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Saturday’s Spring Game is Meant for Fun for the Players
April 14, 2016 | Football
Addazio has finished the spring work and will let his Eagles enjoy the work they’ve done
Fans shouldn't go into Saturday's Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game expecting to get insight into the Eagles' preseason depth chart or see a taste of new offense and defense installations. Instead, fans should expect to see the Boston College football team having fun and enjoying the fruits of its work on and off the field this spring.
Head coach Steve Addazio and his staff - one that includes five new positional assistants - are doing something different this Saturday: they're letting the players play and have fun. | Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game Information
With that, the Eagles wrapped up formal spring practice on Thursday morning.
"Today was our real day, our finish to spring from offense to defense, special teams - together and gelled, first units with first units," Addazio said after Thursday's slightly abbreviated practice on Alumni Stadium. "Saturday is the players' day."
"We were looking today at a couple of different plays on offense, a couple of different defensive fronts. Trying to smooth out a few wrinkles and some new concepts we're putting in to get it on tape. Just trying to tie up some loose ends and get a look at some things for the last time," he said.
With formal practices now behind them, the Eagles will regroup on Friday and get their teams set for Saturday's scrimmage. However, the coaches won't be the ones solely responsible for the teams' make-up.
"We're going to have a draft party tomorrow," Addazio said. "We're going to let them all divide the team up on both sides of the ball. It won't be starting units. It'll be mash of first-stringers, split down the middle together."
To get those teams? Two injured players have been tabbed with selecting the teams, with the Eagles' coaching staff divided between the two squads.
Team Maroon's staff includes offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler, assistant head coach and tight ends coach Frank Leonard, defensive backs coach Anthony Campanile and defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni.
Team Gold's coaches include defensive coordinator Jim Reid, special teams coordinator Al Washington, run game coordinator and O-line coach Justin Frye, running backs coach Brian White and wide receivers coach Rich Gunnell.
"We're having Mike Giacone and Kevin Kavalec, who have been injured for spring (practice) and are out, be the general managers," Addazio said. "We divided the staff, so they're going to have their draft tables set up tomorrow and with the GMs, they're going to pick the teams. We're going to have an ESPN table set-up - we're going to have the whole thing decorated up and set up - and just let them have a heck of a lot of fun with it."
However, that doesn't mean there may not be some "tinkering" from Addazio once the teams are selected.
"I'm going to be the commissioner and I'll have the ability to make a few cuts and trades, but I'm going to let it be the way it goes," he said. "Like I said, it's their day Saturday to have fun with it."
While the plays run on the field may be "vanilla" by Addazio's own admission - "A lot of (opponents) can go view it!" - Saturday will be about having fun and letting the Eagles be themselves.
"The execution won't be the same, but they like to pick teams and have some fun and compete - and just have some fun with it."
This year's spring game will bear the fruit of Addazio's first three years at The Heights. For various reasons - including local events and most especially a dearth of healthy players - the Eagles haven't had the chance to have a real, honest-to-goodness spring contest under Addazio's direction.
"We finally have enough guys that we can do it," Addazio said when asked why the change in format this year.
"Sometimes you have a scoring system, you do this and that, and you fight so hard because you're trying to keep consistency," he said. "But I've been waiting for the day when we could split the team because our roster was balanced enough and I just thought we'd have some fun and not worry about it."
Last year, a planned spring game was scrapped after the workouts started in February. Injuries mounted and the Eagles were left with very few healthy players. After only a few weeks of workouts, the team held one final public workout amidst snow flurries in late March.
"On offense, we finally have some balance on our roster," Addazio said. "We were operating with five, six offensive lineman last year. But it's fun because we're balanced now, we have some good players and so they competed hard all spring.
"You can come out and have really good spring ball because you're not running into injury issues that end up shutting you down. And that's why we can divide the team on Saturday: we finally have a balanced roster."
The Eagles' balanced roster - and BC's coaching staff - will be capping off a spring season that saw them work hard to get ahead for the 2016 season.
And while they're out on the field, BC fans can expect to have fun watching an entertaining spring game meant to be fun for all.
Head coach Steve Addazio and his staff - one that includes five new positional assistants - are doing something different this Saturday: they're letting the players play and have fun. | Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game Information
With that, the Eagles wrapped up formal spring practice on Thursday morning.
"Today was our real day, our finish to spring from offense to defense, special teams - together and gelled, first units with first units," Addazio said after Thursday's slightly abbreviated practice on Alumni Stadium. "Saturday is the players' day."
"We were looking today at a couple of different plays on offense, a couple of different defensive fronts. Trying to smooth out a few wrinkles and some new concepts we're putting in to get it on tape. Just trying to tie up some loose ends and get a look at some things for the last time," he said.
With formal practices now behind them, the Eagles will regroup on Friday and get their teams set for Saturday's scrimmage. However, the coaches won't be the ones solely responsible for the teams' make-up.
"We're going to have a draft party tomorrow," Addazio said. "We're going to let them all divide the team up on both sides of the ball. It won't be starting units. It'll be mash of first-stringers, split down the middle together."
To get those teams? Two injured players have been tabbed with selecting the teams, with the Eagles' coaching staff divided between the two squads.
Team Maroon's staff includes offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler, assistant head coach and tight ends coach Frank Leonard, defensive backs coach Anthony Campanile and defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni.
Team Gold's coaches include defensive coordinator Jim Reid, special teams coordinator Al Washington, run game coordinator and O-line coach Justin Frye, running backs coach Brian White and wide receivers coach Rich Gunnell.
"We're having Mike Giacone and Kevin Kavalec, who have been injured for spring (practice) and are out, be the general managers," Addazio said. "We divided the staff, so they're going to have their draft tables set up tomorrow and with the GMs, they're going to pick the teams. We're going to have an ESPN table set-up - we're going to have the whole thing decorated up and set up - and just let them have a heck of a lot of fun with it."
However, that doesn't mean there may not be some "tinkering" from Addazio once the teams are selected.
"I'm going to be the commissioner and I'll have the ability to make a few cuts and trades, but I'm going to let it be the way it goes," he said. "Like I said, it's their day Saturday to have fun with it."
While the plays run on the field may be "vanilla" by Addazio's own admission - "A lot of (opponents) can go view it!" - Saturday will be about having fun and letting the Eagles be themselves.
"The execution won't be the same, but they like to pick teams and have some fun and compete - and just have some fun with it."
This year's spring game will bear the fruit of Addazio's first three years at The Heights. For various reasons - including local events and most especially a dearth of healthy players - the Eagles haven't had the chance to have a real, honest-to-goodness spring contest under Addazio's direction.
"We finally have enough guys that we can do it," Addazio said when asked why the change in format this year.
"Sometimes you have a scoring system, you do this and that, and you fight so hard because you're trying to keep consistency," he said. "But I've been waiting for the day when we could split the team because our roster was balanced enough and I just thought we'd have some fun and not worry about it."
Last year, a planned spring game was scrapped after the workouts started in February. Injuries mounted and the Eagles were left with very few healthy players. After only a few weeks of workouts, the team held one final public workout amidst snow flurries in late March.
"On offense, we finally have some balance on our roster," Addazio said. "We were operating with five, six offensive lineman last year. But it's fun because we're balanced now, we have some good players and so they competed hard all spring.
"You can come out and have really good spring ball because you're not running into injury issues that end up shutting you down. And that's why we can divide the team on Saturday: we finally have a balanced roster."
The Eagles' balanced roster - and BC's coaching staff - will be capping off a spring season that saw them work hard to get ahead for the 2016 season.
And while they're out on the field, BC fans can expect to have fun watching an entertaining spring game meant to be fun for all.
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