Al Louis-Jean Becomes Second BC Football Injury in a Week

It hasn’t been a good day, or a good week, for Eagles football.

Last week, Boston College football fans learned of an injury to senior tight end Chris Pantale that would cost him several weeks of the 2012 season. This morning, the star of the 2013 recruiting class so far, Andrew Isaacs, decommitted from BC and switched his allegiance to Maryland. Finally, this afternoon, Eagles fans learned that sophomore defensive back Al Louis-Jean injured his left foot and will miss about the first month of the 2012 season if all goes to plan.

Both Pantale and “ALJ” are starters, and both will be relied upon in the 2012 campaign. It was the hope of BC fans that Doug Martin would get Pantale more involved in the passing offense from the tight end position, while Louis-Jean tried to take a leap forward and shore up the defense in that area. There are other tight ends on the team, though perhaps not as good or as experienced as Pantale, but the Louis-Jean loss will hurt. As it has been well-documented on this site throughout the 101 Days of BC Football, the Eagles are thin in the secondary, and we’ve just lost a starter for a month. This is why we’ve discussed the possibility of freshmen defensive backs not redshirting, because all it will take is a couple injuries like this and we’re reduced to dropping walk-ons into coverage against key ACC opponents. The alternative for the coaching staff would be burning redshirts.

Is that going to happen here? Perhaps not yet, but it all depends on how things go on-field. If the two-deep at secondary takes another hit then I would bet on it. Very fortunate is the team that suffers no injuries during the course of the season, aside from the fact that it’s nearly impossible. Every squad is going to take its knocks, but that’s why you’re supposed to build depth. I’ve been skeptical of it so far, but now we’ll find out what we’ve got.

Louis-Jean was on the two-deep as the starter at front corner, with CJ Jones behind him. Jones is a talented enough player, but keep in mind that he is coming off of a significant injury and did not play beyond the UCF game last season. It’s fair to say that he’s a question mark as a result.

If Louis-Jean’s recovery is not coming along as planned, BC should keep the medical redshirt option in their back pocket.