer also plays hockey and lacrosse. Despite getting noticed for his athletic talents, the major recruiting agencies had not rated him. Nevertheless, this staff has done well in identifying and obtaining talent so far, and should be given the benefit of the doubt.

The 2014 recruiting class, with many months to go until signing day in February, is now officially larger than the final 2013 recruiting class, and it is expected to grow further. Bletzer becomes the seventh Massachusetts recruit to join it.

We welcome him to Boston College.

Nov 3, 2012; Winston Salem, NC, USA; A Boston College Eagles player raises his helmet during kickoff in the first quarter against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at BB

TE Trey Klock has just announced his decision to turn down offers from Boston College, Rutgers, Syracuse and Temple to play for Georgia Tech.

Trey Klock has been one of the more talked about tight end prospects around these parts for multiple reasons. For one, just look at his pure size-6’4, 260 pounds. His prowess as a blocker even had some schools looking at him aa a defensive lineman, most notably Georgia Tech.

However, while he has good hands for the ball, his speed is a bit below average with a 4.9 40 time. ESPN describes Klock as having “marginal ability to create consistent separation from defenders in man coverage. After the catch he’s a big, strong kid who can fight through tackles for extra yards, but displays marginal ability to elude or pull away from would be tacklers.” Klock “doesn’t display dynamic, big-play ability, but a target with strong hands who can help move the chains as a receiving target and with further development contribute best as blocker.”

Honestly, Trey Klock would’ve been a good pickup as Boston College’s 16th commit, but anyways good luck at Georgia Tech and best wishes for the rest of the recruiting season.

The Georgia Tech offer came into Klock’s hands on May 30th, and I guess he liked the school enough to commit to four years there.

Anyways, there are bigger fish to fry and I definitely don’t think we’ve seen the last of Coach Steve Addazio’s recruiting magic.

September 22, 2012; University Park, PA, USA; Temple Owls head coach Steve Addazio on the sidelines in the first quarter of the game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Christy-USA TODAY Sports

Between all of the verbal commits the Boston College Eagles have been grabbing, one of the ongoing stories has been if and when BC target Trey Klock will commit. Well, it all comes down to today when the tight end out of Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown, PA will announce his decision.

Out of the twelve offers Klock has recieved, he has knocked down the list to five finalists: Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple and Boston College.

From his visit to Boston College:

Boston College! pic.twitter.com/rbFccrUoBA

— Trey Klock (@TreyKlock15) April 20, 2013

Hopefully, Klock will smell the roses and #BeADude. We’ll have a full recap whenever Klock makes his decision.

Just a note:247 Sports has 17 recruiting analysts making predictions on Klock and 15 have predicted a BC outcome. I wouldn’t be worried.

Nov 10, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Temple Owls Temple Owls head coach Steve Addazio during the fourth quarter against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Cincinnati defeated Temple 34-10. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

When you’re out this summer, sipping a nice (rhymes with Matty ICE) chilling with your buddies and someone peeps in about some random recruit Steve Addazio stole from their school, don’t look dumbfounded anymore. Soaring to Glory is starting a series detailing BC recruits for 2014 in basketball, hockey, and football, along with previewing the 2013 recruits later this summer. So sit back relax enjoy what the Heights has in store for it in 2014. 

Last season, with Coach Frank Spaziani at the helm, the defensive line was basically equivalent to a sieve against opposing offensive lines. The lack of burst off the line could be equated to four BU Physics majors with pillows.  A little too harsh? Let’s take a look at the statistics: The Boston College Eagles racked up a total of 6 sacks in 12 games good enough for dead last in not only the ACC but in the whole FBS. Even St. Francis(PA) of the FCS beat us with 7 sacks. On the other hand, opposing teams racked up 36 sacks against Chase Rettig. In terms of other damning statistics, the total rush defense ranked 111th in the FBS, while allowing opposing teams to convert on third down nearly fifty percent of the time(49.77%).

Frank Spaziani responded to this obvious deficiency on the line by recruiting two projects in Truman Gutapfel and Kevin Kavalec. Solid three star recruits, but projects nonetheless.

New Head Coach Steve Addazio saw the problem from the very beginning at his introductory press conference basically declaring that Eagles defense under his command would attack opposing offenses from the snap and take no prisoners.

Running backs coach Al Washington and Defensive Coordinator Don Brown too that philosophy to heart when they were able to persuade North Carolina defensive end Harold Landry to verbally commit to come to the Heights in 2014.

So when Harold Landry committed to Boston College on April 5th after an unofficial visit to the school, he was still relatively unknown among the college recruits. Boston College was the first major school to offer him on March 14th. In the time between March 14th and his verbal commitment four other schools offered, with Duke being the most prestigious.

It looked as if Harold Landry was just another one of those class-filler commits. But that all changed five days later when  South Carolina offered followed by schools like Florida State, Clemson, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Miami, Auburn, Missouri, among others. It took a commitment to Boston College for other major schools to take notice of the Pine Forest High School defensive lineman-outside linebacker hybrid.

ESPN describes Harold Landry as a defender with a “nice initial burst off the ball…[playing] with a good motor…..and a lean, wiry build with room to pack on some more needed mass with further physical development.” Landry’s vital statistics are 6’3 and 232 pounds. According to his page on the Hudl recruiting service, he runs a 4.62 40, can bench 300 pounds and has a vertical leap of 35”(which would have been good for 3rd among defensive ends at this year’s NFL Combine).

Landry’s high school statistics from this past year also paint a picture of the athlete BC needs on the defensive line as he 8 sacks to complement 73 tackles on the year.

From the Fayetteville Observer:

“They’re going to play me at the open side defensive end where they can get me in one-on-one situations to rush the passer,” Landry said after participating in the Rivals.com Camp Series sponsored by Under Armour in Charlotte at Mallard Creek High School. “That’s what they want me to do – rush the passer. But when they go to a 3-4 formation, they want me to play outside linebacker….I really looked at their depth chart and I feel like I can go there and start as a true freshman. The coaches there were the realest I’ve met so far, and Boston is a great city.”

It is also obvious, and stated by his high school coach Bill Sochovka that Landry gave extra consideration to Boston College because they were the first major program to find him, before the floodgates of offers opened.

The ability of the Boston College staff to recognize talent before other major schools has obviously  become much stronger this year and it helps them when trying to sway a recruit to come to their school.

When Landry started receiving offers from Florida State, Ohio State and several SEC schools, I thought he would be gone in a second. But, his constant rebuking of offers, most notably his colorful response to his UNC offer, have inspired Eagles fan that just maybe Boston College can have power while recruiting high school prospects.

For now, we can only hope that Harold Landry will stay with Boston College and that all of those recruiting rating sites will give him the proper 4 star ranking that all of the major schools have obviously pinned him as(He is currently ranked as three stars by 247 and Rivals).

Anyways, welcome to the Heights and don’t forget to #BeADude!!!

Keep on following Soaring to Glory throughout the summer as we educate you on all the prospects signed and committed to Boston College for the next two years in hockey, basketball, and football. Maybe even baseball…….

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

It’s never too early or too late in the day to “be a dude.” One more recruit let the word drop late on Tuesday night that he will join Boston College football’s 2014 signing class. That young man is Kamrin Moore, a safety/running back out of Arlington, Virginia. The recruitment was reported first this evening by Eagle Action; 24/7 reports that his recruitment was spearheaded by defensive coordinator Don Brown and defensive assistant Ben Albert.

He becomes the fourteenth member of this recruiting class, but of those fourteen rising seniors, there is perhaps the least information about him available publicly. He is not rated by the major recruiting outlets and Boston College appears to have been his one offer. That offer, by the way, came just two days ago on Sunday.

What we do have from him is a Hudl highlight video which speaks well of his tackling abilities, not to mention a few big runs. Based upon what he has done in high school so far, it would appear that the defensive backfield might be his calling; as for how it impacts other Eagles recruiting for said position, time will tell. BC has been targeting another safety in the person of Lubern Figaro, who has not yet decided.

Rivals ranking or not, we welcome Moore to Boston College.

Nov 23, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Temple Owls head coach Steve Addazio during the fourth quarter against the Syracuse Orange at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Syracuse defeated Temple 38-20. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

When you’re out this summer, sipping a nice (rhymes with Matty ICE) chilling with your buddies and someone peeps in about some random recruit Steve Addazio stole from their school, don’t look dumbfounded anymore. Soaring to Glory is starting a series detailing BC recruits for 2014 in basketball, hockey, and football, along with previewing the 2013 recruits later this summer. So sit back relax enjoy what the Heights has in store for it in 2014. 

Marcus Outlow was new head football coach Steve Addazio’s first pick up of the 2014 recruiting season. As we know coming into this year, Addazio was under a lot of pressure to reverse the recruiting maladies of his predecessor and bring some sort of the moxie that was attached to him during his tenure with the Florida Gators, winning national championships with the most famous NFL benchwarmer Tim Tebow. And the key to Addazio’s system is a good stable of running backs to support a dual threat quarterback.

When Marcus Outlow, a running back out of Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut verbally committed to Boston College on February 20th, some of the fears of the BC faithful began to wane, and a thought popped into their heads that possibly the Boston College athletic administration may have made the right decision with the head coach they brought in.

Outlow, recruited specifically by tight ends coach Frank Leonard, with tag team help from offensive coordinator Ryan Day and runnings backs coach Al Washington, is rated as 4 stars, the #28 RB nationally and the #1 Connecticut player by ESPN’s recruiting scouts. Along with those numbers, his offer sheet isn’t great in quantity but impressive in quality. It includes Florida, Ohio State, Clemson, Pitt, Iowa, UConn and according to Outlow himself, Michigan. The notion that BC gained a solid recruit out of the clutches of both Florida and Ohio State, and possibly Michigan would have been preposterous just a year ago, but the amped up recruiting efforts have payed significant dividends so far.

But let’s get back to Outlow. His vitals are 6 feet tall, 190 pounds. He runs a 4.71 40. Last season he ran for 1, 395 yards with an astounding 20 touchdowns on the ground, supplemented by 206 receiving yards and 3 TD receptions.  And make no mistake about it, Marcus Outlow is also a very skilled guard(probably at the 2 position) on Norwich Free Academy’s basketball team. According to MaxPreps, he averaged 15.8 points with 2.1 assists and   3.3 rebounds. So, Boston College is getting a pure athlete in its newest recruit who has obviously proved himself as a leader in two sports.

However, we must go back to the football side. ESPN gushed over Outlow in their scouting report of him. He has “very good height, weight and athleticism for the position in addition to the lower-body playing strength needed to run over defenders in tight situations”. His aggressiveness is also noteworthy along with “elusiveness and and breakaway speed”. Rivals called Outlow the “most complete back and top performer” among his recruiting peers at the National Underclassmen Five-Star Showcase.

And if we didn’t have enough info about Marcus Outlow from recruiting scouts, we can find even more from the man himself. Outlow is a very talkative guy on social media and basically overuses everyone of them. Except I don’t know about Facebook and Tumblr because I am not that much of a stalker. Anyways, the Twitter(@EraOf_M21O) and Ask.fm accounts of Outlow give us real insight into the man himself. First of all, it seems that Outlow has a lot of “haters” on social media. They either troll him about running isolation plays in basketball or about his football skills. Also, there tends to be a lot of high school gossip filtered by Outlow, along with mindless love for LeBron James(perhaps I’m just a little biased on that subject). Then again, he only just completed his junior year of high school.

Here are some of the filtered thoughts of Outlow on BC from Ask.fm:

-It is “very unlikely” he de-commits from BC

-He has already been promised the number #21 by the coaching staff

-It is likely that Coach Addazio has told him that he will be the starting running back as a freshman

-BC was the first to offer Outlow

-Seconds choices after BC are Alabama(whom he has received multiple letters from), Florida and Ohio State

-Also stated that Boston College will treat him like “royalty”

-In addition, one of the perks is being close to home

Also, sparsely mentioned throughout his social media accounts, is Outlow’s recruiting of BC’s top targets. His effort in trying to woo a strong class to Chestnut Hill is only telling in how much excitement there is about the 2014 team. And since 12 quality players have since followed in his footsteps to commit to the Heights, he must be saying something right.

We’re really excited and lucky to have a commit like Marcus Outlow jump on the ship as early as he did. After the rag-tag recruiting of the Spaziani year, Boston College finally has something to hang its hat on nationally–just look at the national recruiting rankings right now!

If you aren’t pumped for at least 2014 Boston College football, then you don’t have a pulse. I know Marcus Outlow can back me up on that.

Keep on following Soaring to Glory throughout the summer as we educate you on all the prospects signed and committed to Boston College for the next two years in hockey, basketball, and football. Maybe even baseball…….

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

In what has to have been the busiest day of Boston College Eagles football roster movement in months, the program lost two active players but gained two new recruits. The second Tuesday commitment for the 2014 class came from Joe Vitiello.

Vitiello is a tight end, defensive end, and defensive tackle from Somerville, NJ who was rated three stars by Rivals and 24/7. His other BCS offers were Connecticut, Temple, and South Florida. Boston College offered Vitiello on May 10, securing his commitment just a few weeks later. The Immaculata rising senior is 6-foot-5 and weighs 255 pounds.

The 2014 class is now up to thirteen recruits, including both Mike Knoll and Vitiello. Rivals has now increased Boston College’s standing to the 14th-best recruiting class in the country for the upcoming signing year, while 24/7 has the Eagles at #19. Scout only acknowledges ten commits and is decidedly less impressed with a #40 ranking, but they would appear to be in the minority.

With still over half a year to go until signing day, Boston College’s 2014 recruiting class is now almost as big as their 2013 class was, though several commits are still being aggressively targeted by other programs.

Give Joe a follow on Twitter.

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

The first guy the Eagles got a commit from was one we had basically expected the 247 composite No.1 K/P Michael Knoll. Knoll, a rising senior out of Walsh Jesuit in Stow, Ohio, also had offers from Air Force, Miami(Ohio), Purdue and Toledo.

Considering we lost Nate Freese to graduation and last year’s top rated kicker, Michael Geiger when he flipped his commitment to Michigan State, this is a pick up Addazio’s staff needed.

The man himself announced his commitment to the Eagles squad earlier today through Twitter:

Officially committed to Boston College University! Go Eagles! #WeareBC #blessed instagram.com/p/aJiXaUMe6W/

— Michael Knoll (@mikeknoll7) June 4, 2013

Okay, while I’m not impressed by his adding of “university” to Boston College–I’ll take it.

Interesting tidbit about this commitment is that it is Boston College’s first out of Ohio. Ohio has always been a hotbed for BC recruiting, highlighted recently by reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Luke Kuechly.

Also, this is the first commitment for new BC Special Teams coach Sean McGowan. And hopefully it will not be the last.

Honestly I am so excited to see what else this coaching staff can produce on the recruiting trail!!

Oh, and before I forget………

#BEADUDE