Soaring Rhetoric: BC Spring Football, the Future, and the NFL Draft

Once again, the enlightened Soaring to Glory duo teams up to thrust forth incisive commentary on Boston College sports. This week, the conversation centers around Boston College football.

The Jay McGills Memorial Spring Game, as most readers probably know, was cancelled for reasons that are clear. Nevertheless, we did miss out on our first chance to evaluate Steve Addazio’s new-look Eagles football team, and now, we will be forced to wait until school’s back in session to see what BC can do.

But no spring game was no problem, as we still took apart BC football and are setting the stage for what is to come.

Joe: I don’t have to tell you, but that spring game we looked forward to didn’t actually happen. This is all highly speculative, but if it had happened, what do you think we might have seen? Who (or what unit) do you think may have stepped it up?

Kyle: I really think the offense is going to be something special, even without Deuce Finch. Early reports are that Andre Williams, the now-senior running back who was hurt for a long period last season, is performing with a lot of extra burst. Even Chase Rettig, who is getting his 20th new offensive coordinator in four years, at least has a familiar face in Ryan Day, BC’s former wide receiver coach who worked under Chip Kelly at UNH. I love the fact that Alex Amidon is back for another year and the dynamic Spiffy Evans will help on both the receiving and kick returning ends.

Joe: Offense is all well and good, and I think BC will be improved in that department (it wouldn’t take much compared to the last four years), but for me, the unit that I think is going to take the biggest leap is the defense. I direct your attention to one Mr. Don Brown, defensive coordinator.

This guy has succeeded wherever he’s been and the new philosophy he brings is exciting. I still remember Steve Addazio’s introductory press conference when he said that on defense, “we’re going to go after the football,” which is a complete reversal from Spaz (“let the football come to us,” more or less). We’re getting away from what was becoming too conservative of a scheme and I think we’ll see instant results. The talent might be an issue in some areas, so there’s probably a ceiling, but I believe it will only get better in time. That’s what I would have looked for in the spring game.

Kyle: We are not going to set the table for teams like Alfred anymore. We are now going to have to force opposing offenses to guess what type of scheme we are going to use in different places. I fully expect a lot of walking around along the line to try to confuse the other team.

Kevin Pierre-Louis, who I feel has been under-utilized in recent years due to injuries/coaching, can play a kind of Mathias Kiwanuka LB/DE role. There is going to be a ton more blitzing compared to last year. We only got six sacks in 2012. I got two sacks in the last flag football game I played in (also, I tore a kid’s shirt off trying to go for flag, but that’s a story for another day). BC can certainly improve on the Maginot Line that Spaz put out there last year.

But I certainly wonder, how are these new 2013 recruits going to have an impact?

Part Two of this conversation is on the next page