2011 BC Football: Retrospective, Part I — Offense

Quarterback and receivers

Chase Rettig, sophomore: 170-317 (53.6%), 1954 yd, 12 TD, 9 INT, 112.2 QR

Colin Larmond, Jr., junior: 34 rec, 530 yd, 3 TD
Bobby Swigert, sophomore: 44 rec, 462 yd, 3 TD
Chris Pantale, junior: 21 rec, 236 yd, 3 TD
Alex Amidon, sophomore: 20 rec, 220 yd, 1 TD

I said on occasions during the course of the season that Chase Rettig needed to play better. I have always maintained, however, that he is a talented guy who, with the proper protection and coaching, would thrive. He has play-making ability and can throw a good ball. Did he always do those things this year? No. Could he have had a better year if his line held up and he wasn’t inhibited by BC’s “creative” playcalling? Absolutely.

Later in the season, Josh Bordner came into the quarterback picture as a change-of-pace quarterback, which was not the absolute worst idea in principle, but his participation in games was mainly mishandled by the coaching staff. It became apparent that when Bordner came into the game, BC was going to run; teams stopped the Eagles accordingly. Furthermore, Bordner came into the games at some curious moments, breaking Chase Rettig’s rhythm or stalling out drives with overly-predictable playcalling when he was there. Case in point, Bordner threw the ball twice this season and ran on 19 plays.

Rettig did overshoot his receivers at times, and had to deal with a great deal of pressure against the better defensive fronts. When he was on, he was on, and his receivers helped. Colin Larmond led the team with 530 yards and was tied atop the team with three receiving touchdowns. Bobby Swigert had the most catches on the team with 44, and seemed to be Rettig’s most reliable target on the season. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen issues amongst the receiving corps involving drops and slowness. We have a lot of under-the-radar guys here, but no one receiver where we can say “that guy’s explosive.” It’ll be this way until, well, it isn’t.