Takeaways From BC Football's First Two Deep Depth Chart: Likes, Surprises, Concerns
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On Tuesday afternoon, Boston College football released its first two-deep depth chart ahead of the program’s season-opening contest at home against Fordham on Saturday at 2 p.m.
There are plenty of familiar faces that are returning for the 2025 season—Jude Bowry, Logan Taylor, Jeremiah Franklin, Lewis Bond, Daveon Crouch, KP Price, and Amari Jackson, to name just a few—but also a handful of new starters that have impressed BC’s coaching staff during fall training camp enough to crack the initial lineup.
One noticeable piece that jumps out right away is the number of underclassmen who are either jumping straight into the first- or second-team lineup, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Freshman running back Bo MacCormack III, who received a ton of looks during fall camp, is listed as the second-string kick returner, along with a starting running back, which includes three others—Jordan McDonald, Turbo Richard, and Alex Broome—and will be a position group that approaches the game by committee.
True freshman Andy Quinn is going to be relied on in the punting realm. The second-string safeties include redshirt-sophomore Carter Davis, along with true freshman Omarion Davis and redshirt-freshman Charlie Comella. After an impressive camp, sophomore Syair Torrence earned a starting assignment at cornerback, usurping the veteran junior, Max Tucker.
At nickel, true freshman T.J. Green is slotted below graduate student Cameron Martinez. Redshirt-sophomores Jason Hewlett Jr. and Owen McGowan are both listed as starting linebackers alongside the uber-experienced Crouch and Bryce Steele, who is returning to the field full-time following a strenuous cancer battle, which he beat.
Redshirt-freshman Jayzen Flint and sophomore Favor Bate are two new features on the defensive line after showcasing their talent, respectively, leading up to game week. Freshman wide receiver Dawson Pough is listed as a reserve for Reed Harris for the X receiver slot.
Most importantly, redshirt sophomore Dylan Lonergan is QB1 for the Eagles this season, and redshirt senior Grayson James, who started the final five games of the season for BC in 2024, is the backup.
Here is a list of takeaways from the first two-deep drop of the season.
1. Syair Torrence over Max Tucker at CB
Torrence manufactured a complete uplift of his BC career over the offseason, training hard in the weight room and making sure his body was prepped for his second campaign on the Heights. During fall camp, he was a player who brought the intensity daily, and his man assignments in coverage were oftentimes against the 6-foot-5 Harris, who genuinely towers over the majority of the Eagles’ secondary.
But Torrence has very limited game exposure in comparison to Tucker, who also played fiercely during camp and is an absolute gamer.
As a freshman in 2024, Torrence mostly played on special teams and recorded just one tackle against North Carolina in late November. Tucker, meanwhile, made 12 starts at cornerback last season, totaling 30 tackles, two interceptions, and two pass break-ups (PBUs). Tucker marched his first interception of the season 58 yards in the other direction to set up a touchdown drive against No. 10 Florida State in BC’s 2024 season opener.
Before last season, Tucker made three starts in 10 games played in 2023 as a true freshman, so he is very accustomed to the speed of the college game. Torrence, meanwhile, has only felt that pressure during practice looks or in scrimmages against the Eagles’ offense in Alumni Stadium.
BC’s secondary and defensive backs room is a loaded group, and the expectation is that BC defensive coordinator Tim Lewis will have the ability to rotate in just about any player on the two-deep and have a dependable player out on the field. But the reasoning for listing Torrence as the first-string corner instead of Tucker comes as somewhat of a surprise, simply given the experience one has over the other.
2. The rest of the tight end unit
Similar to BC’s secondary, the Eagles contain a stacked tight end room this season after being relatively thin at the position in 2024. There are five dependable players in the position group, and BC head coach Bill O’Brien made it clear that senior Jeremiah Franklin is the heart and soul of the unit.
Redshirt sophomore Ty Lockwood is poised for a ton of involvement in the passing game, while Franklin is more integral in the blocking arena, and Zeke Moore is expected to serve as a swiss army knife as either a tight end or a fullback. But Brady Clough and Kaelan Chudzinski were featured heavily in fall training camp, and it could have made more sense to include them on the two-deep, similar to how O’Brien listed the running back room.
Then again, the two-deep is really just a list of names, and of all head coaches, O’Brien is not one to go completely with the script. There is a very solid chance Clough and Chudzinski will see the field this season, and Fordham gives the two players a good chance to showcase that ability if BC is blowing the Rams out by halftime, which is expected.
3. Size of the offensive line
The one thing that jumps out to an extreme from an offensive standpoint is the size of BC’s offensive linemen, especially the right side of the line and left tackle.
The average size hovers around the 6-foot-5, 310-pound mark, which is huge—no pun intended—considering the Eagles have lost two of their key players in the trenches, Ozzy Trapilo and Drew Kendall, to the National Football League.
Bowry and Taylor bring the most experience on the line, and NFL scouts who have shown up to fall training camp practices have tended to narrow in on the two of them for the most part.
Dwayne Allick Jr. also started a few games in 2024 and played in all 13 games in some capacity at guard, so switching positions to center will be a new challenge, but his snapping ability has looked clean so far.
The question marks arise for the remaining two starters on the Eagles’ o-line, Eryx Daugherty and Kevin Cline, due to their limited playing time, respectively, last year. But size really does speak volumes, and with Cline listed at 6-foot-7, 320 pounds as a tackle, and Daugherty listed at 6-foot-3, 305 pounds as a guard, there should be no issue adjusting to the level of play that opposing Atlantic Coast Conference defenses will possess once conference games commence.
Additional takeaways:
- MacCormack has impressed offensive coordinator Will Lawing enough to be listed as a fourth, true No. 1 option in the backfield.
- Out of the three freshman wideouts who handled fall training camp with a composure that typically only veterans carry, Pough is the only one listed on the two-deep.
- Favor Bate is listed as a reserve for Quintayvious Hutchins at defensive end, but his ability to cause chaos off the line of scrimmage really shot up during camp.
- Defensive tackle is easily the most concerning unit on the two-deep, especially after the loss of Owen Stoudmire during fall camp. His timeline for return has not been announced yet, although O’Brien said he will likely play at some point this season.
Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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