Hafley, BC In Full Trust To Fix Team's Start
September 14, 2022 | Football, #ForBoston Files
There is no doubting the work ethic brought by BC this week.
Worries about the offensive line aren't new as a result of the first two weeks of the season. The personnel lacked a starting leader in the absence of Christian Mahogany's season-ending injury over the summer, and the growing concern centered around the inexperience of five new starters who never played together in a regular season football game. Growing expectations around the program meant they would need to supplant last year's lineup with immediate success, and with the returning firepower at the skill positions, it made the most sense that the group required addressing when BC arrived for training camp.
All of those questions persisted during training camp because the team didn't have any grand unveiling until the Rutgers game, which meant nobody could witness what was stressed or emphasized in a new offensive scheme with different starters. Scrimmages weren't open to the public, and any progress could be easily discredited because those snaps were against teammates, not opponents with a different scheme.
The line fell short of expectations in the first two games, and this week was spent largely analyzing its behaviors towards continually building a new unit. In their own way, the Eagles didn't rebuild or strip their scheme down to basic component parts, but they did specifically look at how they got to the point where both Jurkovec was absorbing too many blows and where the running game failed to compensate for those parts.
"Those guys have been working hard," Hafley said. "Drew Kendall, Christian Mahogany, who is one of the best guards in all of college football, and Finn [Dirstine] had a great spring. Then you have Ozzy [Trapilo], Kevin [Cline], [Jack] Conley, and those guys, some of those guys weren't even there, but then all of a sudden Christian goes down, then Ozzy goes down, and then Kevin goes down. Drew missed a lot of camp, so those guys who were coming in were fighting, and whoever was coming in, we were going to coach up with the effort they were putting in."
Hafley is quick to point out that the changing personnel isn't an excuse for the struggles the line faced in the first two weeks, but he emphasized that the staff in place is the right group to grow this team. It had incredible depth during spring camp, and he felt that the number of players who were involved in building the unit into the fall had the right caliber to protect Jurkovec and open holes for the running game.Â
"We looked at the portal for a lot of reasons," Hafley said. "You want to add depth and always want to add good players, but it's not always that easy…We're doing everything we can, and I believe in the guys that we have here. Some of them are totally ready. We're going to get ready to fight our butts off, and I'm going to be behind that group every step of the way."
That hasn't changed after two weeks, but the shifting personnel forced him to at least acknowledge the role injuries played in the lack of continuity against both Rutgers and Virginia Tech. If nothing else, the positive spin is that more players are getting game-level experience, which in turn will build the depth chart as things build and improve with more focus.Â
Nick Thomas, for example, is a player likely thrust into meaningful snaps against Maine after he found himself in a featured role against Virginia Tech. He entered the game at right tackle when Kevin Cline went down injured, but how he's utilized this week is based on the quick need and the ability to find the right cohesion with teammates. In his case, "next man up" doesn't necessarily reflect his ability to plug and play in Cline's position but how his teammates are able to help him assimilate into the top unit. If and when Cline returns, Thomas is now another name and body possessing the chemistry built from having played the position in-game, even while there were growing pains at the start of his tenure.
"Whether or not we put him at tackle - left tackle or right tackle - he's got to be ready to go," Hafley said. "Just like the rest of the guys who were backups, who were third and fourth on the depth chart, they're suddenly either a one on the depth chart or a two."
All of that said, Hafley trusts the personnel because most of the issues on the field over the first two games are correctable. The players will improve with coaching, and their steps forward help evaporate the ill-timed penalty or turnovers from the first two losses. Gaining those elements will ultimately re-sync the BC roster, and once that happens, the memories of the 0-2 start will fade into a bad dream as the team grows more competitive.
That means being better at getting off the field on a particular third down, and it means running the football better. It means timing for receivers while employing more controlled situational football, and it means generating explosiveness. It requires analysis of everything, from top to bottom, about what works, what doesn't work, what might and might not work for given players, while simultaneously not losing the team's full identity.Â
In that regard, it's not about one player or personnel grouping; it's about the entire team, working together, for one cohesive unit: Boston College.
"We have to find out what our guys, together, up front and on the perimeter, can do best," Hafley said. "Whether it's formation-only, whether it's trying to get creative in the run game to create better leverage, it's getting [the players] to do what they're supposed to do on every single play. [We have to be] fundamentally sound but also [have] the ability to execute. To me, the ability to be efficient on first and second down and move the ball forward two yards, three years, whatever it is, you have to run the football, and that way you're not in third-and-long all the time."
Boston College and Maine kick off on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Television coverage is part of the ACC's Regional Sports Network programming, which is available locally in Boston on the NESN family of channels. Coverage of Saturday's game can be seen in its entirety on NESN+ with the NESN proper station joining coverage in progress following the conclusion of the Boston Red Sox.
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All of those questions persisted during training camp because the team didn't have any grand unveiling until the Rutgers game, which meant nobody could witness what was stressed or emphasized in a new offensive scheme with different starters. Scrimmages weren't open to the public, and any progress could be easily discredited because those snaps were against teammates, not opponents with a different scheme.
The line fell short of expectations in the first two games, and this week was spent largely analyzing its behaviors towards continually building a new unit. In their own way, the Eagles didn't rebuild or strip their scheme down to basic component parts, but they did specifically look at how they got to the point where both Jurkovec was absorbing too many blows and where the running game failed to compensate for those parts.
"Those guys have been working hard," Hafley said. "Drew Kendall, Christian Mahogany, who is one of the best guards in all of college football, and Finn [Dirstine] had a great spring. Then you have Ozzy [Trapilo], Kevin [Cline], [Jack] Conley, and those guys, some of those guys weren't even there, but then all of a sudden Christian goes down, then Ozzy goes down, and then Kevin goes down. Drew missed a lot of camp, so those guys who were coming in were fighting, and whoever was coming in, we were going to coach up with the effort they were putting in."
Hafley is quick to point out that the changing personnel isn't an excuse for the struggles the line faced in the first two weeks, but he emphasized that the staff in place is the right group to grow this team. It had incredible depth during spring camp, and he felt that the number of players who were involved in building the unit into the fall had the right caliber to protect Jurkovec and open holes for the running game.Â
"We looked at the portal for a lot of reasons," Hafley said. "You want to add depth and always want to add good players, but it's not always that easy…We're doing everything we can, and I believe in the guys that we have here. Some of them are totally ready. We're going to get ready to fight our butts off, and I'm going to be behind that group every step of the way."
That hasn't changed after two weeks, but the shifting personnel forced him to at least acknowledge the role injuries played in the lack of continuity against both Rutgers and Virginia Tech. If nothing else, the positive spin is that more players are getting game-level experience, which in turn will build the depth chart as things build and improve with more focus.Â
Nick Thomas, for example, is a player likely thrust into meaningful snaps against Maine after he found himself in a featured role against Virginia Tech. He entered the game at right tackle when Kevin Cline went down injured, but how he's utilized this week is based on the quick need and the ability to find the right cohesion with teammates. In his case, "next man up" doesn't necessarily reflect his ability to plug and play in Cline's position but how his teammates are able to help him assimilate into the top unit. If and when Cline returns, Thomas is now another name and body possessing the chemistry built from having played the position in-game, even while there were growing pains at the start of his tenure.
"Whether or not we put him at tackle - left tackle or right tackle - he's got to be ready to go," Hafley said. "Just like the rest of the guys who were backups, who were third and fourth on the depth chart, they're suddenly either a one on the depth chart or a two."
All of that said, Hafley trusts the personnel because most of the issues on the field over the first two games are correctable. The players will improve with coaching, and their steps forward help evaporate the ill-timed penalty or turnovers from the first two losses. Gaining those elements will ultimately re-sync the BC roster, and once that happens, the memories of the 0-2 start will fade into a bad dream as the team grows more competitive.
That means being better at getting off the field on a particular third down, and it means running the football better. It means timing for receivers while employing more controlled situational football, and it means generating explosiveness. It requires analysis of everything, from top to bottom, about what works, what doesn't work, what might and might not work for given players, while simultaneously not losing the team's full identity.Â
In that regard, it's not about one player or personnel grouping; it's about the entire team, working together, for one cohesive unit: Boston College.
"We have to find out what our guys, together, up front and on the perimeter, can do best," Hafley said. "Whether it's formation-only, whether it's trying to get creative in the run game to create better leverage, it's getting [the players] to do what they're supposed to do on every single play. [We have to be] fundamentally sound but also [have] the ability to execute. To me, the ability to be efficient on first and second down and move the ball forward two yards, three years, whatever it is, you have to run the football, and that way you're not in third-and-long all the time."
Boston College and Maine kick off on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Television coverage is part of the ACC's Regional Sports Network programming, which is available locally in Boston on the NESN family of channels. Coverage of Saturday's game can be seen in its entirety on NESN+ with the NESN proper station joining coverage in progress following the conclusion of the Boston Red Sox.
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