101 Days of BC Football: Rolandan Finch, #28

To say Rolandan Finch’s journey at Boston College has been eventful so far would be an understatement. “Deuce” played in 2009 as a backup to Montel Harris and Josh Haden, and would have slid up to second on the depth chart when Haden peaced out of the Heights mid-season, but he only appeared in seven games due to his contracting mono. In 2010, he did not record a single carry all season due to an injury that stayed with him. Then, finally, in 2011, he ended up as BC’s starting running back after Montel Harris vanished for good and Andre Williams’ injury issue pushed him back to second.

Sometimes, you just have to be in the right place at the right time, and last year, Finch was. He made the most of it by rushing for 705 yards and three touchdowns — two of which were against Maryland in the “snow game” victory. His other score came three weeks earlier at Clemson in a 36-14 defeat.

Finch was taken for quite a ride in the 2012 spring game, getting 27 carries for almost 200 yards while also catching four passes. While watching the contest, I thought he was played entirely too much, but he wasn’t injured so no harm, no foul. He performed well, anyway.

Finch does have some issues with fumbling, as his head coach is apt to point out, passing a comment after the Maryland game that we could see “why he started low on the depth chart” and then tossing out this gem:

"“Started out slow today, dropped a toss, and then I fumbled,’’ said Finch. “But I tried to put it out of my head and just keep on moving because you can’t [dwell] on it. Really, it was my first fumble all spring.’’That seemed to come as a bit of news to coach Frank Spaziani, who said of his fumble-prone running back, “Well, if that’s what he says, then we’ll have to go along with him on that one.’’"

Fumbles or not, that hasn’t stopped Finch from getting a mention on Phil Steele’s All-ACC fourth team.

With Andre Williams having missed time in the spring, the most current depth chart we have has Finch and Tahj Kimble as the two leaders in the Boston College running game. Unfortunately, if Williams isn’t healthy behind them in September, the depth here is pretty thin. Over the last few years, we have seen situations where running backs go down two at a time, whether by injury or leaving the team, and that would be pretty disastrous this season. Finch does have an injury history, but it’s imperative that he’s able to make it through the whole year without incident.