Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Anthony Garro
No Bye Week Blues As BC Returns In Force
October 19, 2022 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Eagles hit practice this week with renewed energy from their time away from football.
After three months of nonstop investment, three months of blood, sweat, bumps, bruises, and the occasional set of tears, Boston College football took a break.
It wasn't a full disengagement, but by reaching the halfway point of the regular season, the Eagles were finally able to breathe and rest from a year that had, somewhat expectedly, turned into a grind. They were able to step away and get caught up on the activities that exist away from the football field.Â
They found themselves at rest, and though they weren't able to practice to the degree they might have wanted, they enjoyed a necessary bye week following a loss to Clemson two Saturdays ago.
"It was not as productive as you'd want it to be because we're so banged up," Hafley said. "The hard part is usually when you have a bye, you have time to recover, but we've had so many guys who have had season-ending surgeries that the bike didn't matter. There are other guys who are banged up, and there's a big list of [injuries]. We needed those guys to rest ,and we probably needed them to rest a little bit earlier. So it was a productive bye week, and we got in as much work as we could, but then we took care of the guys and rested them and had a lot of good meetings."
Stepping back from weekly game planning allowed BC to address other areas of need. The overall physical health of the players was one area, but the opportunity to step away from the gridiron enabled them to check their mental well-being with some free time. They were able to address their academic needs while rebooting their approach to the second half with the understanding that they'd be able to hit new gears once they returned to full practice for this week.
"I'm excited," wide receiver Jaelen Gill agreed. "Everybody's coming in, fresh off the bye week. A lot of people got a little healthier. So I'm excited about this weekend. We have a good sense of urgency every week, and I feel like we do a good job of being urgent and being ready, being prepared to play. It's just a matter of going out and executing."
The coaches, meanwhile, used the opportunity to continue building the team's future through a two-fold approach and examination to the 2022 season. While one intent was to find a deeper dive intent on revealing strengths, weaknesses, areas of improvement and areas where the team is continuously growing, the assistants who stayed home took an honest, wholehearted look at the scheme to see if there's any adjustments available for the rest of the season while others fanned out to shore up the team's highly-touted recruiting class.
"Recruiting is always the key," Hafley said. "You always have to make time. [One] night I was probably on the phone with 15 to 20 guys, and you have to make time for it. It's easy to push it aside, but you can't. We have to finish this class out because it's a really good class, and we're excited about it, and we have to find some other guys - but there's nothing more important. You have to stay on it."
"You have enough support staff to help you with administrative stuff," he explained, "so you can coach football and recruit [because] those are the two biggest things. At least in my experience, you always have to recruit, and that has to be every single day and all year round. Then during the season, it's [also] all about scheme. It's very time consuming, and it's a grind. In the NFL, during the bye week, you just kind of said good-bye to guys and went on vacation. For a week, you'd disappear. In college, it's way different. You have to be around players, you have to go recruiting, you have to look at your scheme. It's time consuming, and it's well-needed."
The first half of the season didn't allow BC to find a sweet spot after a slow start conspired with some well-placed, unfortunate injuries to prevent the Eagles from catching traction. Their 2-4 start was unacceptable, but the frustration of hanging with Clemson before losing by 28 points was denied any lingering bitterness by the ability to disconnect for a few days before returning to a refreshed team ready to finish the year with the strength it needed to rediscover.
"It's always [a fresh start] with the second half of the season," said defensive back Josh DeBerry. "It's like two different halves, and this is a time for us to pick it up and get a fresh start for the second half, get things back rolling in the right direction. Each week there's a different sense of urgency, and it's the same thing coming back off the bye weekend for the second half. We're just trying to raise our intensity and our sense of urgency to go out and get a win."
Boston College and No. 13 Wake Forest kick off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. from BB&T Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The game can be seen on national television via the ACC Network with streaming options available through the ESPN online platform.
It wasn't a full disengagement, but by reaching the halfway point of the regular season, the Eagles were finally able to breathe and rest from a year that had, somewhat expectedly, turned into a grind. They were able to step away and get caught up on the activities that exist away from the football field.Â
They found themselves at rest, and though they weren't able to practice to the degree they might have wanted, they enjoyed a necessary bye week following a loss to Clemson two Saturdays ago.
"It was not as productive as you'd want it to be because we're so banged up," Hafley said. "The hard part is usually when you have a bye, you have time to recover, but we've had so many guys who have had season-ending surgeries that the bike didn't matter. There are other guys who are banged up, and there's a big list of [injuries]. We needed those guys to rest ,and we probably needed them to rest a little bit earlier. So it was a productive bye week, and we got in as much work as we could, but then we took care of the guys and rested them and had a lot of good meetings."
Stepping back from weekly game planning allowed BC to address other areas of need. The overall physical health of the players was one area, but the opportunity to step away from the gridiron enabled them to check their mental well-being with some free time. They were able to address their academic needs while rebooting their approach to the second half with the understanding that they'd be able to hit new gears once they returned to full practice for this week.
"I'm excited," wide receiver Jaelen Gill agreed. "Everybody's coming in, fresh off the bye week. A lot of people got a little healthier. So I'm excited about this weekend. We have a good sense of urgency every week, and I feel like we do a good job of being urgent and being ready, being prepared to play. It's just a matter of going out and executing."
The coaches, meanwhile, used the opportunity to continue building the team's future through a two-fold approach and examination to the 2022 season. While one intent was to find a deeper dive intent on revealing strengths, weaknesses, areas of improvement and areas where the team is continuously growing, the assistants who stayed home took an honest, wholehearted look at the scheme to see if there's any adjustments available for the rest of the season while others fanned out to shore up the team's highly-touted recruiting class.
"Recruiting is always the key," Hafley said. "You always have to make time. [One] night I was probably on the phone with 15 to 20 guys, and you have to make time for it. It's easy to push it aside, but you can't. We have to finish this class out because it's a really good class, and we're excited about it, and we have to find some other guys - but there's nothing more important. You have to stay on it."
"You have enough support staff to help you with administrative stuff," he explained, "so you can coach football and recruit [because] those are the two biggest things. At least in my experience, you always have to recruit, and that has to be every single day and all year round. Then during the season, it's [also] all about scheme. It's very time consuming, and it's a grind. In the NFL, during the bye week, you just kind of said good-bye to guys and went on vacation. For a week, you'd disappear. In college, it's way different. You have to be around players, you have to go recruiting, you have to look at your scheme. It's time consuming, and it's well-needed."
The first half of the season didn't allow BC to find a sweet spot after a slow start conspired with some well-placed, unfortunate injuries to prevent the Eagles from catching traction. Their 2-4 start was unacceptable, but the frustration of hanging with Clemson before losing by 28 points was denied any lingering bitterness by the ability to disconnect for a few days before returning to a refreshed team ready to finish the year with the strength it needed to rediscover.
"It's always [a fresh start] with the second half of the season," said defensive back Josh DeBerry. "It's like two different halves, and this is a time for us to pick it up and get a fresh start for the second half, get things back rolling in the right direction. Each week there's a different sense of urgency, and it's the same thing coming back off the bye weekend for the second half. We're just trying to raise our intensity and our sense of urgency to go out and get a win."
Boston College and No. 13 Wake Forest kick off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. from BB&T Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The game can be seen on national television via the ACC Network with streaming options available through the ESPN online platform.
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