The Doug Flutie Interview: EA Sports, BC Football, and More

Doug Flutie on more Fluties at BC

Joe: At BC, we all couldn’t help but notice that another Flutie is going to be playing football on the Heights soon. What does it mean to your family to have your nephew, Troy, carrying on the legacy and how do you size up his game?

Flutie: I’m excited for Troy. The number one thing is that he’s worked his tail off for the last three or four years trying to get a little faster and a little stronger, and get this opportunity somewhere. When I watch him play, there was a light that went on for him in the middle of last season, maybe earlier that year. He started as a freshman at quarterback, but he had the running and athleticism and ability to make people miss. Then, all of a sudden in his sophomore and junior year, he got stronger and he could throw the ball down the field.

The top thing about Troy is his instinct; he’s got a feel for the game and situational awareness, whether it’s two-minute offense or using a timeout.

I really think he’s a quarterback; my own personal opinion. Boston College has recruited him as an athlete; he’s very athletic but they’ll wind up playing him as a wide receiver there, but I’ll tell you, I saw him do some things in the playoffs in high school — they got beat in the Super Bowl game, but he basically took the team on his back and kept them in those games.

I think he’s got a great opportunity ahead of him. To be successful, a lot of things have to fall into your lap and you have to be in the right place at the right time, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for him.

Doug Flutie on Brad Bates

Kyle: What do you think of Brad Bates? What do you think he’s brought to this program?

Flutie: More than anything, just like with Steve, it’s a fresh look. He’s stepped back, he’s evaluating all the programs — not just football, but all the programs. He’s taking a wholesale look at it and figuring out what needs to be changed.

I haven’t been around Brad recently; when he first got the job, I talked to him a little bit, and he was running from event to event, shaking hands, meeting people, and doing everything he could to get comfortable with the entire program.

Again, the number one thing is that we get a fresh perspective on things. I like his energy level, he’s bright, he understands the TV aspect of everything as well, which is the direction in which athletic directors are going now, especially with college football. Things are kind of getting out of control with teams getting their own networks, so you have to have some media savvy from that standpoint.

Doug Flutie on another famous play

Joe: Finally, in talking about the game again, would you happen to know if your EA Sports character can do drop kicks?

Flutie: I doubt it; not sure if there’s a drop-kick mode on it or not!

Joe: I think we all remember that game and it was pretty cool to see, because they’d said it was the first time in many decades since the last time it had been done. Did you have to practice the drop kick a lot or did it just come naturally?

Flutie: I’ve always messed around doing it on my own and coaches had seen me do it. Chris Berman actually saw me do it before a game when I was playing for Buffalo. So Berman was there in town [in New England] doing interviews one week and whispered in Belichick’s ear that “hey, Flutie can drop kick; it hasn’t been done in 64 years” and that’s where the idea came from. Then, that day after practice, [Belichick] asked me about it; the next day we practiced it a little bit, put in a lot of effort over two weeks and then, all of a sudden, he spontaneously says to me in the middle of the game, “hey, get out there and kick the extra point.” The actual moment was very spontaneous.

Soaring to Glory would again like to thank Boston College legend Doug Flutie for graciously giving some time for this interview, and to Will Alexander on behalf of EA Sports for organizing the discussion.