BC Practice Report: First Practice With Full Pads, Conditioning & More
It was a big day at Boston College, as the Eagles had their first practice with pads. By adding that element to their practices, the staff was able to add a whole new piece to their evaluation of the team. This is part of a giant puzzle, as the staff continues to try and understand all the strengths and weaknesses of each player. With only a handful of practices both in the spring and the summer, Hafley and his staff have had to expedite this process.
"You want to really find out what you're good at." Hafley said after practice. "Then you can make your game plans awesome, you can really get good at that. And that's going to take us some time. The spring would have been so important to really see what this team can handle mentally, what they can handle physically."
As he evaluates, Hafley talked about having a huge play book that he can tailor to his team. For instance in the secondary, he has used a lot of three deep coverage with Ohio State, but various other schemes at his other stops. It is all based on the personnel he has to work with. These practices have been vital as he works to figure out what would be best for the Eagles.
On the positive side, Hafley praised the conditioning of his team. Over the spring videos hit social media of various players doing whatever they could to stay in shape. Whether that was working out in the yard, bench pressing their dogs, or pulling cars, players were creative. But what really helped were the workouts new strength and conditioning coach Phil Matuscz put together plans to help players stay in shape.
“It (the players’ conditioning level) was better than I thought it would be,” Hafley said. “Again, a credit to our players, they somehow found a way whether it was in their backyard, in their basement, during one of the toughest times they've ever been able to go through, they were in better shape than I thought. Not nearly where they would have been if they were in our weight room and on the fields but they worked and that's why we're in position to actually practice like we are right now, so I appreciate them for that.”
Practice Notes: (please note that practices are closed to the media, these notes are based on reports from BC)
* Interesting tidbit in the notes today, Boston College offensive line coach Matt Applebaum was the coach at Davidson that recruited Zion Johnson. This year is a reunion for the two.
* Sounds like Phil Jurkovec was impressive again, as it was noted that he spread the ball around and hit some big passes including a 50 yard bomb to Zay Flowers.
* Jason Maitre had a big practice with a fumble recovery and an interception.
* Cam Horsley's name came up again, the freshman defensive tackle had a big tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Bryce Morais and TJ Rayam also had tackles for loss.
* Another freshman to watch for is wide receiver Taji Johnson, who apparently had some good chemistry with Jurkovec today.
(all photos and video courtesy of BCEagles.com)
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