What to look for in the 2nd Scrimmage

BC takes the field Saturday for another scrimmage. This one will be less predictable. The Offense usually starts slow in the first scrimmage. Now we expect progress. And we also hope no one gets hurt. Here are a few things to follow:

1. Does Wade get all the first team snaps again
You can say the competition is open, but as long as one guy gets all the snaps nothing is open. I want Wade to get as much practice as we can, but the other guys should get at least a series with the first team. We need to see what they can do just in case something happens to Wade.

2. Get through without injuries
Notre Dame was just the latest program to lose a starter during practice. BC has been lucky so far and treating injured players with kid gloves. Let's hope everyone gets through Saturday in one piece.

3. Better kicking
BC didn't focus on the kicking in their press release for the first scrimmage...and with good reason. Our Achilles' Heel remains an issue until someone kicks with consistency.

Practice officially begins and other links

Renovations to the locker room are complete and the #BCEagles are here. The 2015 @BCFootballNews season has started! pic.twitter.com/kHnY4d0H9s

— BC Athletics (@BCSportsNews) August 9, 2015

The team, coaches (and fans) all seem excited about the start of practices. The guys have been working together all summer, but now the coaches can get involved. We all know the priorities: OLine, QB and getting the young guys ready.

The school also unveiled the renovated locker room.

New Eagle Jake Burt got attention form his hometown paper.

Olivier Hanlan signed with with Lithuanian team Zalgiris. After a very disappointing Summer League, this seemed inevitable. Let's hope he developes in Europe and didn't waste his final year of eligibility.

Watch lists don't mean much

Every day a different BC player seems to end up on a new preseason watch list. Let me now give a blanket congratulations to all of them and more importantly a congrats to BC Sports Information for getting the players on the list. However, it all means nothing.

These preseason lists are so big and so sprawling there is not much true selectivity to it all. Plus even just getting on the voters' radar doesn't mean all that much. It is all about playing, stats and peaking at the right time. As Stewart Mandel pointed out in his recent mailbag, you don't have to be on the list to win the final award. For some awards nominations are open into October.

Andre Williams won all the big running back awards, including the Walker. He started the season on the Walker Watch list, but it was the 200-yard game after 200-yard game that won the award. It was the same with his Heisman invite. He worked his way into the finals. He put up huge number, the right amount of highlights and peaked at the right time. The list didn't sway voters.

I hope we win all the awards this year because if we do, it will be about having a great season, not a well-marketed offseason.

Key Players for 2012: Ian White

This is a series on the key players for the 2012 season. Big things are expected for some, while others will need to improve over their previous performances. If 2012 is a good year, it will be in part due to the key players overachieving.

Junior Center, Ian White

What he's been: The redshirt JR has played a lot and almost all of it at guard. What's been frustrating is that White would be very, very good in some games and then off in others. Because he is playing primarily inside, the issues usually involve getting overpowered by bigger DTs. Like most of the olinemen the past few years, White's flashed moments of greatness but lacked consistency.

What he needs to be: In my opinion the offensive line play really started falling apart after Matt Tennant left. I think Centers are underappreciated...at times even by their own coaches. It seems like the Spaz/Devine MO was to put the best five on the field regardless of positional fit and not to worry about rejiggering the lineup. The way the staff yo-yo'd Mark Spinney and others at Center the past two years hurt our consistency. And it impacts the QB position too. White's new to the role, so this could lead to more chaos. I hope not. We need him to be good from Day 1. He needs to set the tone for the OL and communicate with Rettig. Other players are important, but White -- or whoever starts at Center -- will be the keystone to the offense.

Why I like his chances to shine: Like Cleary, I think White is one of those guys who would have thrived under old BC regimes. He's been smart and tough from the minute he was eligible to play. He might not be as powerful as needed, but now as a redshirt JR, he should be fully matured. Plus playing Center doesn't require as much power and is more reliant on smarts and quickness.

I don't know if White will be our starting Center for Miami or even later into the season. Under Devine positions and the depth chart were constantly being tweaked. I pray things are different with Bollman. Let White learned to be a Center. He has a chance to be a great one.

Key Players for 2012: Jim Noel

This is a series on the key players for the 2012 season. Big things are expected for some, while others will need to improve over their previous performances. If 2012 is a good year, it will be in part due to the key players overachieving.

Senior Safety, Jim Noel

What he's been: A contributor since day one, Noel has grown from back up to fill in starter, to a full time starter over three years. While primarily a safety, BC has also used him at corner. He missed a good portion of 2011, leaving our already depleted secondary without an impact player. Noel has never been a big hitter or ballhawk, but he's been good in coverage and done what's been asked.

What he needs to be: Noel needs to take over. Our defense is at its best when we have safeties with great anticipation. If you design your defense to exploit QB mistakes, you need a smart and athletic Safety to be in the right place at the right time. One of the reasons we struggled ending drives last year and giving up big plays to teams like Central Florida was because our safeties just couldn't make plays. Noel was doing his best filling in at Corner, while Syvlia, Hughes and Rositano kept getting burned. Hopefully Noel can focus on one area this year, stay healthy and have a big season.

Why I like his chances to shine: Look back on the interceptions Noel has made. They are often really great athletic plays. Few are gimmes that just landed in his hand. If he can be that great for 12 games and get even a little help from his other safeties, he will have a big year.

Last season BC only had 13 interceptions. It was our lowest output since the TOB years. If Noel can help end a few drives with big takeaways, BC could be a strong defensive team again.

Rettig impresses at 1st scrimmage

Regardless of the QB, BC's preseason scrimmages have a set pattern. The offense struggles and we assume that the defense is just really good again. So when the offense excels in their first scrimmage, I think it gets everyone's attention.

Everyone raved about Rettig. The feedback said he was accurate and seemed to have a good feel for the new playbook. The offensive line also showed improvement. Supposedly we used a lot of misdirection. If you want some good recaps, check out BCHysteria and Eric Hoffses.

Season previews and other links

I found Pre-snap Read's profile of BC refreshing. The best part was their candid look at our offense:

...take note of one of the most puzzling, frustrating, impotent offensive attacks in the country: 109th in total offense, 97th in passing, 90th in rushing – despite having the nation’s 23rd-leading rusher – and 109th in scoring. This was an offense that gained more than 400 yards of offense only once, that passed for more than 200 yards only four times, that was skunked by Virginia Tech, that scored 13 points against Notre Dame and managed only 185 yards of offense in a bowl loss to Nevada, a team not known – and this is being kind – for being intimidating defensively.

Pre-Snap also thinks Spaz's seat could get hot if we struggle.

This preview post looks at our consistency and wonders what will happen to Spaz if we slip this year.

Add Donnie Fletcher to the list of players that HD likes.

BCI held a Q&A with a UMass blog.

Former Eagle Dan Mulrooney is continuing his football career at Stony Brook.

BC is not the only private school trying new ideas in an effort to spark lagging ticket sales.

Is anyone surprised that BC is included among the schools that Brooks Brothers selected for their special themed line?

Reading too much into the first scrimmage

The first scrimmage shouldn't mean much, but Spaz raised expectations a bit by saying that whoever stood out would be the No. 1 quarterback. Of course, no one stood out. So what does it all mean?

-- If you go by the scrimmage results, Boek and Marscovetra had the better night. Both have been good so far this summer too. Yet neither moved the ball much. Tuggle and Shinskie are still clearly in the discussion. Nothing has been determined.

-- The defense is going to be good this year. I know I've just started my previews, but I believe the D will be very good this year and tonight was the another sign of hope. If you remember the D dominated in the scrimmages last year and continued that dominance once the season started.
-- Some of the young talent is ready to step up. In past scrimmages you would see random names pop up and then disappear and never to be heard from again. Yet some of Saturday's names -- like Johnson and Holloway -- have been whispered about enough that you can start predicting big things.