Five Takeaways From Jeff Hafley's Tuesday Press Conference

Jeff Hafley had a lot to talk about in his first press conference of the spring, here are some of his comments

On Tuesday, Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley opened spring football with a press conference held on Zoom. Earlier we explained about two big announcements he made during his talk, mainly that Aazaar Abdul Rahim was being promoted, and that Rahim and Matt Applebaum were almost poached in the offseason. Here are five more takeaways from his comments. 

Spring Football Started Late To Give Time For Training: Hafley talked at length about how important good strength and conditioning time with Phil Matusz is. He explained the reason the team is kicking off spring so late, is that he wanted to give the S&C staff more time with the team. This seems incredibly important because not only do the returning players need this time, but there is an unprecedented amount of early enrollees that need to get into collegiate conditioning as well. "I think their development physically and mentally in the weight room is more important than anything thing we can do as coaches on the field. He and his staff have been incredible."

Phil Jurkovec Did Not Explore NFL Draft: The Notre Dame transfer quarterback had a break out 2020, and was technically eligible for the NFL Draft if he wanted to enter it. According to Hafley those discussions never took place. 

This Team is Deep: One of the biggest stories this offseason for the football program is the additional year of eligibility for all players who wanted it. This means that the Eagles got their entire offensive line back, key members of defense, and players like Kobay White. Hafley talked about how invaluable this will be this spring. "I'm grateful those guys decided to come back. Hopefully, they can take another step, help us and then help themselves, too, which is also really important."

Open Competition: Hafley was asked how he plans on replacing the 230+ tackles they lost in linebackers Max Richardson and Isaiah McDuffie. "It's an open competition and I mean that. The guys who are returning, the guys who transferred in, to the guys who are here as incoming freshmen, we're going to play the best player. I said that to the players and I said that to the team. I want them to go out and compete. Coach  Duggan is going to do a great job of going out there and getting them ready and I'm excited to see who kind of jumps out and who can win that job, both jobs really."

Rejuvenating After Tough Season: After 2020, one of the most grueling and testing seasons, the head coach discussed what he and his players did to recover after a tough offseason. He explained that most players went home and spent January and December with their families, while he went home and rested. Hafley mentioned that he spent most of his time with his family and kids. He further elaborated that he believes this spring session will again be tough, and more sacrifice will be asked of his players. 

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