In the two seasons that head coach Steve Addazio has been with Boston College, the Eagles went from winning two games in 2012 to having back-to-back winning seasons, in 2013 and 2014.
In the 2015, the Eagles defense will return eight starters, but they lost many key members of the offense, including offensive coordinator Ryan Day and quarterback Tyler Murphy.
Day has moved on to coach Philadelphia’s quarterbacks in the NFL, so former Eagles’ receivers coach Todd Fitch was promoted to be the new offensive coordinator before the start of spring practice.
Under Fitch, the Eagles will have to learn new schemes while introducing a new quarterback and offensive line.
“We’re breaking in a new offensive line. We’re breaking a new quarterback in and several other key positions, but there’s a lot of young talent,” said Addazio. “So it will all now be about the development and the gelling of that talent together.”
The Eagles will no longer have Murphy who racked up the second most rushing yards out of the quarterbacks in the FBS with 1,184. Murphy’s replacement will be sophomore Darius Wade, who has seen very little action on the field behind Murphy. In his career at Boston College, he has made only eight pass attempts and was 2-for-5 against the Louisville Cardinals last year. Competing for time behind him will be freshman Elijah Robinson and sophomore Troy Flutie (nephew of legendary BC quarterback Doug Flutie).
“Darius came mid-semester last year, so he’s got a full year in here. He’s starting to get a good handle on the offense,” said Addazio. “He throws the ball extremely well. He’s very deceptive. He has outstanding quickness and athletic ability.”
Wade can be expected to throw to top targets Sherman Alston and Charlie Callinan. Alston, a sophomore receiver, played in all 12 games as a true freshman last season where he had 15 receptions for 169 yards and two touchdowns. He also is an efficient runner who recorded 352 rushing yards and two scores on just 34 carries last season.
Callinan, a sophomore, played in all 12 games a year ago and made nine career starts. In his time on the field, he has recorded 149 receiving yards on 13 catches.
The strength of Boston College’s offense, however, lies in the run game. In 2014, the Eagles ranked 14th in the nation and second in the ACC after rushing for 254.7 yards per game. Returning will be sophomore Jon Hilliman who started in six of the 12 games he played in as a true freshman last season. His 712 rushing yards ranked him as second on the team in that category, but he had 860 yards of total offense and 13 touchdowns in his Boston College debut. Joining him in the backfield will be a committee of running backs that includes juniors Tyler Rouse and Myles Willis as well as sophomore Marcus Outlow. Each of these backs has had significant playing time and will compete for time on the field in 2015.
“Our running backs are outstanding,” said Addazio. “Tyler (Rouse) had an outstanding spring,” he continued. “He’s got outstanding hands. So I think you’re going to see a great year out of Tyler.”
Although the running backs are solid, the Eagles will face a major issue when it comes to protecting their backs with the entirely new offensive line. The line has to replace five starters (all of which were fifth-year seniors), and the players who are next in line are mainly freshmen. The Eagles will return six-year senior Harris Williams who is capable of playing guard and center, but many of the key linemen for 2015 are true freshmen.
“We’re going to have to rely on the newcomers, but the good news is we feel like we have an outstanding offensive line coming in here, young players,” said Addazio. “Now, they’re young, and I know, as well as anybody knows what that means, but I think they’re going to be very talented.”
Defensively, the Eagles will need to replace a few key playmakers. The 2015 season will not return defensive end Brian Mihalik, linebacker Josh Keyes, cornerback Manny Asprilla or safety Dominique Williams.
However, Boston College’s defensive line will return five starters from a unit that ranked second in the FBS in rushing yards allowed at 94.5 yards per game. Veteran tackles Truman Gutapfel and Connor Wujciak, and defensive ends Kevin Kavalec and Malachi Moore combined for 29.5 tackles for loss last season.
In the secondary, the Eagles return their leading tackler, senior safety Justin Simmons. In 2014, Simmons started all 12 games and had 70 tackles and two interceptions. Boston College will also return their second best tackler, senior linebacker Steven Daniels. Last season, he recorded 68 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and recovered two fumbles.
“I think defensively we have a lot of players that have played a lot of football. So we were really able to operate an installation on a fast basis,” said Addazio.
The Eagle’s first real test of the season will come in their third game at home against Florida State. Wade and the young members of the offensive line will have two non-conference home games before they have to take on the reigning ACC champions. The inexperienced offense will then face their next major test when they take on Clemson and Louisville in back-to-back road games on Oct. 10 and 17.
“We’re a much more talented team than when I got here two years ago,” said Addazio. “Now, we managed to win seven games in each one of those seasons and get to two bowl games, so you’re hoping that this young talent, which you’re excited about, will mature quick enough to sustain the amount of winning that you’re looking for.”