2011 BC football breakdown, Part III: Wide receiver
By Joe Micik
Note: this article has not yet been updated to account for the losses of Shakim Phillips and Clyde Lee.
The 2010 season saw the emergence of several new wide receivers on the Boston College football team, but the ball has to get to the receivers before they have a chance to catch it. Unfortunately, with the way things were at quarterback (not to say that the WRs were completely blameless), that was most certainly not always the case. In 2011, however, with what we hope will be an improvement under center, there is reason for optimism that stats for the wideouts will also improve and that they’ll help BC win some big games.
Amidon joined Boston College last season and made an immediate impact as a true freshman. In ten games, he caught 16 passes (two were touchdowns) for 338 yards. He was part of the longest passing play of the year at 67 yards. Amidon’s services will certainly be needed in 2011 as part of a young but talented and improving wide receiver corps. He’s not the top receiver on the team, but he’s solid and reliable, showing speed and versatility.
Joseph Bronzo | 25 | RS-Freshman
Bronzo was a commit from 2010 who was redshirted last season. He played wide receiver, cornerback, and quarterback at The Kent School in northwest Connecticut, as well as center field on the school’s baseball team. If you must know, he’s also a correspondent on BC cable access TV. He was recruited as a defensive back but is listed by the school as a wide receiver, so if his services are needed in 2011, he can offer them on whichever side of the ball the coaches would like.
Johnathan Coleman | 80 | Sophomore
Coleman got off to a great start in 2010, racking up 98 passing yards in his first collegiate game, but finished the season with 260 yards and 14 catches, with no touchdowns. He gave Eagles fans a few thrills with some exciting catches, but will need to show us more in 2011. Coleman’s off-the-field story is impressive, coming from an underprivileged household in his youth and learning to fend for himself, and only starting to play football late in his high school experience. He’s an easy guy for Eagles fans for whom to root.
Ted Davenport | 37 | RS-Freshman
Like Bronzo, Davenport was a 2010 commit who sat out the season. He played his high school football in his hometown of Medway, Mass. where he played three sports and ran for 25 touchdowns as a halfback. He is listed by Boston College as a wide receiver, and also like Bronzo, he is listed by other organizations as being a defensive back.
Elliott accumulated no statistics in 2010 aside from officially appearing in ten games. In 2009, however, he played on the defensive side of the ball and recorded one tackle. He has yet to make much of an impact on this team but you never know.
Colin Larmond, Jr. | 10 | Sophomore
The Eagles are getting Larmond back in 2011 after he regrettably missed the whole 2010 season due to injury. Others stepped up in his place last year, but when he did play for the Eagles, he was a key contributor. In 2009, he was one of the top receivers on the team, catching nearly 600 yards worth of passes and scoring five touchdowns. Some suspected that he’d be Boston College’s go-to receiver last season, but that was not to be. It remains to be seen what he will contribute in 2011, and if there are any lingering issues with his knee injury that could affect his speed, but if he is anything like he was in 2009, he will be a big help. Reportedly, however, Larmond believes himself to be possibly even faster now.
Lee played in ten games for the 2010 football Eagles and caught 17 passes for 185 yards, including a touchdown against Kent State in Week 2 (which is to date the only touchdown of his collegiate career so far). He caught three passes in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against Nevada. Lee will contribute to the team here and there I suspect.
Momah is the elder statesman of the wide receiver corps and was one of only three receivers to play in all 13 of BC’s games last season. During that year, he caught 19 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns. He has the advantage of height at 6-6 and has been one of the more reliable receivers on the team, despite his drops during the course of his BC career. His ESPN.com player page, however, has his birthdate listed as October 23, 2007, which would make him the largest three-year old in human history (and quite young for college). Momah doesn’t have the best 40 time which some of the others can boast, but he’s a big target for Rettig.
Shakim Phillips | 84 | Sophomore
Shakim Phillips came to Boston College as a highly-touted receiver, and he still may turn out to be one (in fact, I’m counting on it), but his 2010 was a disaster (though through no fault of his own). His redshirt got burned during the 2010 season, he caught one pass for nine yards, and then he got injured and didn’t see the field again. One year of Phillips’ eligibility got toasted for a nine-yard pass and a few kickoff returns. The fact is, though, that he’s an impressive talent. In high school, he posted a 40 time of under 4.5 seconds and managed some high verticals. It would be a shame to let him go to waste again this season.
Bobby Swigert | 86 | Sophomore
Swigert came onto this team as a true freshman and put forth the best performance of them all last season. He was a pleasant surprise in an otherwise blah season for Boston College football in general and a pathetic season for the offense. He got into all thirteen games and led all receivers in catches (39), yards (504), and touchdowns (4). I liked the effort he put into his play on the field last year, and as a result of that play, he’s been put on the watch list for the 2011 Bilentikoff Award, given to the nation’s top wide receiver. He may or may not be able to duplicate his standing as the team’s top receiver in 2011, but I am certain that he will be one of the leading guys in this position.
Curt Evans | ?? | Incoming recruit
Evans is a three-star recruit who signed his LOI to join BC football earlier this year. His redshirt status is as yet unknown but given the glut of wide receivers the Eagles currently have, I would not be surprised if he sits out 2011. One thing that sticks out about his measurables is his listing at 6-0, 175 lb, which tells me without having seen him in action is that he’s one lean receiver.
Additional note: Hampton Hughes, listed by the school as a free safety (and his piece for said article in August is already written), will possibly play wide receiver this season as well. He will be featured in a later breakdown.
Boston College is good at the wide receiver position in 2011, and is getting better. The depth chart is bottom-heavy in terms of class years, with most Eagle wideouts in the realm of the underclassmen, but it is certainly not lacking for talent. The guys who will likely be Chase Rettig’s main targets here will be Amidon, Larmond, Momah, Phillips and Swigert, in no particular order, with the other guys contributing where they can.
The quarterback-receivers tandem has nowhere to go but up with regards to improving upon the only thirteen touchdown passes thrown/caught last season. With the return of Larmond, a new offensive scheme incoming, and an additional year of seasoning for guys like Rettig, Amidon and Swigert, it should not take a whole lot of effort to best BC’s 2011 passing game performance.