It all begins at 8:30 tomorrow morning. So, I figured I'd try and predict some team awards for the season and a few final numbers for Morehead, O'Keefe, Garwo and Takacs. Needless to say, we need some real football stuff to talk about.

Lott has been offered by Texas Tech. Would not be surprised to see him decommit…

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Julia Jackson, Jacob Blake's Mother, just gave a more heartfelt, stirring, effective speech than anyone at either convention. Not close. Wonderful job Mrs. Jackson, and may your son somehow have a speedy and full recovery.

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Hey at least it’s not Bryant!

Ever to Excel! #Eagles

After Justin did his I figured I'd take a swing at it with practice starting this week. I'm assuming this'll get ugly. Can't wait.

Given that Kinsler's brother is at Miami and Walker is committed to Michigan it seems like Rayshon Anderson now at Avon Old Farms is the most significant recent offer....

With Haf. I am guessing there will be others on here that will check it out. I will be the one with a True Detective season one scene in the background while dressed up as the Eagle King. Well, that was my plan, but I have to pick up my daughter from the train and will have to have it on in the car. I thought I should post this to maybe generate a little discussion, hopefully. But also because I was pleasantly surprised by the event. I don't donate a whole lot to the NIL but stuff like this definitely should be advertised to people on the fence. If we got one or two every season from the coaches of the big sports, I imagine a lot more people would consider it.

Funeral at Saint Peter's Basilica?

Wondering if there’s anyone in particular you guys are interested in reading about. We’re allowed to ask for specific guys for 1-on-1’s or for pressers, so just curious who you’d want to read about maybe more than others or the “usuals” starting next week

Apparently today after battling cancer.

Tonight has potential to be one of the best cards in MMA history....Gaethje-Poirier is going to be an absolute war, Blachowicz-Pereira has almost as much potential and you've got the Black Beast and El Cucuy fighting down the card. If you don't typically watch the sport I recommend tonight as one of the best intros you'll get.

Wow , just wow .
Anyone else see or hear the highlights ?

Here's all 3,000+ words from ACC Media Day press conference. I guarantee there's absolutely typos in there that I missed, so just ignore them please. Even the most cynical BC fan might have a hard time not getting fired up after some of the Mahogany and Morehead quotes...

Who are Earl Grants starters?

Post 7-0
McGlockton 6-7
Zachery 6-2
Aligbe 6-6
Harris or Hand 6-5 or Payne 6-1 or Kelly 6-5

Analysis: The first four were already starters at the end of last year. Of Harris Hand, Payne and Kelley, I think Payne and Kelley are “gritty not pretty” in the Grant mold but Hand is the pure scorer that the team may need. All that said, Harris is a proven Division One scorer, so he likely starts. Regardless, these are the eight that will likely get the most playing time. The one caveat is the need for another big man. I am not sure that McGlockton can man the middle when Post sits down.

Would love to read the insight offered by someone who has seen the players scrimmage.

Thanks to bigbluerepeat for sending these over yesterday. Really looking forward to getting going next week

Kevin, not sure if you are doing more of these but have a few questions:
1) what will be your access to practices this camp? Just the first 15 mins or so? Will you get to see some scrimmages?
2) Have you guys ever interviewed Coach Rhodes? Hafley raved about him yesterday? Also last season Chudzinski was special assistant to Hafley. This year is Ryan McCarthy and he is also a former head coach. Hearing the players love this guy. Have you guys spoken to him at all? Coaching TE’s With Chudzinski which tells you that position is way more important in this offense. Last two seasons it was a GA Coaching them.
3) what true freshman, if any, may have an impact?
4) Do you think the coaches will rotate then O Lineman, especially early in the season? They now have excellent depth and it was be smart IMO.

Just saw on the BC football website the 2023 roster is posted. No real surprises. A few new walk on names it appears. However I did see Peter Delaportas still on the roster listed as a QB but with a new number 29. He must be making a position change.

BC, Cincinnati, and Kentucky are his top three after his OV to the Heights

Love him or hate him, he's certainly newsworthy. Interesting what he is doing at HBCU Jackson State.

P5 offers will come probably very soon.

Getting that Phil Steele magazine is an annual rite of summer and an important milestone as we move ahead to the season. Whatever you think of the accuracy of his predictions (sometimes overstated in my opinion), there's a ton of information compiled every year and he does have a depth of historical knowledge of the sport that makes his opinions worthwhile when it's so hard to find context in the portal era.

Here are some snippets from Phil's take on BC and of course would recommend that you secure a copy for yourself as a reference.

** BC is 5th in the ACC and 34th in the country in Steele's "experience chart" so it's not one of the younger teams out there and that could be a positive.

** Pat Garwo is listed as the 65th-best draft eligible running back. George Takacs is the 34th-best draft eligible tight end. Kyle Hergel, a transfer, is the 12th-best draft eligible center and he puts Drew Kendall as 24th there. Christian Mahogany is listed as the 13th-best draft eligible guard. Jack Conley is 79th among draft eligible tackles. Donovan Ezeiruaku is the 24th-best draft eligible defensive end. Kam Arnold is the 62nd-best draft eligible OLB. If Phil is right there's limited draft upside for BC in the upcoming draft although Mahogany will certainly be one to watch.

** Steele has Mahogany as a 2nd team All-American at guard.

** In terms of position units in the national rankings Steele has BC with the 64th-best QB situation, the 53rd best RBs, the 52nd-best assortment of pass-catchers (WR/TE), the 46th-ranked offensive line, the 51st-best defensive line, and the 55th-best linebackers.

** Steele has Boston College with the 70th-toughest schedule nationally, which is the weakest in the ACC and ahead of only UCLA from the Power Five level. He says last year's BC schedule turned out to be the 26th toughest so it's a much more manageable slate on paper, he believes.

** In one of his sets of conference power rankings he awards BC 106.37 points, which is ahead of only Virginia (105.02) in the ACC, but within range of VT and Georgia Tech, in the 108 range. It goes all the way up to Florida State (130.17) and Clemson (129.70).

** Steele's national preseason ranking for Boston College is 74th, just behind Houston, Ohio, Syracuse, Cincinnati, WKU and Rutgers, but just ahead of Virginia Tech, Arizona, FAU, Purdue, and Army.

** Offensive stat projections for the 12-game schedule: 130.7 rushing, 227.2 passing, 25.5 PPG.

** Defensive stat projections for the 12-game schedule: 142.2 rushing, 210.6 passing, 26.5 PPG. Comes out to +5.1 YPG and -1.0 PPG.

** Says BC will have the 2nd most improved rushing offense in the country and the 6th-most improved offense by points per game. Also says BC will have the 12th-most improved defense as measured by points per game.

** In the first year without ACC divisions he has Boston College tied for 10th in the league along with Syracuse and Virginia Tech, ahead of Georgia Tech and Virginia.

** In the ACC, here are Steele's position unit rankings for BC: QBs 10th/14, RBs 4th/14, WRs/TEs 9th/14, OL 7th/14, DL 10th/14, LB 8th/14, DB 12th/14, ST 10th/14, coaching 8th/14.

** Mahogany and Ezeiruaku are preseason 1st team ACC picks, WR Ryan O'Keefe and CB Elijah Jones are 2nd team ACC, and nobody is 3rd or 4th team.

** In his BC overview in the league he mentions the Eagles miss Clemson, UNC, and NC State and have a chance at a bowl game. He also lists BC on his most improved teams list.

Clearly believes the offensive line is going to improve a lot but overall the improvement in Steele's mind has more to do with the schedule than certain position units.

Also points out that every defensive lineman is 10+ pounds bigger than last year

We're officially a month from camp. Started position previews today with what I feel might be the most underrated group when talking about this team and possible success, the tight ends

Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley will be interviewed from the ACC Kickoff to lead things off today.

Will be posting updates in this thread. More to follow...

Hafley on ACC Network at 8:15 ...

** Hafley said he can't wait to practice. Mentions Christian Mahogany and says it's good to have the o-line healthy. They have a lot more experience up front this year.

** Asked why he picked the guys to travel with him, he said he's just excited to have Mahogany back on the team because he brings the team's intensity to another level. He could have gone to the NFL Draft and then people tried to poach him left and right "but he stuck with us."

Morehead won the job at the end of last year so deserves to make the trip, and Ezeiruaku stands a good chance to be a draft pick. Maybe some other guys were deserving but this is a deserving trio.

** On ACC Network they show video of Hergel bench pressing 500 pounds. "That's why we went and got him." Jokes that he asked him not to do that to anybody on the team. Says he's very mature, but you get on the field or in that weight room with guys like he and Mahogany, you have a nasty interior. That's what you want at BC on the line.

Says Hergel has to go win the job because he's competing with others. But he's excited about him.

Remembers watching Mahogany a couple of years ago. Kendall plays the same way. You see Hergel's strength. He wants that physicality and toughness up front and it's right that BC has it.

** Does believe the o-line play makes all the difference. When you're flipping d-linemen to o-line and then more guys are going down, there's just no continuity. Didn't have the same o-line until Week 7. Jackson Ness moved absolutely everywhere. He'd never even played center in HS. Dwayne Allick, Jack Conley ... Conley will have a great year this year. Ozzy's going to be an NFL Draft pick. But last year you saw the struggles. Too many 3-and-outs. It has to start and stop up front.

** Hafley emphasizes BC's not slinging it around to score 60. They have to play complementary football.

** Asked why you should be excited about BC's defense he said, "The D-line." That's how they've built the defense. You have to win up front. Donovan led the ACC in sacks as a sophomore. Talked about all the depth and athleticism on the defensive line that Boston College will have. "Has to be built up front," and he loves the guys they have up front.

"Building" has to happen at BC. They must develop players on the team. It can't be about bringing older guys in. Has to be a development culture even in the portal era.

** Last year they couldn't go "good on good" in practice. Had to be like in the NFL when it was 1s vs 2s. Now it's 1s vs 1s. Now the 2 OLs are the guys who played and got experience against a better, deeper defensive line. Much better competition than they had last year.

** Replacing Zay ... "Zay's a special guy." They have some good wideouts. Ryan O'Keefe is mentioned. "Turn on the tape and he can fly... I think he'll be one of the fastest players in the ACC. He can take a jet sweep for a touchdown, can return kickoffs for touchdown... He has that speed, acceleration." Did seem like tempering expectations, certainly in the context of Flowers.

** Dino really stepped up against NC State. He stepped up last year. Thinks he'll have a good year.

Ezeiruaku and Morehead at 11:45, Christian Mahogany at 12:45, and then his press conference at 1:30.

Final position preview here. BC desperately need ST's to be impactful this year, particularly the return game which has been non-existent under Hafley. ACC Media Day is tomorrow (for real this time)