Vol. 5: 2022 Fall Camp Notebook
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Boston College has the day off Tuesday. It's a well-earned break after the Eagles completed their ninth and 10th practices of fall camp Sunday and Monday, respectively.
Monday's practice included BC's first scrimmage of preseason. The intrasquad exhibition wasn't open to the media, however, there are still quite a few updates Eagle Action has to offer from the last few days of fall camp.
Let's get to it.
1. Another injury to monitor, this time less serious
Wide receiver Jaelen Gill has been "in and out" with an injury recently, according to head coach Jeff Hafley. That said, it's not an injury that Hafley's concerned about."He's been doing some stuff some periods and then he's been with Coach [Phil] Matusz rehabbing some stuff," Hafley said Sunday. "But he'll be back."
While I didn't see Gill out there on Sunday, I did see him suited up Monday. Keep in mind, the former Ohio State transfer was hobbled by a stress fracture the first half of last season. Gill didn't play the first three games of the year and then was on a snap count. Even so, the playmaking receiver finished second on the team in 2021 with 24 catches.
As for center Drew Kendall, who is dealing with an undisclosed injury of his own, I didn't see the redshirt freshman at practice Sunday or Monday. Jackson Ness has continued to get reps at center with the first team.
2. Going from defensive to offensive line...
We covered Ness' transition from D-Line to O-Line in our last notebook. Still, it's important to note what backup quarterback Emmett Morehead said about the Upper Arlington, Ohio, native."He has played D-Line for a while, but he's got a great O-Line body," Morehead said. "And he's got a D-Line mentality, like he's super tough."
Morehead mentioned that Ness is "super smart," and that's helped him make the right calls up front, lining everyone up correctly. Next, he'll have to perfect his snaps. But Morehead said Ness has come a long way since the spring in that department.
Ness isn't the only former D-Linemen practicing with the first-team O-Line. Dwayne Allick is impressing at guard. Allick is a bit different, though. Part of the Class of 2020, he signed with BC as an offensive lineman. The DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) product was a three-star prospect who ranked 33rd in the state of Maryland for his cycle.
A thin BC defensive line called for Allick to switch sides of the ball last season. Except, he appeared in just one game at defensive tackle. He was mainly there for depth. Now that the Eagles are much better off on the D-Line, Allick is back to offense.
"I definitely commend him for that," sophomore defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku said. "There's a lot of respect. He [embodies] FTT, 'For The Team.' Being asked to go from offense to defense to offense and then not knowing where when he's back on offense.
"I respect him for that. A lot."
Starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec was asked Sunday which player's progress has stood out the most through the first couple weeks of camp. He went with Allick.
"I think he's playing well," Jurkovec said. "A lot of the O-Linemen are, but he, especially, has been one I've seen progress because he's just had to make the change. I know that's tough going back and forth."
Note: Here are some of the offensive line combinations I've been seeing toward the end of the media's open viewing period. Again, take these with a grain of salt because, right now, rotations are frequent up front.
Sunday (first team):
LT - Jack Conley
LG - Finn Dirstine
C - Jackson Ness
RG - Kevin Cline
RT - Ozzy Trapilo
Monday (first team):
LT - Jack Conley
LG - Kevin Cline
C - Jackson Ness
RG - Dwayne Allick
RT - Ozzy Trapilo
Monday (second team):
LT - Nick Thomas
LG - Jack Funke
C - Blerim Rustemi
RG - Otto Hess
RT - Noah Kahapea
3. The freshmen tight ends are ahead of schedule
BC's tight end group is more wide open than usual. It looks more and more like Notre Dame transfer George Takacs will be the go-to guy from the room. Takacs' speed has caught the staff's attention. But the true freshmen tight ends are turning heads, too.Jeremiah Franklin was one of the Eagles' six mid-year enrollees. The athletic Walkersville, Maryland, native made the most of that opportunity. During Sunday's practice, Franklin came down with a nice red zone touchdown grab, according to Hafley.
Then there's Matt Ragan, another Lawrence Academy product. Ragan looks like he added a good bit of muscle in the offseason. He stands one inch taller and weighs 13 more pounds than Franklin. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Ragan has already been getting work the ones and twos.
"I think they're a little bit ahead of where I thought they'd be. We're throwing them both in," Hafley said. "Both very serious kids, both tough kids. So I think we got two good young tight ends that we might need this year."
4. The maturation of do-it-all defensive back Josh DeBerry
Before senior defensive back Josh DeBerry was an All-ACC second teamer at nickel (2021) and an All-ACC honorable mention at corner (2020), he was a little lost at BC. He admitted Sunday that he didn't really know how to watch film correctly or how to read a play the right way."Since Coach Haf and Coach Aazaar have gotten here, they've been teaching me little ways to watch film differently," DeBerry said. "How to look at the receivers' splits and how to see different formations and where the quarterback's under center or if he's in shotgun or whatever the case may be.
"And those little things helped me progress my game."
DeBerry takes pride in being a jack of all trades. Last year, he missed the final two games with an ankle injury yet still finished fifth on the team in total tackles and even ranked atop the BC leaderboard with 36 solos. He also registered the highest Pro Football Focus coverage grade (79.2) of any Eagle in 2021.
He can tackle, cover, blitz, you name it. Most importantly, though, he's becoming a more vocal leader.
"There's a level of seriousness and focus about him right now that he needed to get to," Hafley said. "I love the guy. And I've seen him grow up, which is one of the cool things about being a college coach."
5. CB Elijah Jones has seen the perception of BC's secondary do a 180
Elijah Jones has been starting games at corner for BC for three years. That journey began with an abysmal 2019 campaign, during which the Eagles' secondary was the laughing stock of the ACC. BC ranked 122nd nationally with 285.5 yards per game allowed through the air."Losing at home and seeing the fans walk out, like third quarter or fourth quarter," Jones said Monday, "it's like, we're really what we have. And it doesn't matter if we're winning or we're losing. As a team, we're together. I'm not doing it for everyone else's approval. I'm doing it for the approval of my teammates."
Jones has maintained that mindset, even as his position group has emerged as the most acclaimed of any on the team following last year's performance (third nationally in pass defense).
Besides, he isn't satisfied with just being good against the pass.
"We're out for bigger and better next year," Jones said. "I want to be a top-five defense in the country. Stopping the pass is OK, but if they don't throw the ball, then it doesn't matter."
