Clemson fans unhappy about Friday game and other links

Friday night high school football is a big deal in many parts of the country. So as College Football expands into Fridays, some high schools are worried about their own attendance. The only silver lining for Clemson area high schools is that Clemson's Friday game is at BC. That means Clemson game day traffic won't impact their games.

This is sort of a blast from the past...with Tampa promoting Dirk Koetter to head coach, the media decided to retrace some of his steps and interviewed Dan Henning about his former pupil. Reading the piece you can see why Henning was doomed at BC. He's a great play caller, but not a manager.

Tyler Murphy signed with the Miami Dolphins. They will be using him as a Wide Receiver.

Addazio talks to the media and and other links

Addazio held his normal Monday press conference. He seemed a little defensive about the criticism of the offensive line. I agree with Daz that there was some good line play. It just wasn't as consistent as we need. He also thinks that Thadd Smith has real upside.

BC alums Matt Ryan and Luke Kuechly sell a lot of NFL jerseys.

Women's Soccer lost to St. John's.

NFL rosters are still being tweaked, but there is still good news for former Eagles. Tyler Murphy is on the Steelers' roster Brian Mihalik and Chris Pantale made the Eagles practice squad.

Both Men's and Women's Golf had decent starts to their seasons. The men finished 5th at Turning Stone. The women were fourth at the Red Bird Invitational.

Murphy's role changing in Pittsburgh and other links

Despite getting snaps earlier in the season at QB, Tyler Murphy seems like he's headed to WR.

BC is still in the mix for BABC forward Kevin Marfo. He's the type of local recruit Christian needs to change perception among the local AAUs.

The Women's Basketball team is on a European Tour. These trips are good for building comradery and evaluating the team's depth.

Steelers giving Murphy shot at QB and other links

Tyler Murphy may be a QB after all. The Steelers had him under center and throwing passes this week in their OTAs. While still unlikely to make the 53 man roster as a QB, Murphy's rotation at QB may earn him a practice squad spot. Now he gets to throw passes to Shakim Phillips again.

As expected Chris Shaw signed with the Giants and will forego his remaining eligibility. Best of luck to him and hopefully we will see him in the majors soon.

Ethan Tucky sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders.

Phil Steele's ACC team and other links

Phil Steele doesn't think much of BC's current top-level talent. Only three players made his preseason All ACC Team. Steele named Wujciak 2nd team Defense, Hilliman made 4th team Offense and Willis made 2nd team Special Teams. Steele is one of the better experts, but this doesn't mean BC guys won't break out this year. In fact, I think a few of the new OLine guys will be in the mix for All ACC teams.

Future BC QB Anthony Brown made a big impression at the Nike Camp in Ohio.

Being a former QB is helping Tyler Murphy's adjustment in Pittsburgh.

Other Eagles sign NFL deals

The NFL Draft is not the only way to get on an NFL team. Depending on the situation, signing as an undrafted free agent has its advantages. The player is just as much of a long-shot as a late rounder, yet has a little more control over where he goes. He and his agent can pick a spot or team that has real need. Many Eagles in the past few years have picked up Super Bowl rings by signing with the right team as a free agent (Herzy!). Here are the guys who didn't hear their names called over the weekend but still have a chance to make a team:

• Tyler Murphy -- signed with the Steelers. He will be part of their mini-camp and is listed as a WR. He has to show potential early for them to invest time in his transition from QB. 
• Josh Keyes -- signed with Tampa Bay. He seems like a good fit for Smith's 4-3, Cover 2 scheme. He can cover a lot of ground and has good speed. 
• Manny Asprilla -- signed with the Chargers. San Diego brought in 21 undrafted free agents. That seems like a shotgun approach. I don't love Asprilla's chances, but I am glad he'll get a shot.
• Bobby Vardaro -- signed with the Vikings. Their Fanside site considers him a potential backup.

Pro Day speaks to past recruiting and current development

24 NFL teams sent representatives to BC's annual Pro Day. Considering we lack any true first day draft picks, that sort of turnout is impressive. Of the potential draftees, Andy Gallik probably generated the most attention, but there weren't 24 teams there to see just him. This Pro Day was about the diamonds in the rough that helped lead the resurrection of BC football under Addazio.

The lack of elite NFL talent mostly falls back to Spaz's recruiting. Most of the guys that worked out today developed under Addazio. Outside of Gallik I would think that Asprilla, Betanourt, Keyes, Mihalik, Phillips, Silberman, Vardaro, and White all have a chance to be late round picks or undrafted free agents. None of those guys were dominant players while at BC, but I think Addazio and Co. have done good job the past two years of developing players. I think NFL teams respect what he's done and his assessments of his own players. One of those 24 teams is going to find a contributor from today.

The most interesting case will be Tyler Murphy. He threw as a QB (see the video below) but I have a hard time believing any team will give him a real shot there. He just didn't show enough as a passer for a team to use a draft pick on him. But he also showed he is a great athlete and great open field runner. I think he could be a very good NFL WR or even a 3rd RB.

@bceaglesfootball QB Tyler Murphy shows off his arm at #BCProDay

A video posted by Boston College Athletics (@bcathletics) on Mar 18, 2015 at 2:53pm PDT

Murphy dinged and other links

We all worried as Tyler Murphy limped to the goal line on his 4th quarter TD run. He's been gimpy at other times this season too. Addazio is admitting to a "thigh bruise." So far there are no indications he won't be ready to run against Louisville.

Wednesday night's hockey game with UConn is not a big deal from a regular season standpoint. However, it is a big deal for UConn hockey and former BC assistant Mike Cavanaugh. When York retires Cavanaugh will obviously be a candidate to replace him. A lot depends on how he does in Connecticut.

The Cousy Award added Hanlan to their watch list. BC will have to win a lot of games for Hanlan to win national awards, but I do think he can make first team All ACC.

Bates had the best seat in the house

Sometimes when you score a TD, you're greeted by fans or teammates. On Tyler Murphy's final TD drive, he ran right into BC AD Brad Bates. Not a bad way to end the day for either guy.

Thanks to Mod34b for the GIF.

One dimensional and loving it

Gimmick offenses or offenses that can't run and pass don't win championships (see Georgia Tech or Mike Leach's various iterations). However, a unique offense can help a limited team win way above its talent level (like Navy seems to do). Longterm, Addazio talks of mixing Stanford's power with Urban Meyer's spread. How and when he gets there with his recruiting and scheme is unknown. But for now we are a nearly run only team and it definitely has its advantages.

Last year Addazio played to his roster and his strengths. He was not shy about giving Andre Williams the ball and sending him out there behind six offensive linemen and two tight ends. Predictably whenever BC lined up like that the other team would crowd the box to stop Andre. With a crowded box BC would see plenty of Williams' runs that resulted in no gains. However, once or twice a game Williams would break free and take off for a huge gain. While BC experimented a bit in the first two games with formations and featured runners, it is now clear we are still at our best going big and our best runner is Tyler Murphy. And Saturday night we saw the return of my favorite type of play -- the big run when the other team crowds the box. Take a look at this GIF from Bostinno. USC has nine guys close to the line and only their corners playing off. BC blocks well, two guys bite on the hand off to Hilliman, Murphy makes one guy miss and he's gone. Game over.

This is not ideal and some teams will adjust. But for now, playing a gimmick offense is BC's best way to be competitive. Addazio wants explosive plays but we only have a few explosive players. Giving them good blocking and one guy to beat will be explosive and fun to watch.

Ranking the most critical players

When Braxton Miller went down earlier in the week, I tweeted about BC's good fortune in missing the injury bug this summer. Of course this sort of mocking of the football gods will come back to bite me (and BC) and leave the roster decimated. But of all these hypothetical injuries which one would be the most serious? For example a injury to Tyler Murphy would be a bigger deal than an injury to Myles Willis. Not because Murphy is a better player, but because Willis' position is one of the few where we have depth. It is all subjective but here is my ranking of the most critical players for the 2014 season. Leave your thoughts or rebuttals below.

1. Tyler Murphy. Although he has never thrown a pass for BC, he's the starting QB in a QB dependent system and the only QB on the roster with any experience. If he gets hurt, we are forced to rollout a true, raw freshman.
2. Shakim Phillips. Assuming Swigert is not going to be 100% to start the season, Phillips might be our only experienced WR. We are going to run a lot, but we need a capable WR to be a threat or else we will face stacked defenses all season.
3. Steven Daniels. The fact that he is in a position battle may indicate that we are deeper at LB than expected, but Daniels remains the most experienced and productive linebacker in a linebacker dependent system.
4. Myles Willis. Willis won't approach Andre Williams' carries, but he is our most explosive offensive player. I expect him to be a critical part of the passing offense too.
5. Andy Gallik. Most of our OLine could and have played multiple positions on the offensive line. The nuances of Center are a little more tricky, making Gallik harder to replace. He's also expected to be our best OLineman too.

The realities of the new season

BC began practice Monday. I am excited and it seems like the players and coaches are. I am also optimistic, however, that optimism is tempered by BC's key issues: depth and experience. The biggest news related to depth is the departure of James Walsh. He was hardly the linchpin of the season, but his transfer means BC enters the season with just three scholarship QBs in Murphy, Wade and Flutie. Walsh never showed that he could lead a ACC winning team, but I hoped that he would stick around and alleviate the need for Wade to play this year. Now any chance of Wade redshirting is gone. Flutie also had the chance to contribute as a WR. Now he probably needs to focused solely on QB. The team will live or die with Murphy, so pray that he stays healthy.

BC's own twitter recap captured how many new faces are around. Like Addazio, I am not worried about the new faces. While not experienced overall, we do have plenty of experience on the Offensive Line. Those guys can cover a lot of mistakes and issues and get BC through our rough games. The area where lack of depth and experience is most glaring is WR. But once again, Addazio feels good about those guys. They might not be fast or proven, but at least they will be big.

The Coach admitted that you can't learn much from this sort of opener. It is all about gradual improvement. BC will hold some scrimmages in the coming weeks as they prepare for UMass.

The reality for all of us is that we don't know what to expect. For so long we were a predictable program. Now we're not and considering it is only the first day of Year 2, I don't think that is a problem.

Getting a look at Tyler Murphy

Considering how dependent we are on him this season, we really don't know much about Tyler Murphy. The Spring Game and his stats tell a bit of the story, but did many BC fans watch much Florida Football last year? Fortunately there are a few Youtube clips that provide a little more insight into Murphy's abilities and his experience in game situations. Obviously Florida ran a different offense from BC's and he was surrounded by different players, but the few glimpses are encouraging. Murphy can certainly create and make something out of nothing. He's also shown that given time, he can make pocket passes. Take a look at this series.

This is his first TD.

As you can see, his first instinct is to run. 

This one is not exclusively focused on Murphy, but in it you get to see him throw from the pocket and run.

Here is another set that is not exclusively Murphy but includes more passes.

Does a couple of games in the SEC mean that Murphy will hit the ground running this Fall? Unlikely. But that limited experience is still valuable. He's used to the speed and different defensive looks. Plus Murphy showed that his basics are strong enough to execute our offense. He can throw and he can run. Let's hope he does a lot this season for BC.

Predicting Murphy's impact and other links

Transfer QBs are fairly commonplace in college football these days. If the depth chart gets too crowded or the coaching staff changes, QBs look for better fits. A transfer QB is my biggest reason for optimism this season, yet Murphy is only considered the 6th most important transfer QB.

Like Soaring to Glory, I expect a bounce back year from Sean Duggan. He showed flashes his first two years, but was a non-factor last season.

Al Louis-Jean signed a three-year rookie deal with the Bears. Who would have thought he'd get this far in the process?

Incoming Women's Basketball transfer Kailey Edwards originally committed to Erik Johnson when he was still at Denver. Edwards will have to sit out the 2014-15 season.

Sailing placed 4th at the APS National Championship Team Race.

Spring Game thoughts

We've learned over the years that Spring Games are not good indicators of the season ahead. Yet after not holding a game last year, it was nice to have the tradition back. The best part of the game for me was seeing Tyler Murphy for the first time. He seemed very comfortable and confident in the offense. He also showed nice touch. Based on his snaps and reporting, it seems like Murphy will be the starter this fall.

The Offensive Line didn't seem as crisp. Addazio attributed it to depth issues and how these types of games wear on the unit. 

The other new QB Darius Wade wasn't as sharp, but his potential was obvious. He's only listed as 6'2 but looked bigger among his teammates. He also showed his arm strength. 

As for familiar names, Myles Willis didn't miss a step. If anything, Willis also looks bigger and ready to be BC's lead back.

BC posted a photo gallery of the day and also still has a link up to the game. 

Goals for Spring Ball

BC's official spring practices begin Friday. In a way this year's spring session is more important than last year. In 2013 Addazio was installing a system, but he was also taking over a veteran team and expectations were extremely low. Now he's got to prove last year wasn't a fluke and find some new playmakers. Here are the big issues for the next few weeks.

1. Put Wade and Murphy through the ringer. It might not seem fair to ask two guys who have only been on campus for six weeks to step up, but that is Addazio's reality. While he doesn't have to announce a starter, the staff does need a good idea of what each guy is capable of and who gets the most reps in August.

2. Flush out the guys buried on the roster. There are plenty of Spaz recruits who barely got on the field last year. Come summer they will be competing with 30 new players Addazio brought in. If these guys want to play this fall they need to make an impression now. The end result of spring ball should be a few guys who blossom and a few who decide to transfer.

3. Make adjustments on D. Don Brown's squads usually improve from Year 1 to Year 2. Brown not only needs to replace some talent, but he needs to fix the holes from last year. We generated more pressure, but still allowed way too much yardage and scores. Talent and scheme was an issue, but there were plenty of missed tackles and blown assignments. That can start to change now.

4. Make a big deal of the Spring Game. BC cancelled last year's Spring Game in the wake of the Marathon Bombing. It was the right call at the time. Now is Addazio's chance to restart the Spring Game tradition. Spring Games can be a great tool. They can excite the fanbase and draw in recruits. Yet it has always been an afterthought at BC. Addazio seems committed to new traditions and selling the school. Holding an impactful Spring Game is one more tool to changing the culture of BC football.

More on the early enrollees and other links

Early enrollees are nothing new to BC. However, the size of this group and the attention they are getting is different. Murphy and Wade highlight the list but all the new players will be important. As a reminder enrolling midyear benefits the program in two ways. The primary benefit is the ability to go through Spring ball with the team. Although less critical to the on the field performance, midyear guys also count towards last year's recruiting commitments. This means Addazio could exceed the 25 scholarship limit on Signing Day. I don't think he will since I predict he will want to leave space for some mid year players next January.

Now healthy, Lonnie Jackson is playing with much more confidence.

Andrea Adelson wrote a fair recap of the football season.

BC is going hard after 2015 New Jersey Linebacker prospect Jamie Gordinier.

Just what we needed: Murphy enrolls

The best news of the offseason arrived Tuesday as former Florida QB Tyler Murphy enrolled at BC. As a graduate and "5th Year" transfer, Murphy is immediately eligible and will compete with Darius Wade for the starting quarterback job. Murphy brings much needed experience and depth to arguably the most important position on the team. He started six games for an SEC school which is six more starts than anyone on the roster next fall.

Murphy is from Connecticut and knew Addazio well before the coach ever started recruiting him to Florida. Although Addazio won't be able to do it much longer, grabbing these disenchanted Gators is such a win-win. We get depth, credibility with the media and on the recruiting trail, and we get to churn the scholarship after one season. The players get a fresh start in a new place, yet play for a familiar face.

Murphy is more mobile than Rettig, so I expect we will see more designed QB runs. The offense will probably be less Stanford and more Oregon/Urban Meyer (which is what Day and Addazio want long-term). Word through the grapevine is that Murphy was not promised the starting job, just a chance to win it.

With Wade on campus and Walsh ready for Spring Ball, the only real question related to the QB spot is if Josh Bordner will get a 5th year. My guess is that it will be up to him. BC should have enough room and having four QBs is not a bad thing. While unlikely to win the starting job, a 5th year does give Bordner one more season of college football.

Many -- including those around the program -- expected BC to take a step back in 2014 as we replace so much of last season's offense. I don't expect miracles from Murphy or Wade, but I do think we will be competent and exceed expectations again. Addazio showed that he can work a scheme to his roster and with Murphy his roster just got a little bit better.

BC needs to go hard after Tyler Murphy

Monday a little online controversy bubbled up over the status of former Florida QB Tyler Murphy. For those that didn't follow it, despite some frustration and confusion, Murphy is eligible to transfer and play immediately. Given his previous relationship with Addazio, BC is mentioned as one of his potential options. UConn and Louisville are also possible destinations. I don't feel the entire recruiting class nor the 2014 season depends on landing a 5th year transfer, but I do think Addazio needs to pull out all the stops to land Murphy.

Since we are all still riding the euphoric wave of the 2013 season, I don't know if anyone is looking at the reality of the 2014 season. We are losing a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. While the incoming talent is promising, starting an inexperienced QB is high risk. Murphy might not be as experienced as Rettig was this year but he's started more games than any other potential BC starter. He's faced SEC defenses. He's got his degree. He's from Connecticut. I don't think the transition to BC will rattle him. He'll be ready to play. His upside might not be huge, but he's a stable solution.

Even if he doesn't start, BC needs Murphy for depth too. Right now BC only has two definite QBs for the 2014 season: current redshirt James Walsh and incoming freshman Darius Wade. Josh Bordner remains eligible for a 5th year, but there has been no clear indication that he is coming back. All the Spaz QBs are gone or are leaving. Troy Flutie will get a shot at QB, but he's still young and raw. Any or all of these guys could be hurt or struggle. It would be nice to have one more veteran around.

Transfers -- especially 5th years -- also help Addazio bring in talent and balance out the roster.

Even if he never sees the field, Murphy would also serve as a great recruiting tool. Like Patchan, he would be another guy who followed Addazio. When new recruits visit BC, there is no better statement about what it is like to play for Addazio than seeing other players come to BC to play for him again.

Darius Wade is expected to be the future of BC football. I cannot wait to see him on campus. But having Murphy around next year might make things a little less rocky in 2014.