Boston College Athletics
Offense Evens the Playing Field in Final Scrimmage
August 26, 2015 | Football
Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Four days after taking a backseat to the defense, the Boston College offense flexed some muscle of its own Wednesday morning, going for six touchdowns during the team’s third scrimmage of preseason camp at Alumni Stadium.
“We had a pretty good day out there,” said head coach Steve Addazio. “There was a lot of progression, more consistency and we made more plays up front. We definitely took another step and there was no doubt about that.”
With sophomore running backs Marcus Outlow and Jon Hilliman seeing limited snaps, junior Myles Willis capitalized on his extended looks.
The Conyers, Ga., native looked sharp, breaking off several impressive runs on the day. Willis stamped his stellar performance with three touchdowns, scoring on runs of one, two and 17 yards.
“Naturally before a game, I’m always nervous and I had two big mistakes,” Willis admitted. “The nerves are gone at that point. You are already low and the only way you can go is up. So I just refocused and got better.”
After a shaky outing last time out, the quarterback quartet had a solid showing.
Sophomore Darius Wade finished with the longest play of the scrimmage, finding classmate wide receiver Sherman Alston on a short comeback route, which he broke off for a 61-yard touchdown. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Troy Flutie had what could be the play of the day, stopping the defense in its tracks on a beautiful play action, leaving freshman wide receiver Elijah Robinson wide open on a pitch-and-catch for a 20-yard score. Freshman John Fadule got on the board, with a four-yard quarterback keeper on third-and-goal.
Although QB Jeff Smith finished without a touchdown, the freshman connected with Robinson on a 44-yard strike and had what should have been a 63-yard touchdown run blown dead early.
“I thought Troy [Flutie] made a few plays today and it was the first time I saw him look like he made a few steps today,” Addazio said. “Jeff [Smith] made a few plays today. The young kid Fadule made a couple plays at the end.
“There were plays to be made.”
The defense held its own, coming alive in the second half.
After racking up 10 tackles for a loss on Saturday, the unit followed that up with eight on Wednesday. The defense also picked up a pair of sacks from junior Malachi Moore and graduate Evan Kelly and freshman Taj-Amir Torres, as well as interceptions from senior Steven Daniels and freshman Lukas Denis.
Special teams even got a boost from the play of senior Alex Howell.
The Florence, S.C., native was a force on punts, booming punts of 48, 63 and 64 yards during the scrimmage. He also connected on three-of-four field goals.
“Special teams is a weapon that can either be used against you or for you,” said Howell. “People think that is defense, but it’s also offense. I want to be the best I can be going forward.”
The Eagles will have just over a week to continue fine tuning the machine with the season-opener against Maine on Sept. 5 quickly approaching.
