Hafley Calls Military Bowl ‘a Reward’ for Last Two Years
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Boston College opted out of a bowl game in 2020 because of the rigors of COVID-19 that compromised the traditional postseason experience—a family-friendly experience the team is hoping to take part in this year in Annapolis, Maryland, ahead of its Military Bowl matchup with East Carolina.
“This bowl game’s a reward for all the hard work they’ve been through the last two years,” second-year Eagles head coach Jeff Hafley said Sunday night. “And we’re going to enjoy it.”
For 13 BC players who call Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. home, the Dec. 27 game will be a homecoming of sorts. Fifth-year running back Travis Levy is included in that baker’s dozen.
An Olney, Maryland, native, Levy expressed excitement about showing his teammates his house. He even said that his uncle, Jon-Basil Black, will cook for them. Black, whose speciality is lobster mac and cheese, recently started his own catering company, Levy explained.
“It means everything,” Levy said of the bowl game being in Maryland. “I have an opportunity for my friends and my family to come to the game and support me for my last game.”
The bowl site is also convenient for recruiting purposes, Hafley discussed. Associate head coach and defensive backs coach Aaazaar Abdul-Rahim is a D.C. native. And the DMV is an area Hafley’s staff has targeted hard the last few years.
“We respect the football in the area a lot,” Hafley said. “There’s great academics. So it’s a great fit for Boston College.
“For us to get there and have recruits come and see us and possibly come and watch us practice, to have the high school coaches in the area to come and watch us practice, to see how we do things, to see how we interact with our players. I think that’s huge.”
The Military Bowl is a true road trip. Most bowl games are. That said, the Eagles were projected by most national outlets to play in the Fenway Bowl just a few miles away from campus.
Quarterback Phil Jurkovec admitted that guys on the team had “some mixed feelings about” potentially going to Fenway for their postseason game. He said the Military Bowl will be a nice change of scenery.
Jurkovec cited Hafley’s sentiment that a bowl game is supposed to be a celebration but also a chance to prove something.
“I think, as a team, you just kind of get the feeling that guys are excited that we do get this chance,” Jurkovec said. “We might not have everybody playing in the bowl game, but there’s a lot of guys that will get this opportunity, especially in bowl prep, to step up.”
Defensive Marcus Valdez noted how one of the best things about bowl games is the practice time that comes with them. The games, however, have been far from normal. At least in his experience.
BC played in a frozen Yankee Stadium in the 2017 Pinstripe Bowl. The following year, the Eagles’ First Responder Bowl was canceled because of inclement weather after less than a quarter of play. The year after that, in 2019, BC was in the Birmingham Bowl, which was delayed an hour and a half midway through the first quarter due to lightning.
Still, Valdez likes bowl games. He sees it as an opportunity to “go to war” one last time with his teammates.
Even though the Eagles unraveled at the end of the regular season, falling just short of a 23-point, second-half comeback against Florida State and getting blown out by Wake Forest, Hafley believes his team has put the 6-6 finish behind them.
“Saturday’s practice had a lot of energy,” Hafley said. “We gave them a week to really rest. And I kind of feel like they are refreshed. I kind of feel like it is starting another chapter of a different season. And they’re excited, man.”
Levy mentioned that, regardless of the fact that he and a bunch of other players are on their way out, they still have a final game to push the program forward.
It’s something the Steve Addazio-recruited players have been trying to do ever since Hafley took over.
“[We] look at this opportunity as a rebirth into next year and the four years coming,” Levy said. “We all know we didn’t want the season to go how it went, but we’re looking at this game as a big determination for how we’re going to set the tone for the rest of the year.”
