BC Football Spring Game Preview

Some light reading as we all eagerly await puck drop tonight.

In what will hopefully be one long tailgate for a coronation later that evening, Boston College Maroon will take on Boston College Gold in the annual Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game Saturday at noon.

Don’t expect to see any scoring in this game. O’Brien parried the notion of arbitrary points and scrambled teams. This will be simple offense vs defense, a very competitive practice — more akin to the Saturday scrimmages they’ve been having throughout spring ball. Still, he says, you’ll see live tackling and hear the music blasting in an all around lively Alumni Stadium atmosphere.

O’Brien will be mic’d up and you’ll have a chance to see up close and personal how he conducts practice. He’ll announce the drills and explain what the team is trying to accomplish along the way. This will be a “fun, competitive game” that will serve as a first real reflection of what to expect in the new era of Eagles football come the fall.

There’s been a whole lot of positivity around the program as spring practices have been underway these past few weeks. Familiar faces have been making the rounds at Chestnut Hill to greet new coach Bill O’Brien. The Matts Ryan and Hasselbeck of course, Gosder Cherilus, Brian Hoyer now that he’s probably out of NFL eligibility, Ernie Adams, and even Celtics coach Joe Mazzula have all made guest appearances to help put the program back on the map. From the sound of it, Fish Fieldhouse has been packed with all these folks and of course recruits soaking it all in.

Here’s the full of schedule of events:

9:00 AM FanFest

10:00AM Youth Football Camp

11:15 AM Team Warm-Ups

12:00 PM Kickoff

And a little bit of a tease . . .

Some other general news and notes while we’re here to start getting us back up to speed:

• We’ve heard good things about the guys up front in George Rooks, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and Neto Okpala. After a quiet 2023, the staff will be keen on making strides across the line.
• 10 transfers and two early enrollees join the fold making 94 players in total: WR Jerand Bradley, (TT), DB Ryan Turner (OSU), RB Jordan McDonald (UCF), RB-KR Treshaun Ward (K-State) are a few of the key contributors
• Wide Receiver Jaedn Skeete, along with Bradley have been making some big catches.
• Thomas Castellanos has continued to show good leadership and be the gamer he is
• Coach O’Brien has called out the team’s conditioning a few times. It seemed to be a sticking point that he’ll look to have his staff focus on as the summer rolls on. He’s been very happy with the general energy and focus the players have shown though
• On the coaching front, Matt Applebaum returns on the offensive line, as do Savon Huggins (RBs), Darrell Wyatt (Associate HC, WRs), Jonathan DiBiaso (QBs) and Matt Thurin (Special Teams). The remainder of the staff is a mix of coaches with plenty of experience and others who O’Brien has worked with along the way

After 14 hard practices, show out and support our guys or tune in on ACC Network. Let’s go BC.