Boston College Athletics
Football Holds Media Day
August 10, 2007 | Football
Aug. 10, 2007
Boston College football players and Head Coach Jeff Jagodzinski met with members of the press Friday at BC's annual Media Day. The following is a partial transcript of Jagodzinski's press conference:
Jags: I am as excited as ever to be the head coach here and have the opportunity to work with these kids and at a great university like Boston College. We are in our fifth day of practice and the kids are practicing really, really hard. The fourth day is usually a day when they're going to start taking a dip because they're a little bit sore, but the coaches have those guys working through the tough day. We had a really good day at practice yesterday. We're going to be starting our first day of full pads today and we will have a scrimmage tomorrow night. I am really excited about our season coming up and getting our kids out on the field and showing our product.
Q: How do you feel about the condition of the team after the summer program?
Jags: This is the first time that we have had our kids stay at both summer sessions. Our strength coach, Jason Loscalzo, really worked those guys. The best thing that happened this summer was our team getting to be together, training together and going through this whole thing together. It's not just one guy, it's everybody; it's all 11 guys out there and there's a lot of peer pressure to go out and do your very best, especially in the summer. A lot of games are won and lost in the preparation and the best thing that we do is have our kids here in the summer for the whole time. We have a bunch of guys that lost a lot of weight. We asked guys to lose body fat, especially, [B.J.] Raji and [Ron] Brace, our big guys. They were about 350 pounds at the bowl game and they are under 325 now. They are stronger and faster than they were. I am really happy about those guys and they are going to be a force inside, especially in our run defense.
Q: Are there any areas of concern?
Jags: I wouldn't say that I am concerned; I would say that we need to keep working to get better. We have a lot of guys who returned, a lot of returning starters, and a lot of guys who played in a bunch of games. These guys have been basically one game away from being in a BCS Bowl. I told them at our first meeting that it's our turn, it's their turn, because we have so many seniors, to go ahead and get that extra win so that we can get into that BCS Bowl. That's our goal: to play in a New Year's Day bowl.
Q: One of the guys who won't be there this year is Brian Toal, on both sides of the ball. How do you go about replacing him?
Jags: He is a very good football player. He had been very productive linebacker for us and he played running back, as you know. But I think that he's been banged up every season and he never had the opportunity to go through a strength training program through all of winter because he has been hurt. This is the first winter and summer that he has been able to go through and, by us redshirting him, he is going to get nothing but better and stronger.
Our linebacking corps is the best position overall, the best group that we have on our football team. So, is it a loss? Yes, but there will be guys that will step up. [Robert] Francois will step up, Pruitt will step up. We've got depth at this position.
Q: Whose decision was it to redshirt Toal?
Jags: The guys know their bodies the best. Believe me, if he was ready to play and he could go 100 percent, then he would be out there. But if he's not, I don't see the point of putting a guy out there, especially a player of his caliber, who is hurt before the season even starts. I didn't want to do that to him, nor did he. I left it up to him. If he could go, trust me, he would go. But he didn't feel that he could and be 100 percent effective. This extra year that he has, because he has never been redshirted before, is really going to help him. Plus, we are losing a bunch of linebackers next season. We feel good about the decision we're going in.
Q: How is [Cherilus] Gosder doing in the transition to left tackle?
Jags: He's outstanding. When we came in and started watching film, the really good players jump out at you. He is one of those guys. He is a very talented young man. I put him at left tackle because I want to protect the backside of 12 (Ryan). I don't want him getting hit in the back of the skull. Gosder is a good football player.
Q: You wanted to remodel the offensive line, make them lighter. Has that been well done so far?
Jags: There's not one guy that did not do what we asked of him this summer. [Rich] Lapham, for an example, was over 350 and he's 322 right now. Every guy has done everything I have asked him to do to get ready for the season. As far as a different look, we're lighter but we've lost weight the players didn't need anyway. I think it will make them better football players. When you are talking about offensive and defensive linemen and being too heavy, it's hard on their legs and if they do get a lower leg injury, it takes them that much longer to come back because of the weight they have to carry around. The lighter they are, the more agile they are and I think they're better football players. If you don't lose any strength, but gain speed and agility, you don't need that extra weight anyway.
Q: How have the players responded to losing weight?
Jags: I give a lot of credit to Jason [Loscalzo], our strength coach. The kids have really taken to him. He is hard on them, but he is the kind of hard that they love. He keeps pushing them to get them better.
I interviewed at least five strength coaches, because I felt that position is as important as a coordinator, and he one of my coaches. That position is as important as many on this team because he touches every kid in this program.
I was looking for a specific type of guy and I had it in my head what I wanted. The guys that I had looked at didn't really give that to me. I challenged Jason in the meeting and he bit back and I said, "You're my guy!" I didn't want a "yes man." I wanted a guy who could take control of that room downstairs and I knew from that moment on that he would be able to do that. He has exceeded every expectation that I have had.
Q: How deep do your wideouts go?
Jags: I think we could do five. An old coach once told me to believe what you see and what I see is that we've got some explosion in our passing game. We are very, very good in our run defense. Most of that explosion is because of the quarterback we've got. I don't care what league you're playing in, Pop Warner, junior high school, if you don't have that guy behind the center, you're going to really struggle. We've got one. We have a real good one.
I was at a pro camp a few weeks ago, and all the scouts were asking about [QB Matt Ryan] and Gosder. I told them, a lot of times when you're in coaching long enough, you get the chance to see kids that remind you of a certain type of guy or certain type of player, and they do. I am really happy about that.
Q: Who does [Matt] Ryan resemble?
Jags: Matt Schaub and Matt Hasselbeck. He's better than Hasselbeck at this point in his career. His leadership is like Hasselbeck because he's a fiery guy. If you have a quarterback who can step into the huddle and pull everyone together by just stepping in, then you have a good one. Ryan can do that. He takes charge of the whole offense and he's exactly what you're looking for.
Q: Watching Ryan on film last year, do you think his injury affected his play?
Jags: I don't know. He was the best in the ACC.
Q: Can he be better?
Jags: I think he can. I talked about having a mobile quarterback and he's more than enough mobile. I didn't want a guy who was a straight dropback passer who can't get out of anybody's way. Ryan can escape, create. He's exactly what you're looking for.
Q: How will Steve Logan [Offensive Coordinator] help Matt Ryan?
Jags: Steve has taken quarterbacks who are a different style of quarterbacks and they have all been successful in his scheme. That goes from East Carolina to NFL Europe. Both his quarterbacks in NFL Europe were players of the year. That wasn't by accident. That's good coaching. He makes it really simple for them.
Q: Aside from Ryan, what are your strengths on offense?
Jags: I think we have a pair of really good running backs. I think that our line is good. We've got very good tight ends. I don't see any negatives that I am really concerned about. I think that we've got a really good backfield and we have solid tight ends. [Kevin] Challenger and [Brandon Robinson] B-Rob can walk right under this table. I've always told them that that ball doesn't weight very much and they can carry that thing. I am excited about our whole football team.
Q: What about your fullback position? What is your first impression of Brad Newman?
Jags: Brad started practicing yesterday. We recruited him as a fullback, halfback, tight end type of body and we threw him in there because we've had some guys nicked up. I don't think you can recruit enough lineback and fullback types. We took James [McCluskey] and he is a good football player. You can't get enough of those types of guys in your program. Obviously, in the past, they have recruited that position well. You look at our linebacking corps, and we lost a fullback and we brought James in and we didn't really have a true fullback for what we're looking for. We're not an isolation team where we need a fullback whose 260 pounds. I need a guy that has some running skills and has skills in the backfield as far as catching. In our scheme, we don't have to have a fullback just going downhill on a linebacker. It's not designed that way. I feel really good about [Newman] and he's just a freshman. He's a good football player.
Q: So do you think any freshmen will have to play?
Jags: I hope not. If we can get our scrimmage in, I will have a little bit better feel.
Q: How do you feel about the first game of the conference being against Wake Forest?
Jags: I am excited. If I could pick any team to start with, I would pick Wake Forest because it will be a good indicator of where we are at. And we are only worried about that first game. We are not looking any further down the schedule.
