Boston College Athletics
October 19, 2023 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Saturday's game is a homecoming for BC's ability to recruit the state of Georgia.
The first six weeks of the 2023 season changed the tenor surrounding Boston College's football program. A team that started adrift found its mojo before clawing back to a .500 overall record, to which the Eagles entered their bye week with a newfound confidence stemming from a shift in their identity. A rugged, hard-nosed team, they've now embraced their future as a traditional Northeast-style team that's capable of battering opponents over a full four quarters.
Quarterback Thomas Castellanos' installation as the starting quarterback played a big role in that change, but BC's attitude emerged when depth candidates started trusting their own swagger and skill set within the different packages. They broke out together, and as the Eagles prepare for their next road test at Georgia Tech, a group of Peach State natives are leading the redefinition of the team's distinguishing features and overall frame of mind.
"I think Georgia's got it all," said head coach Jeff Hafley in his appearance on this week's official podcast. "It's some of the best [high school] football in the country. There are certain states where you go for offensive linemen, and there are certain states where you go for speed. You go to Georgia for everything."
Georgia has long been a recruiting destination throughout traditional ACC and SEC markets and schools, but Boston College's in-roads into the recruiting pool produced a solid core of stalwart names from both sides of the ball on its current roster. Most, if not all, played in the upper levels of the state's high school playoffs, and the list of championship-caliber prospects developed within the competitive, elite proving grounds long before they ever stepped into Alumni Stadium.
Defensive end Neto Okpala, for example, grew up in Loganville and appeared in Georgia's 5A state playoffs opposite Castellanos' Ware County Gators, and sophomore defensive back Amari Jackson grew up in McDonough before attending Eagle's Landing Christian Academy. That's the same hometown as Jaylen Blackwell, though they all fell short of the 7A state championship won by Taji Johnson's Marietta High School.
"You look at a guy like Neto, who has great pass rush ability," Hafley said, "and he's strong, can run, and is a really good defensive end. Amari Jackson is one of our most athletic defensive backs, he's highly explosive, and he was recruited by a bunch of SEC teams. Taji - he's one of the best kids you could ever be around. He's not only a good football player, but he's tough, strong, smart, reliable, and what he does in the community is exceptional. Then obviously there's Thomas, so you can kind of get it all in Georgia."
Homecoming isn't for another week in Chestnut Hill, but those players are returning home because of BC's ability to recruit their home state. The world itself is departing from college football's localized roots, but programs once confined to the Northeast or the Catholic school circuits of the Mid-Atlantic region are able to reach outside the perceived comfort zone because of their overall reputations on the national stage.
Simply put, the Eagles' ability to churn out NFL picks like Florida native Zay Flowers or Maryland's Zion Johnson is reinforcing the player development model, and the exposure of playing games in those local areas is pushing BC towards higher levels of the ACC's overall recruiting rankings.
"BC is a national brand," Hafley said, "and it's one of the best academic schools in America. Every school that we walk into recognizes that, and it's not just the students. It's the teachers and the faculty, and we're welcomed everywhere from the West Coast, California, and those Southern places like Georgia and Florida. We also play a lot of those southern teams like Clemson, and there are a lot of big games that we've played [in those areas]."
Part of it is the schedule, but the national exposure of modern day recruiting is pushing BC into those areas once recognized as "SEC country" or "Big 12 country" or "Texas country" or whichever brand used to own unofficial exclusive rights based on geography. Access isn't limited, and the expansion of exposure over the past two decades helped push ACC teams into national living rooms.Â
That said, a game in Georgia against a traditional ACC brand is an unofficial battle ground, and BC's third matchup against Georgia Tech in Hafley's four years includes the second straight trip to Atlanta. From a pure exposure standpoint, that's an opportunity for more Georgia players to watch BC, to which the potential talent pool continues to grow for Hafley, who was hired with a reputation of being a strong recruiter.
"We still want to recruit the Northeast hard," Hafley said, "and that's where we have to really identify and have to watch guys develop. We have to stay on them as seniors [in high school], which is what we did with Max Tucker. We have to do that more and more, but we also have to be able to go out and find guys [nationally] that fit us culturally and can play football."
BC and Georgia Tech will kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. from Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game can be seen on national television via the ACC Network with streaming available through ESPN's platform of online and mobile apps.
Â
Quarterback Thomas Castellanos' installation as the starting quarterback played a big role in that change, but BC's attitude emerged when depth candidates started trusting their own swagger and skill set within the different packages. They broke out together, and as the Eagles prepare for their next road test at Georgia Tech, a group of Peach State natives are leading the redefinition of the team's distinguishing features and overall frame of mind.
"I think Georgia's got it all," said head coach Jeff Hafley in his appearance on this week's official podcast. "It's some of the best [high school] football in the country. There are certain states where you go for offensive linemen, and there are certain states where you go for speed. You go to Georgia for everything."
Georgia has long been a recruiting destination throughout traditional ACC and SEC markets and schools, but Boston College's in-roads into the recruiting pool produced a solid core of stalwart names from both sides of the ball on its current roster. Most, if not all, played in the upper levels of the state's high school playoffs, and the list of championship-caliber prospects developed within the competitive, elite proving grounds long before they ever stepped into Alumni Stadium.
Defensive end Neto Okpala, for example, grew up in Loganville and appeared in Georgia's 5A state playoffs opposite Castellanos' Ware County Gators, and sophomore defensive back Amari Jackson grew up in McDonough before attending Eagle's Landing Christian Academy. That's the same hometown as Jaylen Blackwell, though they all fell short of the 7A state championship won by Taji Johnson's Marietta High School.
"You look at a guy like Neto, who has great pass rush ability," Hafley said, "and he's strong, can run, and is a really good defensive end. Amari Jackson is one of our most athletic defensive backs, he's highly explosive, and he was recruited by a bunch of SEC teams. Taji - he's one of the best kids you could ever be around. He's not only a good football player, but he's tough, strong, smart, reliable, and what he does in the community is exceptional. Then obviously there's Thomas, so you can kind of get it all in Georgia."
Homecoming isn't for another week in Chestnut Hill, but those players are returning home because of BC's ability to recruit their home state. The world itself is departing from college football's localized roots, but programs once confined to the Northeast or the Catholic school circuits of the Mid-Atlantic region are able to reach outside the perceived comfort zone because of their overall reputations on the national stage.
Simply put, the Eagles' ability to churn out NFL picks like Florida native Zay Flowers or Maryland's Zion Johnson is reinforcing the player development model, and the exposure of playing games in those local areas is pushing BC towards higher levels of the ACC's overall recruiting rankings.
"BC is a national brand," Hafley said, "and it's one of the best academic schools in America. Every school that we walk into recognizes that, and it's not just the students. It's the teachers and the faculty, and we're welcomed everywhere from the West Coast, California, and those Southern places like Georgia and Florida. We also play a lot of those southern teams like Clemson, and there are a lot of big games that we've played [in those areas]."
Part of it is the schedule, but the national exposure of modern day recruiting is pushing BC into those areas once recognized as "SEC country" or "Big 12 country" or "Texas country" or whichever brand used to own unofficial exclusive rights based on geography. Access isn't limited, and the expansion of exposure over the past two decades helped push ACC teams into national living rooms.Â
That said, a game in Georgia against a traditional ACC brand is an unofficial battle ground, and BC's third matchup against Georgia Tech in Hafley's four years includes the second straight trip to Atlanta. From a pure exposure standpoint, that's an opportunity for more Georgia players to watch BC, to which the potential talent pool continues to grow for Hafley, who was hired with a reputation of being a strong recruiter.
"We still want to recruit the Northeast hard," Hafley said, "and that's where we have to really identify and have to watch guys develop. We have to stay on them as seniors [in high school], which is what we did with Max Tucker. We have to do that more and more, but we also have to be able to go out and find guys [nationally] that fit us culturally and can play football."
BC and Georgia Tech will kick off on Saturday at 12 p.m. from Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The game can be seen on national television via the ACC Network with streaming available through ESPN's platform of online and mobile apps.
Â
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
CB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DE
/ Football
DB
/ FootballTuesday, November 03
Monday, November 02
Monday, November 02
Monday, November 02
