2011 BC Football Retrospective, Part II: Defense

Linebackers

The Eagles’ linebacking corps is very good, and that’s an understatement. Having Luke Kuechly alone is a huge boost, but he was flanked by Kevin Pierre-Louis and Steele Divitto, both of whom were high atop the team tackles list. In fact, BC’s three starting LBs — Kuechly, Pierre-Louis, and Divitto — were 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the Eagles in tackles in 2011.

Kuechly, the all-but-certain ACC Defensive Player of the Year, led both the team and the nation with 191 tackles; in so doing, he set the ACC record and the Boston College records this season. 12 of those tackles were for a loss. He also led the team with three interceptions, and in the last game of the season against Miami, he ran one back for six.

Pierre-Louis, who missed three games, still came in second, though with 74. KPL also had one amazing play, a fumble recovery which he took 96 yards for a touchdown. Boston College recovered three fumbles on the year; Nick Clancy took another one back for a score, and linebacker Sean Duggan had the third. Meanwhile, Divitto managed 72 tackles and had an interception.

The logical quandary for Boston College is how you can have a linebacking corps this good, including one of the best players in the nation, and still be an overall average defense. It’s a combination of things, including weaknesses in players on other units, a little bit of scheme, etc. It seemed to me that BC’s defense worked well when it went to a 3-4 look, and with BC’s surplus of solid linebackers, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It should be even less of a surprise that the Eagles used it to success in games they won, such as Maryland and NC State.

If Kuechly remains in 2012, and I suspect he won’t, a 3-4 base defense wouldn’t be the worst idea, given how we’ll have the personnel. If not, you can take it or leave it I suppose, but BC definitely has depth here.