Jurkovec, Flowers Collect ACC Weekly Honors Following Season Opener
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Staff Writer
Two of Boston College’s first three plays Saturday against Colgate were passes from Phil Jurkovec to Zay Flowers. The dynamic duo took the league by storm last year, and both stars received ACC Preseason Player of the Year votes ahead of the 2021 season. They are the faces of BC’s program. And, fittingly, each of them earned ACC weekly awards Tuesday.
Flowers was named ACC Wide Receiver of the Week, and Jurkovec shared conference honors with Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong.
Flowers is coming off a seven-reception, 135-yard performance in the Eagles’ 51-0 beatdown of Colgate, during which he hauled in a 39-yard touchdown reception despite three Colgate defensive backs being in the area. He eclipsed the 100-yard receiving mark by halftime, registering his fourth such game of his career, good for eighth all-time in school history.
Flowers was also the recipient of arguably Jurkovec’s most spectacular throw of the day: Early in the third quarter, Jurkovec faked a handoff to Xavier Coleman, sat in the pocket and, with a hand in his face, delivered a beautiful 20-yard pass to a toe-tapping Flowers. The speedy vertical threat got both feet in, NFL style.
Jurkovec finished 16-of-24 for 303 yards and a trio of touchdowns. That 66.7% completion percentage would have been even higher had it not been for a pair of first-quarter drops.
He had tons of time in the pocket against the FCS Raiders and made the most of BC’s deep crossing routes to find holes in Colgate’s defense.
Jurkovec ended up being the Eagles’ leading rusher Saturday, largely because of a 41-yard keeper. He faked a handoff on the zone-read and used a Jaden Williams block to skirt toward the sideline. Jurkovec shot forward for a big gainer but veered out of bounds before taking a hit.
He carried the ball five times for a net of 61 yards.
Saturday marked the fifth 300-yard passing game of Jurkovec’s short Eagles career. He already ranks fifth all-time in program history in that regard.
