Reflecting on Syracuse: What Did Hafley Say During His Sunday Presser?
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Staff Writer
Boston College rotated quarterbacks Dennis Grosel and Emmett Morehead Saturday at Syracuse, but it appears as if second-year head coach Jeff Hafley won’t be returning to that strategy this week.
“Do I necessarily like playing two quarterbacks? No, I’d be lying to you if I told ya [that],” Hafley said Sunday. “I’m not a huge fan of guys going in and out. I like to get a guy in the groove and play and let ’em get into the game.”
Hafley didn’t announce a starter Sunday, and Monday’s depth chart listed an “OR” between Grosel and Morehead’s names, but he did acknowledge the decision’s urgency.
“I need to talk to Frank [Cignetti Jr.] and the staff and see what direction we want to go heading into this game on a short week,” Hafley said. “But we gotta make the decision fast because we’re playing Friday.”
At Syracuse, Grosel got the nod, his 14th start of his career, but the game plan going in was to play Morehead on the third series, regardless of how BC was playing, Hafley said.
Grosel ended up with 29 snaps, and Morehead registered 43, per Pro Football Focus. Both completed passes of 40 or more yards to wide receiver Zay Flowers but neither led a touchdown drive during the 21-6 loss, BC’s fourth straight defeat.
Grosel finished 9-of-17 for 93 yards while Morehead was 6-of-15 for 87 yards.
Hafley said that he thinks Morehead has a “bright future” and that he was “proud of the way he went in and competed.” Hafley explained that he was unsure of how Morehead would perform Saturday considering that the 6-foot-5 gunslinger is not only a true freshman but also one that was robbed of his senior season at Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Va.) because of COVID-19.
The Woodside, California, native hadn’t played a game or taken a live hit since his junior year of high school. Hafley noted that Morehead was “a little jittery a few times” but that he connected on some “hole shots” downfield and energized the Eagles’ offense.
“I thought he gave us some juice,” Hafley said. “He knows there’s some throws he left out there. He sent me a text late last night. So I know it’s important to him. I think he’ll continue to get better with the more reps that he gets because he hadn’t really gotten a lot of reps until last week. We started ramping them up.”
Morehead was sacked four times. Syracuse, which has the most sacks per game of any ACC team, was getting a lot of pressure on the true freshman as well as Grosel.
Pass protection has been a problem for BC since the start of ACC competition. After allowing just two sacks in the first four games, the Eagles’ vaunted offensive line has conceded 15 in its last four outings. Left tackle has been a weak point, partly because of knee, and now, upper-body injuries to Tyler Vrabel.
“I think changes need to be made,” Hafley said. “Now, is that people or is that scheme? But changes have to be made. It’s too many sacks. You can’t get sacked that many times. And we can’t get pressured that many times.”
Hafley suggested that possible solutions include using six-man and seven-man protections, or potentially chipping more, or maybe having the quarterbacks get the ball out quicker. Then comes the evaluation of which five guys up front give BC the best chance to keep its signal caller clean.
“I think it’s gotta be a combination of coaching and playing,” Hafley said. “And I think that is 100% the truth.”
Hafley maintains the same mantra when it comes to BC’s red zone struggles. The Eagles were converting 79% of their red zone trips into touchdowns in non-conference play. Against ACC opponents, though, BC is reaching the paint just 30.8% of the time.
The Eagles scored on two of their four red zone opportunities Saturday, and both of those were chip-shot field goals.
“It hasn’t been good enough,” Hafley said. “We have to score touchdowns. And clearly we’re not doing that well enough right now.”
BC is averaging a league-worst 10 points per game in ACC play this season.
The Eagles have a short week before giving things another go against a Virginia Tech team that just snapped a three-game skid of its own.
