First football scrimmage: What everyone else is saying
By Joe Micik
It’s hard for me to judge a scrimmage I didn’t see without taking other peoples’ word for it. Luckily, Boston College football fans did have boots on the ground at Alumni Stadium, and here’s what a few of them said with regards to BC football’s first intrasquad scrimmage of 2011:
"Sophomore quarterback Chase Rettig completed 11-of-16 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns Saturday in the Boston College football team’s first intrasquad scrimmage of the 2011 spring practice season."
"In addition to Rettig, [new offensive coordinator Kevin] Rogers also put former starting quarterback Dave Shinskie and backups Mike Marscovetra and Josh Bordner under center in the scrimmage. Shinskie completed 8-of-10 passes for 97 yards, Marscovetra was 11-for-13 with 86 yards while Bordner went 5-for-13 with 32 yards."
"Overall, Rettig looked very comfortable in offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers’ new offense. Rogers utilized Rettig out of the pocket quite a bit, and Rettig looked comfortable throwing on the run."
"Almost as impressive as Rettig, was junior Dave Shinskie, who has definitely taken an early lead in the backup quarterback battle. Shinskie finished 8-of-10 for 97 yards and three touchdowns, and if not for two botched exchanges with the center you could’ve said that he played almost as well as Rettig did."
EagleAction has other recaps here (defense) and here (offense). Subscriptions are required for both.
Apparently, Dave Shinskie showed his trademark shakiness at times but managed to battle back. Chase Rettig, however, appeared to have been very good in yesterday’s mock game and there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that he will be the starter. This is his team: it was last year, and it is this year. That is not to say that he is the perfect quarterback, but he is clearly the best option going forward. It should be of some relief to BC fans that in 2011, unlike 2009 and 2010, the starting quarterback position will be fully decided long before Week 5 of the regular season.
The real competition on this team is for the backup QB spot. The top two contenders at the moment would seem to be Dave Shinskie and Mike Marscovetra, which is kind of like having to choose between a Yugo or a Ford Pinto. Fortunately, BC doesn’t have to start either one yet (you hear that, Chase? You are not allowed to be injured, ever), but the situation would be grave if they did someday. We know that neither one of those two gentlemen is an adequate quarterback, so I’m at the point where I don’t really care which one is #2 on the depth chart. I haven’t mentioned Josh Bordner yet because he seems to be a completely unknown quantity (though we do know about his limited scrimmage performance yesterday, and it was not good).
It’s only one scrimmage — it ain’t even the Spring Game — so take this all for what it’s worth. Quarterbacks also worked with a limited playbook, so take that for what it’s worth as well. I hope that by the time the Jay McGillis game comes around on April 16 (and I’m going to do my best to be there), we see some positive signs from all players on the team.