Experts predict the Pinstripe Bowl and other links

Most of ESPN's experts expect BC to win the Pinstripe Bowl. Phil Steele likes Penn State.

The Walter Camp Foundation also named Murphy the Connecticut Player of the Year. ESPN also published a nice feature on Murphy.

CJ Parson received a suspended sentence for his fight with a homeless man earlier this year.

Josh Bordner has many ties to Penn State and James Franklin.

The ECAC named Hilliman its Co-Rookie of the Year.

Captains announced and other links

BC announced their 2014 Captains. They are Josh Bordner, Sean Duggan, Andy Gallik and Dominique Williams. It is an interesting collection and I always appreciate when it is not the best players elected captain (other than Gallik, I wouldn't say the others are obvious choices based on past performance). I hope that the honor means that the team thinks these guys are ready for a big season or that they are putting thought into the vote and electing true examples for team leadership. Or hopefully both and these captain are good guys ready to have great seasons. I know that the tradition and legacy is drilled into these players, so I am sure they are all honored.

Tim Joy injured his knee and will miss the entire season. Fortunately we have depth at Linebacker. I wish him a full recovery and hopefully he can redshirt and play two more years.

UMass released their depth chart for the game. BC's is floating out on message boards, but the official chart has yet to be released.

Sloppy first scrimmage: no big deal; Bordner forced to fill in at QB: big deal

BC held their first scrimmage Saturday. Predictably, the play was sloppy. Addazio addressed the issue with the media and reprimanded the fumbles and said the team will need to practice tackling. Wisely, he said that he avoided too much tackling last year. However, this team is young and green and needs to work on that aspect.

I am sure things will get better with each scrimmage. They always do.

The one issue that sent off alarms for me was when Austin Tedesco tweeted that Bordner was playing QB. He later clarified that Wade sat out with a hamstring issue and is not expected to miss much time. But flipping Bordner back to QB -- even as just an emergency backup -- is not a good sign. If he is forced into QB duty, it wastes much of the time invested in his transition to WR. Hopefully Murphy and Wade stay healthy and Flutie matures enough to become the emergency guy. Because we need Bordner at WR too. I am optimistic about the offense, but a few injuries could turn the season upsidedown.

Burke's story and other links

Sean Burke is the latest walk-on to earn a scholarship. BC has a long tradition of rewarding walk-ons, but handing them out now is telling. Using open scholarships probably means the staff is no longer expecting any other random 5th year transfers to arise. As for Burke, I am glad his commitment was rewarded. I hope he has a good year.

Women's Tennis sophomore Lexi Borr won the ITA Circuit Tournament Monday.

ESPN's David Hale thinks Josh Bordner is one of the ACC's Wild Cards. I know the staff was very big on Bordner's potential in the Spring. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up in August when there is a full depth chart at WR.

2014 Preview Questions: Who will be our deep threat

For all of last season's innovative mix of spread and jumbo packages, the fundamentals of BC's offense were decades old. We ran the ball over and over and then used play action to connect on deep passes. I have enough confidence in the offensive line and the mix of running backs, that I think they can duplicate Andre Williams' production as a group. I have not seen Murphy play much, but his arm seems adequate enough to connect on deep passes. The big question is who will catch the deep balls?

Speed is really the key on long passes. If you cannot get separation downfield, a fast DB can catch up to the Reciever while the ball is still in the air. Amidon's deceptive speed was a perfect compliment to our passing game last year, as he blew by opponents with regularity.

The returning pass catchers lack many essential skills but especially speed. A lot is expected of converted QB Josh Bordner, but he's not going to run by ACC DBs. Harrison Jackson's health is in question. No one knows if Bobby Swigert will be 100%. Crimmins is a possession guy. Barksdale is untested. Dudeck brings a few dimensions to the O but he's not a scorcher. It is no wonder that the coaching staff is still scouring college rosters for a 5th year guy. Shakim Phillips is expected to return, but we can't count on that until he completes his UConn degree.

Of the incoming freshmen, there is potential. Nat Dixon, Gabriel McClary, Troy Flutie, and Thaddius Smith all have the chance to come in and contribute as true freshman. All they have to do is show they can run fast and still catch the ball.

After last year, I do trust Addazio and Day to do the best with what talent they have. If we don't have anyone who can catch it deep, we probably won't throw it deep very often. But before they abandon something that worked so well last year, I hope they try it once or twice with a new guy.

Reading into Spring Football press

Let's take a break from the basketball confusion and focus on a more fun topic: BC Football! It has been a relatively quiet Spring, so all we are left to do is interpret BC's press. Traditionally guys who BC promote to the media are the ones having good Springs. This week it has been Tyler Murphy and Josh Bordner.

Murphy is more critical since he'll likely begin the season as the starter. As the Herald wrote, he's closer to the prototype QB that Addazio wants. I expect much more running than Rettig did last year. Which is good news since there were so many big holes available for our QBs last year.

Bordner might be a more interesting story. Keeping him around as a WR was an interesting tidbit, but the fact BC is pushing him to the press, confirms the transition is going well. We are thin at a skill positions, so whatever Bordner can do -- either as a possession guy or a deep threat -- will be welcome.

Martin shares thoughts on split QB snaps and other links

When Spaz first used Bordner against FSU, I didn't like it, but I understood. He was trying to do anything to jump start the offense. As things improved towards the end of the season and Rettig showed some improvement, I hated the Bordner packages. They were predictable and killed momentum. Fortunately it sounds like Doug Martin prefers one QB. This is what he said to HD:

Boston College used two quarterbacks last year -- starter Chase Rettig and backup Josh Bordner – but first-year offensive coordinator Doug Martin said that won’t be the case this season, at least not intentionally. 

“I don’t see us doing that,” he said.


Rettig finished the spring as the Eagles’ top quarterback, followed by Bordner, but Martin said he is comfortable with both of them.

The Mets drafted incoming Baseball Freshman Chris Shaw. Shaw says he's still coming to BC. New York has until July 15 to sign him. Recent BC baseball grads Matt Brazis and Anthony Melchionda were both taken in last week's MLB Draft.


Basketball Prospectus liked Ryan Anderson's freshman year statistically.

John Muse signed with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Big Ten Network will carry the BC-Northwestern game. It will be a 3:30 pm start.

This is a really good article that explains the ACC-Raycom relationship. It also dismisses all the conspiracy theories regarding John Swofford -- including that BC got into the ACC because his son worked at BC during expansion.

The co-ed sailing team was unable to follow up the women's title. They finished seventh overall.

This is from earlier in the week, but ESPN thinks BC is the least desirable basketball job in the ACC. I think this drastically overlooks our history and BC's advantages. I would argue that BC is a better job than Miami, Virginia Tech, and Clemson.

Spring Game: a day of missed opportunities

We've learned not to read too much into the Spring Game. However, there are themes to the most public football event of the spring. This year I sensed an overriding feeling of missed opportunities. It started with the lousy weather and continued to the QBs making mistakes despite a depleted secondary.

The weather couldn't be helped. Moving the schedule forward necessitated the Spring Game in March. In Boston that's always dicey. Because of the unpredictable weather BC cancelled "Family Fun Day" and had smallish crowds. I hope we return to our normal Spring schedule next year. It might not make an impact on the field, but I think ending the Spring on a nice day creates a sense of optimism among the fans.

For those of us who watched online, the day started ignominiously. The feed was timing out and we couldn't see the first 20 minutes. Later the game came in.

As for seeing Doug Martin's new stlye, it wasn't drastic change. The formations were all pretty standard. The play was inconsistent and all the QB struggled at times. I don't know if that's attributed to the new scheme, the weather or talent issues. Rettig's rough numbers left some people wondering about the QB position battle. Spaz quelled that after the game by reinforcing that Rettig will be the starter next year. I remain in the Rettig fan club. This was just a glorified scrimmage. We've seen Chase execute against ACC defenses. How he does in an empty Alumni in March means very little.

There's nothing to read into the defense. Injuries and roster depth forced Spaz to put all sorts of raw or random guys on the field as the game progressed.

The Heights took lots of pictures. Check out their shots. You'll notice lots of empty seats.

Ultimately the Spring Game is about getting ready for next year. I hope BC's marketing arm use next year's Spring Game to see how they can grow the fanbase. Leaving the game to die in March doesn't do much for anyone.

Getting to know Bordner and other links

Chase Rettig gets all the attention, but from all accounts it looks like the other early enrollee, Josh Bordner, will get a chance to compete for the job. In this good Q&A Bordner talks about the transition to college and his expectations.

The Heights did some good work tracking down Skinner's last hoops recruits. I understand their hesitations, but Noreen would be foolish not to come to BC. He should be perfect for The Don's offense.

The overrated/underrated link from the comments section caught ESPN's attention.

Media push for GameDay and other links

Here is Mark's message to BC fans. If you are going to the game, please show up in "gold" and buy one of the beat cancer shirts (if you can find one).

Mark's been out in front of the media sharing the positive results of his MRI. His interview with Scott Van Pelt made big news.

This will put a damper on your day -- check out how Tranq's offenses have fared against Mickey Andrews' defenses.

As for news on the team...Shinskie is stepping up, LeGrande is back and Kuechly is now playing

Josh Bordner is excited about potentially coming to BC early.

The ACC updated the TV schedule for basketball.

Scott Gomez is glad to have Brian Gionta in Montreal.

The Hokies fundraiser for Herzy exceeded expectations.

The analysts up north think part of Quinton Porter's struggles are due to overthinking.

QBs of the future and other links

Scout continues to improve its BC coverage this time with pieces on our two incoming QBs Josh Bordner and Chase Rettig. With two incoming and four QBs on the roster, I imagine we'll see some more position changes in January.

Wes Davis is the latest guy to sing the praises of Bowman.

Give credit where it is due: Blaudschun is finally treating his blog like a blog and not just a place to put drafts of his Globe stories.

HD admits she might have overlooked a few BC players in her rankings.

Another ACC forecast that has BC at 10 in the conference. I know Rice was a good player, but did these guys not see the other players step up at different moments? What other team has as much returning talent?

If Vitale is saying BC belongs back in the Big East then you know some conference higher ups are actively pushing this agenda. I don't get the media push though. What are they hoping to accomplish? Gene is not looking back. Are they setting the stage for Gene's successor to open talks? Are they hoping BC fans and alumni put pressure on BC to go back? It seems like a lot of wasted effort. (Thanks to Mike for the link.)

As we transition away from a strict zone blocking scheme to more of a hybrid it is interesting to read this recap of the Chow-Carroll issues at USC earlier this decade. Carroll was the one who forced Chow to zone.

Rettig is an Eagle

Finally some good news on the QB front as Chase Rettig committed to BC. Like Boisture I expect other schools to keep recruiting him, but he has decent offers now and still wanted to come to BC. That is a good sign. Below are some links and video.

-- ESPN Scouting Report

-- ChaseRettig.com

USC Camp: Chase Rettig @ Rivals Video

Two steps forward, two steps back: Boisture to MSU

Any question as to why we went so hard after Josh Bordner was answered today when Joe Boisture confirmed that he dropped BC and will play for Michigan State. This rumor had been floating for a few days. Toss it up to the fickle nature of high school kids. This happened under TOB. It happened under Jags and will happen to Spaz in the future.

I don't think anyone in the football offices cares about my opinion, but Boisture is a reminder that you have to sell BC for what it is. You cannot sell the coach or the depth chart. Those things might work but they can get kids to your school for the wrong reasons. You have to sell the total package at BC and spend that much more time IDing the right kids for the program. Best of luck to Boisture. I am fine with Bordner.

Providence news (via Twitter) and other links

No official word from BC or Providence, but PC coach Keno Davis announced via his Twitter page that BC and Providence had signed a contract for a 10-year series between the two schools. Great new all around. The Providence game adds some consistent strength to our non-conference schedule and it continues one of the most important basketball rivalries the school has. Let's hope that in addition to continuing the series, BC puts some added emphasis around that game so that our newer and younger fans realize the rich history between the schools and get excited about the game. (Thanks to BC All Access for the link to Davis.)

New QB commit Josh Bordner didn't take long to act on BC's offer.

More on York and Parker Special Achievement Awards from the New England Sports Sports Museum.

Another QB joins the fold

A few weeks ago we didn't have enough QBs. Now -- dare I say -- we have too many. BC just received a commitment from another high school QB. Like Boisture, Josh Bordner, is a big, pro-style QB. However, he could end up in another position before his career is over. Regardless, I am all for the "see what sticks" philosophy. Spaz needs to find a solution, so give everyone a shot. The only downside to that strategy is you risk losing the one guy you really want. But at this point, that is a risk worth taking.