W2WF: Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game
April 06, 2022 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Consider this one the soft opening for the fall's grand unveiling.
No team ever wins a national championship in March. There are no undefeated records in the spring, no conference championship games, and no regular season gauntlet faces a team down as the snow melts into spring. Nobody has ever scored points with poll voters or moved up or down a poll based on performances during a Tuesday afternoon practice session. Over the course of a full calendar year, spring football doesn't even help pass a conditioning test during preseason camp.
Spring practice's allotted time simply doesn't hold that weight, and what happens during its preparation won't count towards any performance in December - or November, October and September, for that matter. It's a time dedicated strictly to development, the type of investment on internal mechanism built around improving a football team with new work and new rapport. Concepts are introduced and schemes integrated into units, all while dusting off the pads and shells for the first time since the previous season's end.
At Boston College, spring is the first time anybody saw the Eagles on the gridiron since last December's regular season finale against Wake Forest. Five months before the next competitive game, the home opener against Rutgers on September 3, the dozen-plus practices serve as a bridging reminder that the prior season ended, all while echoing the work remaining before that first game against the Scarlet Knights.
"The energy, in the thick of spring ball, starts to get into a grind," said quarterback Phil Jurkovec. "It becomes a grind after we had to go through winter workouts. We had good energy [in the spring], but now we just have to sustain it [into the fall]."
BC's 2021 season started with high hopes but ended with an anticlimactic finish after the Military Bowl matchup against East Carolina was erased by COVID-19. It was the second postseason cancellation in four years for the Eagles and meant they ended the season with two consecutive losses following a bowl-clinching win over Georgia Tech.Â
That topsy-turvy finish and all its highs and lows kickstarted one of the more dramatic offseasons in college football history once other postseason games and the College Football playoff ended in January. A cap on scholarships, once waived by the NCAA due to the free eligibility granted to players as part of its COVID-19 remediation, reinstituted and reimposed a maximum number on coaches and players, and difficult conversations avoided by a year now essentially forced players off of their college rosters and into the transfer portal.
The ensuing flurry and activity reshaped college football at every level as the NFL Draft process called still more names, and BC entered its own spring with a malleable approach to its own signing periods. Some stayed and others left, but the culture, no matter how turbulent the times appeared, remained constant.
It made spring feel like a renewal, even if the practice schedule seemed a bit quieter than usual, and after settling into new routines over the past month, the Eagles take to Alumni Stadium on Saturday to celebrate their accomplishments of the past month. A team considered by many as an heir apparent to the Atlantic Division will appear on television for the first time since that Wake Forest win and prepare itself for the next steps over the summer that precede August's training camp.
In that respect, a flow and continuity is created. Last season's end led to the offseason, and the movement created by additions and departures preceded the spring practices. Saturday's spring game operates before the summer, which ends with the start of training camp, which starts the cycle anew. It's all a constant conduit and a springboard, a foothold against the gauntlet offered by the ACC and the Atlantic Division.Â
For that reason, spring football is the way for teams to win games in September, and it's a reminder to enjoy and embrace immediate work as part of an ongoing process.
What's what to watch for when the Eagles play one another on the Alumni Stadium turf on Saturday:
****
Spring Game Storylines (Foo Fighters Edition)
Keep you in the dark,
You know they all pretend.
Keep you in the dark,
And so it all began.
-The Pretender
The most obvious question entering the spring centered around new offensive coordinator John McNulty's implementation. Not much was known about it prior to the first practice, but the dozen-plus sessions over March didn't do much to dispel the notion that the scheme would undergo a revolutionary overhaul.
"It's a little different," Phil Jurkovec said of the new offense, "[with] different reads. We're working through it, trying to sort it out because it's a mixture of stuff that has worked in the past. [We are] really trying to work on footwork, reads, progressions, all of that."
It was always hard to imagine McNulty reinventing the wheel, but BC never intended to repeat its entire offense from either of the past two seasons because every year undergoes its own natural rotation and evolution. The Eagles couldn't stay the same as last year without the same physical personnel, so the spring practices became more about generating the cohesion within those new reads or new calls.
Jurkovec led the way in that respect by remaining flexible to his options in practice. The quarterback missed most of last season with a wrist injury but returned before the end of the season to lead the Eagles to bowl eligibility. He was very different in those games than he was in the first couple of weeks, largely because of the physical limitations imposed by the injury's immediate recovery, but appeared at full form this spring.
There was a new pop to his throws, and he spread the ball around by taking new chances over the past month with receivers Jaden Williams and Jaelen Gill. He rediscovered a relationship with tight end George Takacs, who, like Jurkovec, transferred from Notre Dame but who, unlike Jurkovec, rejoined his old position coach now entrenched as the BC offensive coordinator.
"It's funny because we [arrived at Notre Dame] together," Jurkovec said. "We're taking the field again, just in a different place. It's cool seeing him out there. I was thinking about it, but he's making plays and has grown a lot."
It's unclear how anyone will actually play against live competition in the fall, but at least seeing the athleticism on Saturday will go a long way to making folks at BC smile. It's important to remember how none of this really, truly impacts how they will play in five months, but it's also important to see them together, throwing and catching passes as part of their overall development within the new offense.
All night long, I dream of the day,
When it comes around and it's taken away.
Leaves me with the feeling that I feel the most,
Feel it come to life when I see your ghost.
-All My Life
Installing a "new offense" leads to natural questioning, but BC faces an additional inquest after four offensive linemen left for the NFL. Two position coaches, including wide receivers coach Joe Dailey, additionally departed, which meant the spring was as much about rebuilding cohesion in the coaches room as much as it was in the locker room.
"This place is solely about relationships," running backs coach Savon Huggins said, "and we have really good people here. Coach Hafley recruited me back when I was in high school and coached me in college, but it's not just him. It's coming back full circle, and it hasn't been too much of a hard transition. Coach Aazaar [Abdul-Rahim] coached against me when he was a high school coach. So it's been fun, and I'm really enjoying my time here."
Huggins remains one of Hafley's most intriguing additions from the offseason even though he isn't a coaching staff newcomer. He was a 2010 USA Today All-American selection but was the only First Team Offense honoree who didn't matriculate to a league currently in the Power Five. He remained at home to play for Rutgers, a Jersey City kid recruited by a North Jersey guy to play college ball in the Garden State. His First Team Offense class included La'el Collins, Dorial Green-Beckham and Jace Amaro, and he appeared on the roster opposite running backs Malcolm Brown and Jeremy Hill, the former NFL rushing touchdowns leader.
He was the recruiting advisor in 2021 after spending the 2020 season as the running backs coach at UMass and was named running backs coach after working under position coach Rich Gunnell last fall. Gunnell, a BC legend, departed the program in the offseason and returned to coaching wide receivers by joining Bob Chesney's Holy Cross Crusaders, the three-time defending Patriot League champions.
His promotion, along with the hires of wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt and offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, gave McNulty essentially a blank slate, but understanding the installation of the offense meant all of them needed to learn new language while simultaneously identifying areas for strengthening and improvement. The overall course of the 14 practices played into that just as it did for the players, and Saturday brings with it a very public unveiling of how they gelled through scrimmages and how they intend to work together in the full.
"Coach McNulty and I have known each other for a long time," said DeGuglielmo, a two-time Super Bowl champion. "We've been in similar systems. We've worked together in the NFL, and we've worked with people that have run this system that he's running now. I think there's just an understanding that we're going to put in X, Y, Z, and he knows that I've been in that system, that I'll run it. We also know what problems come up because we've dealt with them at a higher level."
If everything could ever be this real forever,
If anything could ever be this good again,
The only thing I'll ever ask of you,
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when,Â
She sang.
-Everlong
There was once a time when spring practice offered Boston College a defensive patchwork for its future. The Eagles used March to figure out their future, but one position group or area felt out of sync from the rest of the returners. A strong front seven, for example, meant quarterbacks played under duress while the secondary worked to improve, or a strong pass defense downfield compensated for young, inexperienced linebackers. The defensive line never really missed annual beats, but questions lingered from year to year about how to continue building synergy with those other components.
This year feels completely different from that even though pieces departed along the line, the second level and the secondary. There is a need to replace players like Isaiah Graham-Mobley or Brandon Sebastian, but the returning personnel and the infusion of more experience and new blood means BC could have a deep, scary unit if it continues on the path set during the spring practices.
"I haven't played in a while," said Chibueze Onwuka, who missed last season with an Achilles injury, "but over the coming months, I'll be able to let loose and get back fully into playing. I'm excited to be out there in the spring and even though I'm not going to be out there all the time, this is developmental time for a lot of [guys]."
The fluctuation on offense garnered a good chunk of attention throughout camp, but the general quiet surrounding the defense was exactly a sign of expectations for Saturday. The message has always been about doing the right job at the right time, and the entire month of work improved the unit without any real noise. The scheme and system is now in its third year, and Jeff Hafley and Tem Lukabu don't need to change much going into the summer.
For that reason, Saturday isn't about finding something major in the defensive alignment. The average eye won't catch the idiosyncrasies of a particular scheme or play, and nobody will understand if there's a seriousness to an experimentation in real time. A spring game won't blow the lid off any brand new, major league revelation, but at least seeing them together on the gridiron will remind folks of what comes next for a unit teeming with expectations.
"I think we made quantum leaps in confidence and in swagger," Lukabu said of the first two years. "There's a belief and understanding that it's not about [how] you should make a play and actually believe it. It's not about talking about it. It's just action, and situationally, we made huge strides, whether it was third down or red zone. Guys really stepped up when the game was on the line."
*****
Question Box
I notoriously enjoy preseason football, so watching how the second and third teams perform is serious business for establishing a depth chart in the fall. Those players very seldom get snaps during the regular season, so how they perform on Saturday is going to set a tone for their next stages over the summer and early fall.
Who is QB2?
Dennis Grosel long represented stability at the quarterback position despite spending most of his career as the backup. He twice stepped forward and stopped bleeding caused by injuries to an incumbent starter, and his performance against Virginia at the end of the 2020 season ranked next to Doug Flutie as the single greatest passing performance in school history (though, ironically, both lost their respective games). Losing him means the depth chart has to answer what happens if Phil Jurkovec gets injured. Added attention now falls on Emmett Morehead, a highly-touted recruit who showed some flashes against Syracuse but also needs to take the next step towards playing at a high collegiate level.
Morehead looked good throughout spring camp, but both Matthew Rueve and Daelen Menard will earn opportunities to push him when the team reconvenes during the fall. Menard has long been an interesting prospect who burst into the third team conversation three years ago, while Rueve, a redshirt sophomore, is built closer to Jurkovec and Morehead for the offensive scheme. He was a former No. 1 pro-style quarterback prospect in Ohio and threw for over 3,200 yards as a one-year starter for St. Xavier High School.
Who starts where on the offensive line?
Losing four starters means the offensive line simply can't answer questions about its performance in 90 minutes or less. There's a reasonable expectation that everyone can protect the quarterback, but who plays what position for how long shouldn't be taken as an indication of things to come. In Matt Applebaum's first year as position coach, BC found its best five linemen and moved them around as needed for both player development and rest situations. That meant Zion Johnson could shift from left guard to right, and Ben Petrula could play both tackle and guard while utilizing his experience from a year spent at center.
It's unclear whether BC goes back to that strategy or finds the right players to slot into individual spots, but Saturday is going to offer friendly fire for players who aren't used to seeing it. How they respond will factor into the film study coming out of camp, even though there's no way to discover a full-time starting lineup prior to September.
Will the weather hold off?
It's supposed to rain on Saturday, but nobody really knows when it will arrive. Early morning rain would make the turf tough sledding, which could be fun to watch, but a mid-afternoon arrival would slicken Alumni Stadium for the women's lacrosse game. At least it's not real grass anymore, right?
Will I put hot sauce in my chowder?
It's my way of saying farewell to Jason Baum, our former Associate Athletic Director for Communications. He left this winter to take a new position at Creighton University, but his lasting legacy is felt by those of us who he convinced to put hot sauce in clam chowder. As a native New Englander, this was borderline blasphemy at the time, but he was dead accurate about its deliciousness. Also, fire up some Old Bay seasoning if you're making wings. Thanks for everything, J-Baum.
*****
Dan's Non-Sports Observation of the Week
A couple of years ago, my wife bought us concert tickets to see the Foo Fighters at Fenway Park. It remains one of the hottest atmospheres I've ever sat through, but the show was easily one of the best live concerts I witnessed in person. I'll never forget Dave Grohl starting the strains to "My Hero" while a pouring rain fell on the uncovered seats, and it ended with me saying it was the best possible Christmas present I could have received.
They truly rocked and soaked up their own atmosphere while building a deep-rooted connection to the audience, which is why I emotionally felt a gut punch a couple of weeks ago when drummer Taylor Hawkins suddenly passed away. He was so much a part of a Foo Fighters experience that we joked he was probably better than Dave Grohl, and the news of his death rocked the music world.
I wish I had something better to add here, but I truthfully waited until I had print space to post a tribute to one of the best drummers of all-time. His passing spurred a music conversation among my friends, and we reminisced over our shared love of bands. It carried almost a reverential tone for some of the musicians we saw through the years, and I'd like to think that a rock band's best legacy is how much its fans talk about it.Â
I don't know what comes next for a band after a tragedy, but I do know I love Foo Fighters music. The constant replay of songs would've happened in my house anyways, but now it just carries that one little extra tinge nobody really wants.
*****
Around The Sports World
I admittedly planned to talk about Major League Baseball's return in this spot. Opening Day is one of my favorite times of year and the only time when every team has the same boundless hope for a successful season. The afternoon start, the bunting, the giant American flag unfurled over the Green Monster at Fenway, the tradition - it all feels perfect, even if baseball itself is about as imperfect as it gets. Even the labor woes seemed to work out by forcing MLB to push its start back to this week, where it landed right between the end of March Madness and the start of the Masters.
Then Tiger happened.
Tiger Woods golfed this week, a completely unbelievable statement considering how he almost lost his leg in a car accident back in February, 2021. He walked Augusta National and competed in the Masters, and he did so with a confidence and hunger that's defined by his presence. He was back, if only for a couple of days, but the testament to his rehab, his commitment and his sheer incredible career was written when he stepped to the first tee box.
As a human being, Tiger is an incredibly complex case study, and his story is one that will likely draw analysis for decades. He is perfectly imperfect but remained a galvanizing crossover for the golf world, the one name defining a whole generation who bucked the traditional, old sport for a new, Nike-infused attitude.
He is an icon to millions and the reason why many people from my generation picked up golf clubs. We redefined the sport by making it cooler when it was initially something for an outdated generation, and our spin resonates with the new technology now driving balls hundreds upon hundreds of yards. The music and the culture is very different, but it still plays out on the old, traditional grounds dating back hundreds of years.
Tiger Woods is our pied piper, and when he played at Augusta this week, it felt like a religious revival. The crowds show exactly what that means, that the Tiger Effect is real and nowhere near ending. He was back. We were back with him, and that first swing on the first tee at Augusta brought us back to a place we all only hoped we could go following that car crash.
*****
Pregame Quote and Prediction
Alright, listen up! I'm Coach Boone, I'm gonna tell you about how much…fun…you're gonna have this season. -Herman Boone, "Remember The Titans"
Spring games aren't meant to be taken too seriously. They're enjoyable for their simplicity and a reward for weeks of hard-fought, intrasquad practice. They're the end of one journey and a jumpstart to the next phase of team-building over the summer. The competition carries that light-hearted edge, and the players and coaches know there's nothing better than a well-played spring game after they've beaten drills into the turf 15 times over.
Yet there's still a seriousness to it because it's an opportunity for BC to show the world that it's ready for the next step in the fall. It won't win the Eagles a game or a championship or anything else in September, but the invested work now will ultimately lead to those dividends paid out in the autumn and beyond.
The 2022 Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game kicks off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 9, from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game is free admission for all attendees and can be viewed on national television via the ACC Network.
Spring practice's allotted time simply doesn't hold that weight, and what happens during its preparation won't count towards any performance in December - or November, October and September, for that matter. It's a time dedicated strictly to development, the type of investment on internal mechanism built around improving a football team with new work and new rapport. Concepts are introduced and schemes integrated into units, all while dusting off the pads and shells for the first time since the previous season's end.
At Boston College, spring is the first time anybody saw the Eagles on the gridiron since last December's regular season finale against Wake Forest. Five months before the next competitive game, the home opener against Rutgers on September 3, the dozen-plus practices serve as a bridging reminder that the prior season ended, all while echoing the work remaining before that first game against the Scarlet Knights.
"The energy, in the thick of spring ball, starts to get into a grind," said quarterback Phil Jurkovec. "It becomes a grind after we had to go through winter workouts. We had good energy [in the spring], but now we just have to sustain it [into the fall]."
BC's 2021 season started with high hopes but ended with an anticlimactic finish after the Military Bowl matchup against East Carolina was erased by COVID-19. It was the second postseason cancellation in four years for the Eagles and meant they ended the season with two consecutive losses following a bowl-clinching win over Georgia Tech.Â
That topsy-turvy finish and all its highs and lows kickstarted one of the more dramatic offseasons in college football history once other postseason games and the College Football playoff ended in January. A cap on scholarships, once waived by the NCAA due to the free eligibility granted to players as part of its COVID-19 remediation, reinstituted and reimposed a maximum number on coaches and players, and difficult conversations avoided by a year now essentially forced players off of their college rosters and into the transfer portal.
The ensuing flurry and activity reshaped college football at every level as the NFL Draft process called still more names, and BC entered its own spring with a malleable approach to its own signing periods. Some stayed and others left, but the culture, no matter how turbulent the times appeared, remained constant.
It made spring feel like a renewal, even if the practice schedule seemed a bit quieter than usual, and after settling into new routines over the past month, the Eagles take to Alumni Stadium on Saturday to celebrate their accomplishments of the past month. A team considered by many as an heir apparent to the Atlantic Division will appear on television for the first time since that Wake Forest win and prepare itself for the next steps over the summer that precede August's training camp.
In that respect, a flow and continuity is created. Last season's end led to the offseason, and the movement created by additions and departures preceded the spring practices. Saturday's spring game operates before the summer, which ends with the start of training camp, which starts the cycle anew. It's all a constant conduit and a springboard, a foothold against the gauntlet offered by the ACC and the Atlantic Division.Â
For that reason, spring football is the way for teams to win games in September, and it's a reminder to enjoy and embrace immediate work as part of an ongoing process.
What's what to watch for when the Eagles play one another on the Alumni Stadium turf on Saturday:
****
Spring Game Storylines (Foo Fighters Edition)
Keep you in the dark,
You know they all pretend.
Keep you in the dark,
And so it all began.
-The Pretender
The most obvious question entering the spring centered around new offensive coordinator John McNulty's implementation. Not much was known about it prior to the first practice, but the dozen-plus sessions over March didn't do much to dispel the notion that the scheme would undergo a revolutionary overhaul.
"It's a little different," Phil Jurkovec said of the new offense, "[with] different reads. We're working through it, trying to sort it out because it's a mixture of stuff that has worked in the past. [We are] really trying to work on footwork, reads, progressions, all of that."
It was always hard to imagine McNulty reinventing the wheel, but BC never intended to repeat its entire offense from either of the past two seasons because every year undergoes its own natural rotation and evolution. The Eagles couldn't stay the same as last year without the same physical personnel, so the spring practices became more about generating the cohesion within those new reads or new calls.
Jurkovec led the way in that respect by remaining flexible to his options in practice. The quarterback missed most of last season with a wrist injury but returned before the end of the season to lead the Eagles to bowl eligibility. He was very different in those games than he was in the first couple of weeks, largely because of the physical limitations imposed by the injury's immediate recovery, but appeared at full form this spring.
There was a new pop to his throws, and he spread the ball around by taking new chances over the past month with receivers Jaden Williams and Jaelen Gill. He rediscovered a relationship with tight end George Takacs, who, like Jurkovec, transferred from Notre Dame but who, unlike Jurkovec, rejoined his old position coach now entrenched as the BC offensive coordinator.
"It's funny because we [arrived at Notre Dame] together," Jurkovec said. "We're taking the field again, just in a different place. It's cool seeing him out there. I was thinking about it, but he's making plays and has grown a lot."
It's unclear how anyone will actually play against live competition in the fall, but at least seeing the athleticism on Saturday will go a long way to making folks at BC smile. It's important to remember how none of this really, truly impacts how they will play in five months, but it's also important to see them together, throwing and catching passes as part of their overall development within the new offense.
All night long, I dream of the day,
When it comes around and it's taken away.
Leaves me with the feeling that I feel the most,
Feel it come to life when I see your ghost.
-All My Life
Installing a "new offense" leads to natural questioning, but BC faces an additional inquest after four offensive linemen left for the NFL. Two position coaches, including wide receivers coach Joe Dailey, additionally departed, which meant the spring was as much about rebuilding cohesion in the coaches room as much as it was in the locker room.
"This place is solely about relationships," running backs coach Savon Huggins said, "and we have really good people here. Coach Hafley recruited me back when I was in high school and coached me in college, but it's not just him. It's coming back full circle, and it hasn't been too much of a hard transition. Coach Aazaar [Abdul-Rahim] coached against me when he was a high school coach. So it's been fun, and I'm really enjoying my time here."
Huggins remains one of Hafley's most intriguing additions from the offseason even though he isn't a coaching staff newcomer. He was a 2010 USA Today All-American selection but was the only First Team Offense honoree who didn't matriculate to a league currently in the Power Five. He remained at home to play for Rutgers, a Jersey City kid recruited by a North Jersey guy to play college ball in the Garden State. His First Team Offense class included La'el Collins, Dorial Green-Beckham and Jace Amaro, and he appeared on the roster opposite running backs Malcolm Brown and Jeremy Hill, the former NFL rushing touchdowns leader.
He was the recruiting advisor in 2021 after spending the 2020 season as the running backs coach at UMass and was named running backs coach after working under position coach Rich Gunnell last fall. Gunnell, a BC legend, departed the program in the offseason and returned to coaching wide receivers by joining Bob Chesney's Holy Cross Crusaders, the three-time defending Patriot League champions.
His promotion, along with the hires of wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt and offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, gave McNulty essentially a blank slate, but understanding the installation of the offense meant all of them needed to learn new language while simultaneously identifying areas for strengthening and improvement. The overall course of the 14 practices played into that just as it did for the players, and Saturday brings with it a very public unveiling of how they gelled through scrimmages and how they intend to work together in the full.
"Coach McNulty and I have known each other for a long time," said DeGuglielmo, a two-time Super Bowl champion. "We've been in similar systems. We've worked together in the NFL, and we've worked with people that have run this system that he's running now. I think there's just an understanding that we're going to put in X, Y, Z, and he knows that I've been in that system, that I'll run it. We also know what problems come up because we've dealt with them at a higher level."
If everything could ever be this real forever,
If anything could ever be this good again,
The only thing I'll ever ask of you,
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when,Â
She sang.
-Everlong
There was once a time when spring practice offered Boston College a defensive patchwork for its future. The Eagles used March to figure out their future, but one position group or area felt out of sync from the rest of the returners. A strong front seven, for example, meant quarterbacks played under duress while the secondary worked to improve, or a strong pass defense downfield compensated for young, inexperienced linebackers. The defensive line never really missed annual beats, but questions lingered from year to year about how to continue building synergy with those other components.
This year feels completely different from that even though pieces departed along the line, the second level and the secondary. There is a need to replace players like Isaiah Graham-Mobley or Brandon Sebastian, but the returning personnel and the infusion of more experience and new blood means BC could have a deep, scary unit if it continues on the path set during the spring practices.
"I haven't played in a while," said Chibueze Onwuka, who missed last season with an Achilles injury, "but over the coming months, I'll be able to let loose and get back fully into playing. I'm excited to be out there in the spring and even though I'm not going to be out there all the time, this is developmental time for a lot of [guys]."
The fluctuation on offense garnered a good chunk of attention throughout camp, but the general quiet surrounding the defense was exactly a sign of expectations for Saturday. The message has always been about doing the right job at the right time, and the entire month of work improved the unit without any real noise. The scheme and system is now in its third year, and Jeff Hafley and Tem Lukabu don't need to change much going into the summer.
For that reason, Saturday isn't about finding something major in the defensive alignment. The average eye won't catch the idiosyncrasies of a particular scheme or play, and nobody will understand if there's a seriousness to an experimentation in real time. A spring game won't blow the lid off any brand new, major league revelation, but at least seeing them together on the gridiron will remind folks of what comes next for a unit teeming with expectations.
"I think we made quantum leaps in confidence and in swagger," Lukabu said of the first two years. "There's a belief and understanding that it's not about [how] you should make a play and actually believe it. It's not about talking about it. It's just action, and situationally, we made huge strides, whether it was third down or red zone. Guys really stepped up when the game was on the line."
*****
Question Box
I notoriously enjoy preseason football, so watching how the second and third teams perform is serious business for establishing a depth chart in the fall. Those players very seldom get snaps during the regular season, so how they perform on Saturday is going to set a tone for their next stages over the summer and early fall.
Who is QB2?
Dennis Grosel long represented stability at the quarterback position despite spending most of his career as the backup. He twice stepped forward and stopped bleeding caused by injuries to an incumbent starter, and his performance against Virginia at the end of the 2020 season ranked next to Doug Flutie as the single greatest passing performance in school history (though, ironically, both lost their respective games). Losing him means the depth chart has to answer what happens if Phil Jurkovec gets injured. Added attention now falls on Emmett Morehead, a highly-touted recruit who showed some flashes against Syracuse but also needs to take the next step towards playing at a high collegiate level.
Morehead looked good throughout spring camp, but both Matthew Rueve and Daelen Menard will earn opportunities to push him when the team reconvenes during the fall. Menard has long been an interesting prospect who burst into the third team conversation three years ago, while Rueve, a redshirt sophomore, is built closer to Jurkovec and Morehead for the offensive scheme. He was a former No. 1 pro-style quarterback prospect in Ohio and threw for over 3,200 yards as a one-year starter for St. Xavier High School.
Who starts where on the offensive line?
Losing four starters means the offensive line simply can't answer questions about its performance in 90 minutes or less. There's a reasonable expectation that everyone can protect the quarterback, but who plays what position for how long shouldn't be taken as an indication of things to come. In Matt Applebaum's first year as position coach, BC found its best five linemen and moved them around as needed for both player development and rest situations. That meant Zion Johnson could shift from left guard to right, and Ben Petrula could play both tackle and guard while utilizing his experience from a year spent at center.
It's unclear whether BC goes back to that strategy or finds the right players to slot into individual spots, but Saturday is going to offer friendly fire for players who aren't used to seeing it. How they respond will factor into the film study coming out of camp, even though there's no way to discover a full-time starting lineup prior to September.
Will the weather hold off?
It's supposed to rain on Saturday, but nobody really knows when it will arrive. Early morning rain would make the turf tough sledding, which could be fun to watch, but a mid-afternoon arrival would slicken Alumni Stadium for the women's lacrosse game. At least it's not real grass anymore, right?
Will I put hot sauce in my chowder?
It's my way of saying farewell to Jason Baum, our former Associate Athletic Director for Communications. He left this winter to take a new position at Creighton University, but his lasting legacy is felt by those of us who he convinced to put hot sauce in clam chowder. As a native New Englander, this was borderline blasphemy at the time, but he was dead accurate about its deliciousness. Also, fire up some Old Bay seasoning if you're making wings. Thanks for everything, J-Baum.
*****
Dan's Non-Sports Observation of the Week
A couple of years ago, my wife bought us concert tickets to see the Foo Fighters at Fenway Park. It remains one of the hottest atmospheres I've ever sat through, but the show was easily one of the best live concerts I witnessed in person. I'll never forget Dave Grohl starting the strains to "My Hero" while a pouring rain fell on the uncovered seats, and it ended with me saying it was the best possible Christmas present I could have received.
They truly rocked and soaked up their own atmosphere while building a deep-rooted connection to the audience, which is why I emotionally felt a gut punch a couple of weeks ago when drummer Taylor Hawkins suddenly passed away. He was so much a part of a Foo Fighters experience that we joked he was probably better than Dave Grohl, and the news of his death rocked the music world.
I wish I had something better to add here, but I truthfully waited until I had print space to post a tribute to one of the best drummers of all-time. His passing spurred a music conversation among my friends, and we reminisced over our shared love of bands. It carried almost a reverential tone for some of the musicians we saw through the years, and I'd like to think that a rock band's best legacy is how much its fans talk about it.Â
I don't know what comes next for a band after a tragedy, but I do know I love Foo Fighters music. The constant replay of songs would've happened in my house anyways, but now it just carries that one little extra tinge nobody really wants.
*****
Around The Sports World
I admittedly planned to talk about Major League Baseball's return in this spot. Opening Day is one of my favorite times of year and the only time when every team has the same boundless hope for a successful season. The afternoon start, the bunting, the giant American flag unfurled over the Green Monster at Fenway, the tradition - it all feels perfect, even if baseball itself is about as imperfect as it gets. Even the labor woes seemed to work out by forcing MLB to push its start back to this week, where it landed right between the end of March Madness and the start of the Masters.
Then Tiger happened.
Tiger Woods golfed this week, a completely unbelievable statement considering how he almost lost his leg in a car accident back in February, 2021. He walked Augusta National and competed in the Masters, and he did so with a confidence and hunger that's defined by his presence. He was back, if only for a couple of days, but the testament to his rehab, his commitment and his sheer incredible career was written when he stepped to the first tee box.
As a human being, Tiger is an incredibly complex case study, and his story is one that will likely draw analysis for decades. He is perfectly imperfect but remained a galvanizing crossover for the golf world, the one name defining a whole generation who bucked the traditional, old sport for a new, Nike-infused attitude.
He is an icon to millions and the reason why many people from my generation picked up golf clubs. We redefined the sport by making it cooler when it was initially something for an outdated generation, and our spin resonates with the new technology now driving balls hundreds upon hundreds of yards. The music and the culture is very different, but it still plays out on the old, traditional grounds dating back hundreds of years.
Tiger Woods is our pied piper, and when he played at Augusta this week, it felt like a religious revival. The crowds show exactly what that means, that the Tiger Effect is real and nowhere near ending. He was back. We were back with him, and that first swing on the first tee at Augusta brought us back to a place we all only hoped we could go following that car crash.
*****
Pregame Quote and Prediction
Alright, listen up! I'm Coach Boone, I'm gonna tell you about how much…fun…you're gonna have this season. -Herman Boone, "Remember The Titans"
Spring games aren't meant to be taken too seriously. They're enjoyable for their simplicity and a reward for weeks of hard-fought, intrasquad practice. They're the end of one journey and a jumpstart to the next phase of team-building over the summer. The competition carries that light-hearted edge, and the players and coaches know there's nothing better than a well-played spring game after they've beaten drills into the turf 15 times over.
Yet there's still a seriousness to it because it's an opportunity for BC to show the world that it's ready for the next step in the fall. It won't win the Eagles a game or a championship or anything else in September, but the invested work now will ultimately lead to those dividends paid out in the autumn and beyond.
The 2022 Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game kicks off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 9, from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game is free admission for all attendees and can be viewed on national television via the ACC Network.
Players Mentioned
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