Impact Analysis: What Does the Onwuka Injury Mean for BC’s Defense?
Andy BackstromStaff Writer
It’s that time of the summer. The college football season is right around the corner, and excitement is mounting. Unfortunately, so are season-ending injuries.
Boston College experienced one of those this week when defensive tackle Chibueze Onwuka reportedly suffered an injury during fall camp that will sideline him for the year.
After transferring from Buffalo ahead of the 2020 season, Onwuka started five games for the Eagles last year and appeared in 10 of the Eagles’ 11 contests.
He was part of a D-Line dependent on graduate transfers, all of whom won’t be contributing to BC this fall. Let’s break down what this injury means for Tem Lukabu’s defense.
What role did Onwuka play last year?
Onwuka was the Eagles’ second-best run defender in 2020, according to Pro Football Focus. His run defense grade of 74.6 trailed only that of defensive end Marcus Valdez (80.9). Onwuka played 366 snaps last year, with 337 of them coming at nose or defensive tackle. The Bowie, Maryland, native was tied for 68th nationally among all defensive linemen in run tackling stops with 12, per PFF. He totaled 19 tackles, including 12 solos and 2.5 TFLs. He also posted 1.5 sacks and forced a pair of fumbles.
What was his best game in 2020?
Onwuka’s most memorable performance came against No. 2 Notre Dame. At the time, BC had played nine straight games without a bye, but Onwuka wasn’t showing signs of fatigue. He made a season-high five tackles and created a potentially game-changing turnover.
Irish quarterback Ian Book fired a quick pass to running back Kyren Williams on an angle route, and Williams proceeded to duck under a Jahmin Muse tackle attempt. Just as he reached the first-down marker, however, Onwuka charged from behind and pried the ball loose from Williams, resulting in a BC fumble recovery that gave the Eagles the chance to tie the game late in the second quarter of a 24-16 matchup. BC ended up giving the ball right back to Notre Dame because of an Alec Lindstrom botched snap, but Onwuka’s athleticism didn’t go unnoticed.
Onwuka turned in his top PFF grade in Week 1 at Duke. He finished with a defensive grade of 73.4 and a run defense score of 90.2. Onwuka made four stops and forced another fumble, which he jarred loose from the hands of running back Deon Jackson in the red zone. Onwuka also deflected a pass into the arms of defensive end Shitta Sillah for a game-clinching interception against Louisville in the Eagles’ home finale.
Who will replace him?
The addition of Temple transfer defensive tackle Khris Banks softens the blow of Onwuka’s injury, no doubt. Banks, a 6-foot-2, 294-pounder, is coming off a shortened 2020 season, in which he played in six games on the two-line of Temple’s defensive tackle depth chart. He tallied 18 total tackles and 3.0 TFLs as well as his first career sack.
Banks graded out really well in 2019, when he posted the eighth-best PFF defensive score (73.4) on an Owls defense that ranked 54th nationally. Banks rotated in for 350 snaps that season and caused a good bit of disruption: more specifically, four quarterback hits, 11 hurries and three batted down passes.
We’ll probably see a healthy dose of Cam Horsley, too. The former two-star recruit played in every game as a true freshman, logging 324 snaps and 13 total tackles. He had a big impact in BC’s win over Louisville. That game, he accounted for half a sack and recovered a fumble.
Others in the mix to help out at the defensive tackle position are TJ Rayam and Ryan Betro. Rayam started the six games that Onwuka didn’t last season and played in all 11 games, but his PFF defensive grade slipped from 2019 when he started all but one of the Eagles’ 13 contests at nose tackle and registered a run defense score of 78.4. Rayam made 41 total tackles, most notably 6.5 TFLs, that season. Betro, on the other hand, has played in 11 games the last two years combined.
Regardless, BC is losing another grad transfer from last year’s defensive front. The Eagles had three of them in the trenches last year: Onwuka (Buffalo), Luc Bequette (Cal) and Max Roberts (Maine). They combined for 1,100 snaps, 59 total tackles, 11.5 TFLs and seven sacks in 2020.
Roberts is currently vying for an NFL roster spot with the Los Angeles Rams, Bequette is back in Berkeley and Onwuka is now out for the year with an injury.
