Boston College Athletics
Horsepower History
September 13, 2020 | Football, #ForBoston Files
BC's offensive line is arguably the best in the nation and the Eagles are ready to prove it in 2020.
A couple of years ago, I spoke with current Boston College broadcaster and former gridiron great Pete Cronan about the NFL. I was curious about why Eagles tended to acclimate better to the professional ranks than other schools, and Pete won a Super Bowl with Washington in 1983. I figured his years in the game offered me an opportunity to at least formulate some thoughts.
One thing about our conversation really stuck out. Pete understood BC's reputation in the larger college football universe, that other schools had better reputations and bigger histories. He admitted to me that the other schools' prolific alumni created auras among football society.
BC, though, had its place among those schools and could argue that it was more elite than some of those "football factories." The school had its own history and legacy, especially along the offensive line. There was definitive tradition and value in chasing Boston College football players.
That's still true as the 2020 regular season readies its start. Boston College has arguably the best offensive line in the nation, which means the NFL, no longer blind to the success of Eagles, will be hunting and rooting for the players to find future fortunes.
"It's a different style of offense," senior Ben Petrula said. "The coaches have done a great job of making it easy to install. Football at its base is what I do, and with my experience over the past three years, it's just picking out things that I already know and tweaking it to the new staff. I want to do what they want. Meshing the two (areas) together is a process, but it's making me a better player in the long run."
What makes BC linemen great is the ability to adapt to complex football thought. The professional schemes require a thoughtfulness and intelligence that BC products adjust and adhere to better than other schools. The Eagles are just as big or strong, and they have elite levels of athleticism, but their ability to understand the tougher concepts differentiated them on the field.
It ran deeper than pushing players around on a run block and more complex than standing up in pass protection because BC's offense incorporated complex blocks built from vision and curiosity. A player's brain digested plays on both sides of the line before the snap, and the communication leveraged assignments and cohesion, regardless of generation or year.
"What's important is to have basic football knowledge," Petrula said, "and the last staff really helped with that to learn the game as a whole. Taking that system and overlying on top of that makes (the new system) easy to learn. For example, there's a deuce block, which is a common term for offensive linemen," he said, "but there are different techniques for different system. The connection in your brain has to change to what the new staff is doing and what the new staff (requests)."
It created a list of options for once the play is actually in motion. Though the art of blocking hasn't changed much over time, the utilization of those schemes has. The players are given the freedom to determine when or where to use a particular block, as long as it fits the play scheme, and the depth of difference between teammates helped make the BC offense brutally efficient.
The audible or blocking play call, for example, can send Petrula to the edge on a pull while Tyler Vrabel cuts inside on a gap block. Center Alec Lindstrom can then open up a hole moving forward while Zion Johnson works in a completely different area. The design creates or plugs holes as necessary, and the end result - a spring or release - opens up explosive play capabilities.
"Run schemes are similar, but there's a different language," Alec Lindstrom agreed. "There are different words for different things. Run blocks are easy to pick up once you're in the flow of (the offense). The pass stuff is a little bit harder, but it's good. Defenses are throwing a lot at us, and (the scheme) makes me think."
All of it is built by tradition, a train powered by approximately two-dozen engineers over the past 20 years. The history, littered with NFL mainstays, have Pro Bowl appearances and Super Bowl rings, and every year churns out another player capable of carving out his place in that history.
It's created incredible value in acquiring Boston College linemen. In 2003, New England drafted Dan Koppen in the fifth round with the 164th overall pick, and he immediately led the team to a Super Bowl championship by starting alongside Damien Woody, a first round pick. In 2007, Koppen anchored arguably the greatest offense in NFL history as part of a 16-0, undefeated regular season. Three years later, he was named one of the best linemen in the league.
Koppen's Super Bowl XLII appearance was the second time in four years that his team faced off against another offense with a BC graduate on the line. In Super Bowl XXXVIII, Doug Brzezinski, a third round pick by Philadelphia in 1999, was part of the Carolina Panthers. It was part of a run where BC linemen made 10 Super Bowl appearances over 16 years.
That kind of value continually brought NFL scouts back to Chestnut Hill, and first round picks became the norm in the 2000s. The attention waned following Anthony Castonzo's pick in 2011, coinciding with BC's lulls in 2012 and 2015, but a rebirth happened in 2019 when Chris Lindstrom, a centerpiece of BC's offensive rebuild, went to Atlanta.
That rebuilt foundation is now anchoring the current line, already recognized as one of the best - if not the best - in the nation. Johnson and Petrula earned preseason All-ACC First Team mentions, and both Vrabel and Lindstrom are rising up draft boards. Even position coach Matt Applebaum, the lead recruiter for Johnson at Davidson College, prior to the player's transfer, is a rising star within both the offensive line ranks and within his own staff under head coach Jeff Hafley.
"The biggest thing I've learned about football is not football-related," Alec Lindstrom said. "They taught me how to have fun and brought back the love to the game. You can get into a lull in the fourth year, but the coaches made it fun. It helped me find my love of football. The atmosphere is awesome.
"(Head coach Jeff Hafley) really breaks down defenses and how they play plays, both good and bad," he continued. "It's taught me how defensive linemen and linebackers (play), but it's also teaching defensive schematics. Coach Applebaum is teaching techniques with outside zone and hand placement on pass protection. It's more stuff to add to what I know and how I can play."
Boston College opens up the 2020 football season next Saturday when it plays at Duke. The game kicks off at noon and can be seen on the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage. In Boston, local affiliation will provide the game on NESN.
One thing about our conversation really stuck out. Pete understood BC's reputation in the larger college football universe, that other schools had better reputations and bigger histories. He admitted to me that the other schools' prolific alumni created auras among football society.
BC, though, had its place among those schools and could argue that it was more elite than some of those "football factories." The school had its own history and legacy, especially along the offensive line. There was definitive tradition and value in chasing Boston College football players.
That's still true as the 2020 regular season readies its start. Boston College has arguably the best offensive line in the nation, which means the NFL, no longer blind to the success of Eagles, will be hunting and rooting for the players to find future fortunes.
"It's a different style of offense," senior Ben Petrula said. "The coaches have done a great job of making it easy to install. Football at its base is what I do, and with my experience over the past three years, it's just picking out things that I already know and tweaking it to the new staff. I want to do what they want. Meshing the two (areas) together is a process, but it's making me a better player in the long run."
What makes BC linemen great is the ability to adapt to complex football thought. The professional schemes require a thoughtfulness and intelligence that BC products adjust and adhere to better than other schools. The Eagles are just as big or strong, and they have elite levels of athleticism, but their ability to understand the tougher concepts differentiated them on the field.
It ran deeper than pushing players around on a run block and more complex than standing up in pass protection because BC's offense incorporated complex blocks built from vision and curiosity. A player's brain digested plays on both sides of the line before the snap, and the communication leveraged assignments and cohesion, regardless of generation or year.
"What's important is to have basic football knowledge," Petrula said, "and the last staff really helped with that to learn the game as a whole. Taking that system and overlying on top of that makes (the new system) easy to learn. For example, there's a deuce block, which is a common term for offensive linemen," he said, "but there are different techniques for different system. The connection in your brain has to change to what the new staff is doing and what the new staff (requests)."
It created a list of options for once the play is actually in motion. Though the art of blocking hasn't changed much over time, the utilization of those schemes has. The players are given the freedom to determine when or where to use a particular block, as long as it fits the play scheme, and the depth of difference between teammates helped make the BC offense brutally efficient.
The audible or blocking play call, for example, can send Petrula to the edge on a pull while Tyler Vrabel cuts inside on a gap block. Center Alec Lindstrom can then open up a hole moving forward while Zion Johnson works in a completely different area. The design creates or plugs holes as necessary, and the end result - a spring or release - opens up explosive play capabilities.
"Run schemes are similar, but there's a different language," Alec Lindstrom agreed. "There are different words for different things. Run blocks are easy to pick up once you're in the flow of (the offense). The pass stuff is a little bit harder, but it's good. Defenses are throwing a lot at us, and (the scheme) makes me think."
All of it is built by tradition, a train powered by approximately two-dozen engineers over the past 20 years. The history, littered with NFL mainstays, have Pro Bowl appearances and Super Bowl rings, and every year churns out another player capable of carving out his place in that history.
It's created incredible value in acquiring Boston College linemen. In 2003, New England drafted Dan Koppen in the fifth round with the 164th overall pick, and he immediately led the team to a Super Bowl championship by starting alongside Damien Woody, a first round pick. In 2007, Koppen anchored arguably the greatest offense in NFL history as part of a 16-0, undefeated regular season. Three years later, he was named one of the best linemen in the league.
Koppen's Super Bowl XLII appearance was the second time in four years that his team faced off against another offense with a BC graduate on the line. In Super Bowl XXXVIII, Doug Brzezinski, a third round pick by Philadelphia in 1999, was part of the Carolina Panthers. It was part of a run where BC linemen made 10 Super Bowl appearances over 16 years.
That kind of value continually brought NFL scouts back to Chestnut Hill, and first round picks became the norm in the 2000s. The attention waned following Anthony Castonzo's pick in 2011, coinciding with BC's lulls in 2012 and 2015, but a rebirth happened in 2019 when Chris Lindstrom, a centerpiece of BC's offensive rebuild, went to Atlanta.
That rebuilt foundation is now anchoring the current line, already recognized as one of the best - if not the best - in the nation. Johnson and Petrula earned preseason All-ACC First Team mentions, and both Vrabel and Lindstrom are rising up draft boards. Even position coach Matt Applebaum, the lead recruiter for Johnson at Davidson College, prior to the player's transfer, is a rising star within both the offensive line ranks and within his own staff under head coach Jeff Hafley.
"The biggest thing I've learned about football is not football-related," Alec Lindstrom said. "They taught me how to have fun and brought back the love to the game. You can get into a lull in the fourth year, but the coaches made it fun. It helped me find my love of football. The atmosphere is awesome.
"(Head coach Jeff Hafley) really breaks down defenses and how they play plays, both good and bad," he continued. "It's taught me how defensive linemen and linebackers (play), but it's also teaching defensive schematics. Coach Applebaum is teaching techniques with outside zone and hand placement on pass protection. It's more stuff to add to what I know and how I can play."
Boston College opens up the 2020 football season next Saturday when it plays at Duke. The game kicks off at noon and can be seen on the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage. In Boston, local affiliation will provide the game on NESN.
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