BC Football Mailbag: Who Might Return Next Year and What About the Portal?
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
The complexion of Boston College’s season has changed. Again.
Eight wins are back on the table. Reaching that mark is something the Eagles haven’t done since 2009. First, they have to clinch bowl eligibility, which they could do with a victory at Georgia Tech Saturday.
There’s excitement around the program with Phil Jurkovec back under center. Still, questions remain. Here are a few in this week’s Eagle Action mailbag.
Radleypd251: Is Garwo the clear RB1 moving forward and, if so, what changed from the previous nine games?
For what it’s worth, Pat Garwo III is the top running back on BC’s depth chart. Now, that hasn’t always been an indication of rushing volume. For instance, Travis Levy started the year in that same spot. The next week, it was Alec Sinkfield. Since the Colgate game, though, here is the running back workload split:
Garwo — 142 carries
Sinkfield — 62 carries
Levy — 44 carries
Coleman — 2 carries
In other words, Garwo has more than double the rushing attempts of any other Eagle. Whereas offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. divvied up the snap share more evenly among David Bailey and Travis Levy toward the end of last season, Garwo has started to become the bell cow. Aside from Sinkfield in Week 2, no other BC back has had a 10-plus-carry game this season. Garwo has eight.
And this past week against Virginia Tech, he had 30 toes, at one point piling up 10 on a single drive, which was capped with a three-yard touchdown run from the redshirt sophomore.
So, while Garwo isn’t used like AJ Dillon or Andre Williams was, he is still clearly BC’s top running back this season. Cignetti and running backs coach Rich Gunnell just like to mix in Sinkfield and Levy to give Garwo a breather and opposing defenses a different look.
Not to mention it’s another couple sets of fresh legs. I asked Jurkovec about Garwo this week, and this is what he had to say about his running back:
“He sees the hole so well,” Jurkovec said Tuesday. “As a quarterback sometimes I hand the ball off, and I have the best angle because I'm just watching the play kind of as it happens. But some of the cuts he makes, his vision is really crazy, like how he can bounce gaps over and and see guys and recognize it so quickly. That's what has impressed me the most about him.”
mishima: Is Morehead getting any practice reps as the backup quarterback with Dennis Grosel?
Jeff Hafley said in an ACC Network “Packer and Durham” interview Thursday that there was a time when he thought Emmett Morehead was going to start against Virginia Tech. That’s not too surprising considering that Morehead was trotted out to talk to the media last Tuesday and that the true freshman gunslinger got more snaps under center than longtime backup Dennis Grosel at Syracuse.
As of now, there is an “OR” listed between Grosel and Morehead on the Eagles’ depth chart. I’m not sure how Cignetti and the offense are breaking down second-team reps, however, I’d assume Morehead is getting some of those. That said, if a quarterback has to come in for a play or two down the stretch of the season, it’s likely going to be Grosel, given his experience in the scheme.
Flutie_in_2004: Which of the future fifth-year seniors that are still eligible to return for another season in 2022 do you believe will come back and which will depart? Players like Woodbey, Deon Jones (assuming he can get a medical redshirt), Onwuka (medical redshirt option), Boumerhi, Maitre, Vrabel, Gill and others).
Because of the COVID-19 waiver, it’s incredibly difficult to figure out who will be back next year. We’ll learn more after the season ends when some players will announce their decisions over Twitter.
For now, though, it’s a lot of speculation. Guys like strong safety Jaiden Woodbey and wide receiver Jaelen Gill will almost certainly be back. They’re both redshirt juniors right now. Gill missed three games at the beginning of the season and has 19 catches for 200 yards and a score. Another full year, ideally with Jurkovec returning, would be good for Gill if he wants to take a swing at the NFL. Same thing goes for Woodbey, who has gotten better in coverage as the season has progressed yet still has a Pro Football Focus coverage grade of 65.6.
Free safety Deon Jones, who could be out for the rest of the year with a back injury, and defensive tackle Chibueze Onwuka, who missed the season with an Achilles tear he suffered in fall camp, are in a similar boat. Both could probably get a medical redshirt but don’t need one because of the COVID-19 waiver.
I don’t see left tackle Tyler Vrabel leaving after the injury-riddled season he’s had. Like Woodbey, free safety Jason Maitre is a redshirt junior and could use another year to polish his game, especially since this was his first season at the position.
Aaron Boumerhi was using his sixth and final year of eligibility. To my knowledge, his college career is over. I could see Zay Flowers leaving, particularly if he has a strong final three or four games of the year, depending on if the Eagles play a bowl game, although the wideout is only a junior. Offensive linemen Ben Petrula and Zion Johnson are out after this year. Alec Lindstrom could technically come back because he got a medical redshirt in 2017, but, from what I understand, this is his last hurrah at BC.
Leading tackler Isaiah Graham-Mobley is using his final year of eligibility right now. And he played more than four games this year, so he couldn’t seek a medical redshirt. There are more players to run through, but we’ll address this question in more detail toward the end of the season.
duda: Do you have any idea whether any of the BC players have deals set up to make some money under new NIL rules? Are members of the coaching staff helping the players with this? What is BC doing as an institution to help these kids, more specifically does BC have anyone in the athletic department or marketing who can help the kids with this?
BC announced a program called “SOAR” in July. It’s designed to help student-athletes build their brands and manage NIL opportunities. In the process, BC partnered with Athliance, which provides an app for student-athletes to log their NIL endeavor, and Opendorse, a sports technology company that emphasizes brand development. The BC department release at the time mentioned that student-athletes would have access to content created by the communications office to boost their marketability.
It didn’t take long for players like Jurkovec and Gill to partner with Yoke Gaming, a company that enables fans to pay to play video games with famous icons. Others, such as Lindstrom, partnered with Barstool. There are more, however, outside of social media, the players’ relationships with these companies aren’t particularly visible.
Flutie_in_2004: What do you believe will be the positions they try to target in the transfer portal?
Well, we know that Hafley doesn’t like to live in the portal, as he says. That said, I can see the Eagles targeting these positions:
— defensive line: BC is so thin on its defensive front. D-Line coach Vince Oghobaase has made it work this year, but the Eagles might want to beef up that line ahead of 2022.
— wide receiver: If Flowers leaves, BC is going to need a new WR1. Maybe that’s CJ Lewis once he returns from injury. Maybe that’s Jaden Williams. Maybe that’s Gill. Or maybe it’s someone in the portal.
— quarterback: Dennis Grosel could come back another year if he wanted to, but there’s no telling he will, especially after he went through the gauntlet this fall. Emmett Morehead could slide up to QB2, but the last thing the Eagles want is to be in the position they were in this season again.
— punter: Grant Carlson is gone after this year. The Eagles are going to need a replacement. The only other punter listed on the 2021 roster is John Tessitore, who can also kick field goals. But he hasn’t ever punted in college.
