Sights, Sounds Return To BC On First Day Of Camp

A general walk down the parking ramp at Beacon St. Garage likely looked like any other summer morning at Boston College. Sunshine splashed Chestnut Hill Reservoir through its humid morning haze as cars hummed down the roads running parallel to the banks of the man-made water supply. Across the street, an early burn lit up BC itself as the heat radiated from Alumni Stadium's aluminum bleachers.

Fish Field House's towering husk rose to the heavens from between the two with the Beacon St. garage sandwiched right between the football stadium and its adjacent practice facility. On its side, the parking ramp once noted as the most underrated place to watch a baseball game baked out under an unforgiving concrete swelter.

The only difference to the heat wave and dog days came from inside the two structures. At Alumni Stadium, rock music tore through the empty bleachers as a sound system endured tests, while next door, the inhabitants of that stadium participated in their first official practice of the 2022 season.

It was like any other morning in August, with one notable exception: football was back.

"I feel almost like this is the first real normal camp we've had, like from an offseason to a real summer to a training camp," said head coach Jeff Hafley following his team's first workout. "You just kind of look over things and get to know your players and coaches, and then you find out what works for [you]. Is it lifting every day during training camp or lifting every other day? Is it [about] getting guys out every day a little bit earlier, or is it pushing them right to bed check? What do practices look like? Do we have the depth? Can we grind through 15 [or] 16 periods, or do we need a jog-through or walkthrough? It's not always about what you've done or what guys you've been around. It's about what your team does best, and I think this is the first time I've started seeing that and tried to implement that as their coach."

The first practice is nothing like even the scrimmage, but it's still enough to make anyone dream about the sight of Boston College exploding out of its tunnel for the first game against Rutgers in September. Players weren't in full pads, but the vision of battles between offensive and defensive units injected new life and new energy into a team ripping the cellophane off its 2022 season.

Veterans chipped away at any football-related rust, and rookies looked around with no idea of where they were supposed to go. All of that, reasoned Hafley, were things that would come in due process and were minimally concerning considering his team showed up for the first practice with players in shape after completing summer training under the watchful eyes of head strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz and his staff.

"When I first started coaching and guys weren't here all summer, and even in the NFL to some extent, you used training camp to get into shape," he said. "You used your 30 days and did sprints and ran hills to get them in shape to play football. Now that guys were here all summer, [Matusz] and his staff did an unbelievable job. Our guys are as good as they've ever looked, so our focus now isn't to get them into great shape. It's to keep them there, so by the time we play the first game, we're still fresh."

"This was probably the hardest summer I've had since I've been here," wide receiver Zay Flowers agreed. "Everything was competitive. It was coached that way on purpose, so when we got to the season, we all could just hop into competition. By the time we got through spring and summer camp, we were ready for that competition."

That doesn't mean BC hit the ground perfectly for the first practice, nor did it mean that Friday's first session included the full-pounding contact of 11-on-11 drills. For the first week, no team is allowed to practice in full pads, so the Eagles couldn't do too much by way of their running game. Offensive linemen couldn't step into their defensive counterparts, and the linebackers and defensive backs couldn't fly to the ball with the same violent finishes as September or October.

Nor did it necessarily mean the Eagles were even at full strength. Initial practices are usually beset by players recovering from offseason injury rehab, and every team enters those first weeks with gaps created by players' absences. To that end, there's an understanding that everyone needs to hit the ground running but not exert to the hard degree that it hurts the team's cause for the next four weeks.

"We've got to take care of our guys," Hafley insisted. "We don't have the depth to sustain major injuries, so we have to take care of this team, physically and mentally, when we practice. We'll get to go hard, and you'll have to go really hard [in those times], [but] there are certain positions where we need more reps than others. Then we have to be creative in how we get that done…That's going to be key to the season, and that's hard because you're trying to get some guys who haven't played a ton of reps while, at the same time, you have to keep them healthy."

"Camp is always pretty long," said wide receiver Jaelen Gill. "By the time we get to week two, people will be tired, so it's a big emphasis, especially with the young guys, to make sure they know how to take care of their bodies. There's really nothing you can do to save your body because you're going to be [sore] regardless, but it's really about who feels better than the next person. The better we can take care of our bodies and the more we [do things like] hydrate, the better we will feel."

That emphasis made the first day palatable and palpable for everyone on the field. Excitement reigned, but the simple concepts associated with the first day made it easier to grasp emotionally. There is plenty of time for anxiety surrounding game plans and coverages. On Friday, it was strictly ball, and that was enough for the players and coaches wearing their maroon and gold for the first time for the 2022 season.

"The urgency is the same," Hafley said. "[It's] exactly the same. Maybe you're seeing a different edge out of me, and maybe you're seeing me just become more comfortable being a coach and being who I am. This is a great group of coaches…We talked about last year a lot, that losing those four games in a row was a great learning lesson because we found out who we were. I've said over and over that we find out who our team is. That's life, right? You're going to have hard days and hard weeks, and can you get better and fight back?"

Sights, Sounds Return To BC On First Day Of Camp

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