Towles, Wade set sights on Boston College starting quarterback job
By Julian Benbow Globe Staff August 11, 2016
Every preseason camp, Boston College coach Steve Addazio has a handful of alumni come talk to his players. There’s value in letting his team hear another voice, he said, and also value in the perspective of players who’ve walked in their shoes.
A day after the Eagles opened camp on Monday, they got a visit from Dan Koppen, the center who played four years in the trenches at the Heights before spending nine of his 10 NFL seasons with the Patriots hand-delivering the football to Tom Brady.
Koppen explained how being so close to Brady for many years made it clear how much Brady elevated the players around him.
“Dan was just saying, you wanted to play for him,” Addazio said. “He brought everything up around him. Dan was saying, we fought for him to protect him because he worked harder than anybody in that organization. It was really cool to hear all this. It’s what you know but it reinforces what you think.”
The message resonated with quarterback Patrick Towles, who’s looking to lead the Eagles after transferring from Kentucky.
“I’ve heard stories of him and just how disciplined he is about football and that’s what it takes,” Towles said. “There’s guys that think they do enough, but that’s not enough. When you think you’re doing enough, you have to do more and more and more to constantly put yourself on that level.”
After a 3-9 season in which the Eagles went winless in the Atlantic Coast Conference, they have plenty of work ahead of them. The bulk of it will start at the quarterback position, where Towles will battle with Darius Wade for the starting job. The Eagles had the worst passing offense in the conference by far a year ago, putting up just 110 yards per game through the air. Having two capable arms to choose from feels like a luxury to Addazio after injuries left him scrambling for quarterbacks last season.
“You feel like you’ve got two guys: One has great experience and has won at a high level and the other one who has got a bunch of experience through some hard knocks,” Addazio said.
But Towles and Wade are aware of the competition and it’s something both thrive on.
“The competition is there, I know that,” Wade said. “And I’m a very competitive person, so naturally once we’re out there for practice, I’m ready to go. I’m doing everything to make sure if he makes a play, I make a play. If I don’t make a play, I’m going to make sure the next time my play is great.
“It’s like a little rivalry, you want to do better than the other person, but that’s how you improve. I’m grateful for it, it’s only going to make me better.”
Towles said he’s been pushed just as much by Wade in the early stages of camp.
“It adds pressure in practice that might not be there without a quarterback competition. If Darius is a better quarterback, then he needs to play. I’ll try to be the best backup — or third- or fourth-string — that I can be.
“Thankfully, Coach Addazio gave me an opportunity to be a part of this family and I want the best for this team and I want to win as many games as possible and if it’s with [Wade] then it needs to be with him.”
With Towles’s and Wade’s skill sets being so similar, there hasn’t been much separation in the competition, according to Addazio. But when the time comes to make a decision, Addazio said he hoped they would make it hard on him.
“I hope it’s really, really difficult,” he said. “That’s the greatest thing that could possibly happen, honestly. Because that means you’ve got two real dudes in there and you’ve got a comfort level if someone goes down you’re not like, ‘Uh oh, here we go. Now what?’ ”
Towles feels the same way.
“I hope it’s a difficult decision, too, because that means we’re both playing well,” he said. “I mean, that’s just going to make our team better, which is the ultimate goal.”
Even though Towles and Wade are competing for the same job, the message from Koppen still resonated for both.
“We don’t need to get in the habit of worrying about what each other is doing,” Towles said. “We need to cheer each other on and I try to offer help, as much advice as I can and he does the same. We’re worried about getting the team better. We had a talk yesterday, just me and him, about how specifically we can motivate the team and get them going forward because they do look to us when adversity hits.”
By Julian Benbow Globe Staff August 11, 2016
Every preseason camp, Boston College coach Steve Addazio has a handful of alumni come talk to his players. There’s value in letting his team hear another voice, he said, and also value in the perspective of players who’ve walked in their shoes.
A day after the Eagles opened camp on Monday, they got a visit from Dan Koppen, the center who played four years in the trenches at the Heights before spending nine of his 10 NFL seasons with the Patriots hand-delivering the football to Tom Brady.
Koppen explained how being so close to Brady for many years made it clear how much Brady elevated the players around him.
“Dan was just saying, you wanted to play for him,” Addazio said. “He brought everything up around him. Dan was saying, we fought for him to protect him because he worked harder than anybody in that organization. It was really cool to hear all this. It’s what you know but it reinforces what you think.”
The message resonated with quarterback Patrick Towles, who’s looking to lead the Eagles after transferring from Kentucky.
“I’ve heard stories of him and just how disciplined he is about football and that’s what it takes,” Towles said. “There’s guys that think they do enough, but that’s not enough. When you think you’re doing enough, you have to do more and more and more to constantly put yourself on that level.”
After a 3-9 season in which the Eagles went winless in the Atlantic Coast Conference, they have plenty of work ahead of them. The bulk of it will start at the quarterback position, where Towles will battle with Darius Wade for the starting job. The Eagles had the worst passing offense in the conference by far a year ago, putting up just 110 yards per game through the air. Having two capable arms to choose from feels like a luxury to Addazio after injuries left him scrambling for quarterbacks last season.
“You feel like you’ve got two guys: One has great experience and has won at a high level and the other one who has got a bunch of experience through some hard knocks,” Addazio said.
But Towles and Wade are aware of the competition and it’s something both thrive on.
“The competition is there, I know that,” Wade said. “And I’m a very competitive person, so naturally once we’re out there for practice, I’m ready to go. I’m doing everything to make sure if he makes a play, I make a play. If I don’t make a play, I’m going to make sure the next time my play is great.
“It’s like a little rivalry, you want to do better than the other person, but that’s how you improve. I’m grateful for it, it’s only going to make me better.”
Towles said he’s been pushed just as much by Wade in the early stages of camp.
“It adds pressure in practice that might not be there without a quarterback competition. If Darius is a better quarterback, then he needs to play. I’ll try to be the best backup — or third- or fourth-string — that I can be.
“Thankfully, Coach Addazio gave me an opportunity to be a part of this family and I want the best for this team and I want to win as many games as possible and if it’s with [Wade] then it needs to be with him.”
With Towles’s and Wade’s skill sets being so similar, there hasn’t been much separation in the competition, according to Addazio. But when the time comes to make a decision, Addazio said he hoped they would make it hard on him.
“I hope it’s really, really difficult,” he said. “That’s the greatest thing that could possibly happen, honestly. Because that means you’ve got two real dudes in there and you’ve got a comfort level if someone goes down you’re not like, ‘Uh oh, here we go. Now what?’ ”
Towles feels the same way.
“I hope it’s a difficult decision, too, because that means we’re both playing well,” he said. “I mean, that’s just going to make our team better, which is the ultimate goal.”
Even though Towles and Wade are competing for the same job, the message from Koppen still resonated for both.
“We don’t need to get in the habit of worrying about what each other is doing,” Towles said. “We need to cheer each other on and I try to offer help, as much advice as I can and he does the same. We’re worried about getting the team better. We had a talk yesterday, just me and him, about how specifically we can motivate the team and get them going forward because they do look to us when adversity hits.”
