2011 Spring Game: What to look for

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Well, not me. As I bought my lunch today, I watched the gas prices across the street go up. It would be too much of an investment for me to go from New York, but for those of you who are local to Boston College, I’d hope you can take a few hours out of your weekend to go.

The Annual Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game will take place at 1pm tomorrow at Alumni Stadium. Though it’s a largely-meaningless exhibition, there will be a few things for which to watch. They include:

Chase Rettig: Bounceback? In the first scrimmage, starting quarterback Chase Rettig had a good game. In the second, he had his share of miscues. I think he is not in any legitimate danger of losing his top spot, but I would like to see if he can get back on his feet tomorrow with BC football fans watching.

The backup QB spot. The real competition offensively is for the depth chart line below Chase Rettig. The three options are former starter Dave Shinskie, backup Mike Marscovetra, and fourth-stringer Josh Bordner. We know nothing of how Bordner would perform in a live NCAA football game, because he never has, but there is absolute, incontrovertible certainty that neither Shinskie nor Marscovetra are capable ACC quarterbacks. Still, it’s highly likely that one of those two will be the backup to Rettig. Shinskie is perceived to be in the lead, but we’ll see how things go tomorrow.

Kevin Rogers. The Boston College offense has been liberated, but how much of the new Rogers playbook will we see tomorrow, anyway? Not the whole thing, of course, but if you see an innovative offensive play, please try to contain your pent-up excitement. (OK, you don’t have to – let it all out.)

The Castonzo-less line. Last year, we lost offensive line anchor Matt Tennant. This year, its leading player, Anthony Castonzo, is gone. It will be interesting to see who steps up and how durable they will be. This unit has had its share of troubles in years past, though that could have been partially due to Gary Tranquill’s “coaching” (I use the term loosely).

Albert Louis-Jean. All indications are that this 4-star Miami decommit has had a good spring on defense. Plenty of BC fans are looking forward to seeing this kid play, even if just in a spring game.