Thursday, March 03, 2016

First Day of Spring Practices

BC Football began Spring Practices Thursday. It is the team's first chance to improve off of last season's disaster and also the first chance for the new QB and new coordinators to work with the team. ESPN posted the three big issues of Spring Practice, but it is even simpler than they suggest.

BC needs just one QB to step up. ESPN and Loefffler say that the team needs to find the top two or three QBs. That will be too many. BC needs one clear cut guy who has command for the offense, respect from the team and the ability to win games. I want to be optimistic about the season, but if all the guys are bunched together, than I am going to think all are mediocre. We've seen what Smith, Fadule and Flutie can do. The staff has good film on Towles. And although he got hurt, Addazio has a good feel for Wade. I can buy one making a huge development step forward. I can't buy all five (plus Brown). If all five are even, then none are good and BC's offense is in trouble.

Improve the OLine. Who cares if a QB steps up or if the running backs are healthy if they are running for their lives? The OLine issue last year was about development and talent. The best talent was young and undersized. Now they are all a season older and physically better. They need to use these next two weeks to find positions and work as a unit. They are not under the same time pressure that the QBs are, but progress is important.

While ESPN focused on the D and new staffers, I am not worried there. Reid took over Defenses before -- including BC's. The rest of the guys all have history with Addazio or BC, so it shouldn't be a problem. If anything the overall staff should be more effective.

Spring Ball is usually overblown. This year is different. BC needs to make real progress or else it could be another long year.

11 comments:

Hoib said...

W/ u on the O line. I disagre on QB. Any good teams has 2 guys who can move the team. That position is just too important to rely on one guy, when at any time he's one hit away from being lost for the season. When u have an Oline like ours the chance for injury is just that much greater.

jj_2003 said...

What you don't want to do, though, with a team like this is waste all sorts of practice time on Guys #3 through #6. If we're hearing about 6-way rotations midway to late through camp, that's bad news.

By say the second week of camp at most we should be hearing about a battle between #1 and #1A, with the starter TBD early in Fall camp. Doing so is actually smart, because it buys a few months in case one of them gets pinched this summer for DUI or domestic assault or something. Presumably that's going to be Wade and/or Towles, with Brown as the development guy and Smith switching to a slash role.

What matters to Addazio is Addazio, as Louie demonstrated last season. Addazio's baseline post-2016 baseline is color guy on ESPN3, while collecting the remainder of his BC extension. No matter what, he's courted Bristol as a "great guy" commentator type, and can do the Buffalo at UConn games type of games each week. But he has some years left and can be more if he can stay in coaching for a little while longer.

The jackpot is if Wade takes Addazio back to a bowl. Addazio knows that, which is why he's rolling Wade out on the media tour. The Wade/bowl scenario accomplishes three things:
1. Says plausibly (but erroneously) that last year was a fluke, with Spaziani's empty cupboard to blame;
2. Addazio knows how to overachieve, and
3. BC is set to contend in 2017.

The third point is huge. All us BC people know Addazio is not contending for any conference championships. He proved that with last season being as disastrous as it was, yanking the QBs around, fumbling away an elite defense, not giving them the tools to win even one conference game by accident. You know it, I know it, and most importantly, Steve Addazio knows it.

So if Wade and Addazio's "hired gun" assistants salvage a Military Bowl bid, Addazio can go balls to the wall in search of a new HC gig. He'd wind up with some bump in compensation, at least due to cost of living benefits if nothing else. He'll reset the clock so that he's paid beyond the life of this extension. Getting another gig after "succeeding" in a "hopeless" BC situation will position him well for a regular studio gig on the ESPN Mother Ship once he gets let go in three years from that new HC gig.

Towles is the backup in every sense of the word. He's the one who lets Addazio survive this year if Wade can't cut it or gets hurt again. But make no mistake, Addazio needs Wade to succeed.

Joe said...

Towles is going to get the starting job. Addazio is under no pressure to start Wade, you make it seem like Addazio needs some validation by having Wade succeed this season.

With Wade going down early last year, he is going to get a RS. Meaning technically, this coming year he is still a Sophmore. If Towles starts, which he will, Wade will back up and still have 2 years of eligibility (as well as a year with Loeffler before starting).

I'm no way is Addazios future at BC dependent on Wade starting this year. The only thing I will say, is when Towles starts, I really hope they make a concerted effort to get Wase snaps as to speed his progression for next year.

The rest of what you wrote is long and confusing and doesn't make any sense.

mod34b said...
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mod34b said...
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Joe said...

Oh good. Right on cue here comes Mod with the anti-Addazio rant.

Forming a committee of "BC football experts" won't do anything until the school decides they want to be serious and pay, and that won't happen (nor will Adazzio leave after a bowl season).

mod34b said...
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mod34b said...
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JBQ said...

Addazio has his chance. If he fails, then you clean house and bring in someone like Coughlin to sweep up the mess.

Knucklehead said...

Yeah, it is important to have a 1A if someone gets pinched for DUI or domestic assault or something.

Knucklehead said...

Addazio is not getting a better or higher paying job than the one he has right now under ANY circumstances. None. Even getting to and winning the ACC Championship game. Boston College is in one of the top 5 conferences in the country. The PAC 12 is not going to hire him since he is a SouthEast/Northeast guy. The SEC knows that Addazio is an average coach at best - no dice in that league. The Big 12 is not going to hire a Catholic - no joke. The Big 10 jobs where he would be a candidate are not as good as Boston College - even right now.

So Addazio might parlay the shit he is putting on the field into a job with ESPN as a commentator. He is not getting a better head coaching job after this one and frankly won't get one in a Power 5 conference at all.

He will be the next Special teams coach or Defensive coordinator at Ohio State. Sooner rather than later.

He needs Wade to succeed to maintain his credibility as an evaluator of talent. He absolutely loves the kids game for some reason to.