Scrimmage providing some answers

BC held its first scrimmage of the summer Saturday. Media attended so there are reports leaking out and plenty of good news. Right now -- despite what Addazio is saying -- Towles is the starting QB. He took all the first team snaps. This follows a week where he took the vast majority of snaps in practice. BCI's Hoffses says he looked good, so barring some sudden downturn in play, I think he will be named the starter.

Addazio seems happy with Wade too. All the running backs looked good. Let's hope the OLine can give them some holes. According to Hoffses, this is the group that started up front: LT-Schmal, LG-Cashman, C-Baker, RG-Lindstrom, RT-Lowery. I don't think that mix is as solid as Towles. Expect Addazio to keep tweaking the mix until they look good.

The interesting development on the Defensive side is the use of more zone. How much of that is Reid or Addazio or simply talent, I don't know. But the DBs remain really talented. Now that we finally have guys that can run with anyone, I would hate to play less man coverage. Addazio explains it that we can play more zone because he expects the front four to generate more pressure. I still have trust in Reid based purely on how aggressive he was in his first stint at BC.

What we learned from the final scrimmage

BC held its final scrimmage of the preseason and it appears that the offense looked a little better. Here's BC's recap, the Herald's recap and Rivals' recap. The best news was that Wade looked a little sharper and Flutie had his best scrimmage yet. Adddazio seemed pleased in his post scrimmage quotes. Other news:

-- Alex Howell will be BC's kicker and punter. Howell has been the best of the bunch and only missed one field goal. As nice as it would be to have a sure-shot long-range kicker, all we really need from Howell is consistency. If Addazio knows his range, then they can play call around him.

-- Harris Williams still didn't play, but did practice with the first team. Without him the starting OLine was Bowen, Baker, Taylor, Lindstrom, and Cashman. The whole thing could be shuffled when Williams is ready.

-- Robinson's transition to WR is going well. He had a few big plays in the scrimmage. That's a good sign since many of our experienced WRs are dealing with nagging injuries.

While I don't take anything lightly, I do think BC's schedule lends itself to growing pains. If the offense just keeps getting better, the defense should be able to carry them the first two weeks.

Half full or Half empty after second scrimmage?

This is what SI's Pete Thamel had to say after watching BC's second scrimmage:

Went to BC's scrimmage this am. The defense will be one of the best in the ACC, and DE Harold Landry should be a breakout star.

— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) August 22, 2015

If Thamel is correct, BC will exceed most experts' expectations. But any honest fan also has to ask: is the Defense great or is the green Offense making the D look better?

Addazio spoke to the media after the scrimmage and fell somewhere in between. He's concerned about the mistakes on offense (penalties, missed blocks, turnovers, etc), but he also admits the Defense is bringing lots of pressure.

My biggest concern based on the posted observations are the issues on the Offensive Line. If they can't play well, the whole season falls apart.

I feel like I jinxed things with my earlier post on injuries. Glines hurt his collarbone Friday and is out for at least six weeks. There are also concerns and rumors about a few other Offensive players, but BC has yet to update their situations.

The bright spot seems to be backup QB Jeff Smith. Wade remains in the driver seat, but Smith is playing well enough to get the No. 2 spot.

Reading into the First Scrimmage

Eric Hoffses and BC both put up recaps (EH's and BC's) of Saturday's first scrimmage. As always this time of year, it seems like the Defense is ahead of the Offense.

Despite the talk, the QB position is settled. Wade took all of the 70 first-team snaps. Even BC's own reporting and Addazio's quotes say that he was a little off Saturday. Feeling and adjusting to pressure was an issue. As for the backups, Flutie was inaccurate and Smith seemed okay. Robinson only took 12 snaps with the second team.

Everyone seems happy with the running backs. Outlow had the biggest impact. Promising freshman OL Lindstrom played on the right side and opened some good holes. Hoffses also noted Glines' nice catches.

The D put plenty of pressure on. Landry made the most noise and that's a good sign. We need him to bring more pressure this year. Brown's D losses its effectiveness if there isn't pressure on the QB.

I am still concerned about how raw our QBs are, but if the other areas of the team make up the difference, we can be okay. Addazio pointed out that there is a long way to go and plenty of practices ahead. The biggest thing to follow is how Wade adjusts week to week.

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.

Ignoring the first scrimmage

BC held its first scrimmage of the preseason Saturday. The offense looked shaky at first, some key players sat out and some random players stepped up. In other words, it was the same first scrimmage we've been having since forever. At this point I won't worry. If the offense looks as bad by the fourth scrimmage, then I will worry.  Meter, Blauds and the Herald all provided coverage.

Last scrimmage and other links

BC played its final scrimmage. The big takeaway is that the QBs are pretty even. Despite the parity it still looks like Shinskie's job. My guess is that they will both play against Weber State and Kent State. From there it will be Shinskie's job until/if he starts regressing again.

The other news -- first reported by WZBC -- was that Herzy might practice this weekend. If he is on the field this Saturday, he will likely play in the home opener.

Gene gave Christopher Iacoi and David Ayer internal promotions.

HD is now on the BC under the radar bandwagon. She is wrong though about an undefeated BC team getting left out of the National Championship. The Harris and coaches poll voters would be enough to over come any sort of computer poll issue. The only way we don't get in is if there are multiple undefeated teams.

Future Eagle Christian Suntrup is considered one of the top pro-style passers in the country.

NJ WR Anthony Gaffney loves BC. It sounds like he would commit if offered.

Castonzo is a nominee for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

Cherilus is fighting to hold onto his starting position in Detroit.

Weber State is ready for the opener and doesn't seem bothered by all the hype surrounding BC's opener and Herzy's return.

Scrimmage notes and other links

Wednesday night was the team's second scrimmage. WZBC's blog and the Heights had good coverage both from Adam Rose. I always caution into reading too much into this stuff, but the good news was Nate Freese went three for three on field-goal attempts. Maybe we will finally have a kicking threat. The QBs also played well -- completing a high percentage of passes. The biggest area for concern -- Center. New Center Nate Richman sat out and was replaced by Mark Spinney who struggled with some exchanges. I think our line is very good but doesn't have the great depth we've had in some years. If Richman's injury lingers I wouldn't be surprised to see Claiborne move to center. This is bceagles.com's recap of the scrimmage.

Former Eagle Stephen Boyd was honored by his hometown.

Here is a nice feature on Herzy from this past weekend on Philly.com. The Herald News thinks Herzy is the key to the season.

The BC Women's Soccer team is entering the season as one of the top teams in the country.

BC continues to get the jump on recruiting future QBs.

Xaverian star Joe Colton has an offer from Duke but would like to go to BC.

Scrimmage, media day and more

Since TOB left there has been one pattern to our summer scrimmages -- the defense dominates. Even with Matt Ryan, the D got out early and brought a lot of pressure. Part of it was talent and part was design. The idea was to test the offense early so that they could progress and learn. With that in mind, I think the early results of our first scrimmage were encouraging. Shinskie and Marscovetra both put up solid numbers as did potential RB threat Andre Lawrence.

Friday was Media Day. This year there was obviously added interest because of the Herzlich storyline, but the event is usually a low key affair. What I find interesting are the little details, like this notebook that talks about how Harris' backups are developing. The mix of players is always a bit telling too as they put the seniors and they guys the coaches have high expectations for at the tables.

ESPNBoston was at media day too and filed this article on Castonzo. Let's hope they have consistent and meaningful BC coverage this year.

Captain Alex Albright was pretty candid at Media Day talking about Herzlich.

WZBC has stepped up their coverage of Media Day too.

Shinskie's comfort level remains an ongoing theme within the media. Yet HD still remains somewhat skeptical.

The Hockey team will be honored at the White House.

Although he sounds like he wants to stay out west, BC is recruiting Chase Rettig's younger brother.

Rivals thinks we have one of the better Olines in the country.

Here is the Montel Harris video from the most recent episode of Saturday's in the South.

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.

Scrimmage and Media Day roundup

Crane seems pretty at ease about replacing Ryan. [EDITED: the embedded code was not working. Go to the NESN page to view.]

Here is the ACC's preview of BC. It includes links to video packages on the team.

With the Globe's coverage being so inconsistent this summer, we're fortunate bceagles.com has somewhat filled the gaps. This is their coverage of the scrimmage and their summary of the Media Day.

In addition to the usual outlets, some other local media also showed up for Media Day, including the Patriot-Ledger.

The consesus among the regular media members was that the defense looked better in the scrimmage. (Herald's notebook and the Globe's feature.)

Young guys are making an impression in camp. Nathan Richman is standing out amongst the redshirt freshmen linemen. Haden is playing like a vet. Although not featured in a particular article, Max Holloway is also getting good reviews.

As for future Eagles, it is looking like Arthur Fontaine is a lost cause (here and here).