101 Days of Football: Max Ricci, #98

Of the eleven Boston College football players on the two-deep for the defensive line (right defensive tackle is actually more like three-deep), only one comes from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That would be Max Ricci, right tackle out of Groton.

Ricci’s high school football career unfolded at Lawrence Academy in Groton, where he played both offense and defense. Not surprisingly, with his size being an advantage, his former coach put him on both lines. This helped Ricci earn All-ISL honors in his final two years at Lawrence while also being invited to play in the National Underclassmen Combine’s All World Gridiron Classic on New Year’s Eve 2010. In that event, Ricci was teammates with future Eagles Alex Howell and Marcus Grant, and faced off against Spiffy Evans, who at the time was a Wake Forest verbal. Ricci, Howell, and Grant’s team was victorious.

Ricci was a two-star recruit coming out of high school, but perhaps his most notable characteristic was his size. He left Lawrence at a mammoth 345 pounds. If one checks his current Boston College listing, however, it’s 302. He’s gotten down to a more comfortable playing weight but is still formidable enough to be a factor on the defensive line.

He played in 2011 at BC as a true freshman, appearing in ten of the Eagles’ 12 games. Ricci only netted six tackles, but three of them came in the “snow game” at Maryland in October.

Heading into 2012, Ricci is listed in a second-place tie on the two-deep with the highly-touted redshirt freshman Connor Wujciak, both of whom rank behind starter Dillon Quinn. Wujciak will probably eat into some of that backup playing time that Ricci got last year, but as for next year once Quinn leaves, the battle for this starting job between Ricci and Wujciak will be on.