Boston College Athletics
Football Gears Up For Saturday Season Opener
September 01, 2010 | Football
Sept. 1, 2010
The Boston College football team is just days away from its 2010 season opener against Weber State Saturday at 1 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.
The Eagles' faithful will pile into the stadium anticipating two returns on Saturday - the latest installment of the maroon and gold as well as the return of senior LB Mark Herzlich. His story became national news last May when he began to battle Ewing's sarcoma. He beat the disease and is now looking for another victory - to stake his claim once again as one of the most dominating defenders in the nation.
"It means something extra," Herzlich said. "To me it means a lot, getting back and completing my journey. One thing that I've told a lot of people over the past year is to really set goals and focus on something outside of your cancer treatments. September 4 was my goal the whole time. When you set goals, you're not really sure if they are going to be easy to accomplish. This wasn't easy, but other people can look and see that I got to play again. I hope it's a huge motivator for people who are fighting right now."
It will definitely be a motivator for BC on Saturday. Herzlich was the 2008 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American.
Herzlich had to fight another setback though as he entered preseason with a stress fracture in his foot. He practiced for the first time in pads on Tuesday, one of the final steps to complete his comeback.
"It's still one of those things that is day-by-day, but I'm going now instead of sitting and waiting," he said. "If my foot starts hurting a lot within the next week or so, I might have to sit out a little bit. I don't expect that to happen, and if it feels good I'm just going to keep going. I couldn't sit out any longer. I talked to the doctors and coaches and made the decision to come back."
