2013 Boston College Football Unit Preview: Defensive Line
By Joe Micik
The Backups (preseason depth chart)
Brian Mihalik, junior, LE
Mihalik has played on the end for 18 games so far in his Eagles career, having a much more productive season in 2012 with 22 tackles, 3.5 TFL, and a forced fumble. He could end up being a nice, solid player here, but if healthy, you have to play the more experienced Ramsey over him. Both he and Ramsey are big guys at 283 to 285.
Jaryd Rudolph, senior, LT
Rudolph played quite a bit last year, starting five or seven games. He recorded 16 tackles over the course of the season. Rudolph hasn’t made a huge impact yet and, as the likely backup all year, will probably get the kind of stats that you’d expect from a backup.
Dominic Appiah, junior, RT
Appiah has had an unfortunate trajectory at BC so far, starting as a freshman and then getting bounced to the backup role. It’s fair to say he regressed somewhat last year. There’s still a lot of potential for Appiah, so this is going to be a critical year for him.
Nick Lifka, sophomore, RE
Lifka is an inside linebacker by trade who is on the move to defensive end, if the depth chart bears out. He played in four games last year as a redshirt freshman. Before coming to BC, he was a tackle machine who also picked up some sacks. If there’s anywhere the Eagles are stocked, it’s linebacker, so this could be a good play by the team moving a guy like Lifka to an area that needs more help. Time will tell on that one.
Off The Two-Deep
Malachi Moore, sophomore
Moore played in six games last season and recorded four tackles. He could move up onto the two-deep if for some injuries or poor performances.
Kieran Borcich, sophomore
Borcich played in nine games last season and picked up 16 tackles; he also caught an interception. He will probably be the first guy off the two-deep to move back onto it for whatever reason.
Kevin Kavalec, freshman | Tevin Montgomery, freshman | Truman Gutapfel, freshman
Newcomers to the Eagles this season. One would expect that most, if not all, of these young men will redshirt, but depth is an issue almost all over the map for this team so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen.