Eagles Football Needs To Strike In Suddenly Talent Rich New England

With COVID-19 effecting everything it is crucial for Hafley to attract local recruits

Recruiting New England well is an integral job for any Boston College head coach. Jeff Hafley spoke Wednesday on his conference call about COVID-19 about attending a New England coaches conference recently. Forming a connection with local coaches clearly is of importance to the new head coach, and attending this event helped him in doing that. These relationships are going to be vital for Hafley as he tries to attract local talent to Boston College. 

His predecessor Steve Addazio already gave Hafley a leg up on the Class of 2021 with commitments from Marshfield, MA defensive lineman T.J. Guy (who has since decommitted, but remains in play), Catholic Memorial linebacker Owen McGowan, and Everett defensive lineman Josaiah Stewart.  All three of these commits are either high three stars, or four star recruits with major offers from big programs. 

In addition to this trio is Louis Hansen out of St. Sebastian in Needham. The 6'5 tight end is a four star recruit, ranked the 8th in his position in the country. He is a hot commodity that is being recruited by Florida, Penn State, Louisville, LSU and Michigan amongst many others. Landing Hansen will be a huge challenge, but BC is firmly in the picture for him. Drew Kendall, a legacy offensive linemen BC Bulletin interviewed this week is the top ranked recruit in the state, and one that BC should be in good position with. 

On top of that, there will be the recruits that will need to camp at BC for Hafley and his staff to evaluate before making an offer. Tyrese Baptiste an athlete from Everett, and defensive tackle Ikenna Ugbaja from the Belmont School in Hyde Park are two names that may pop up with an offer at a future Boston College camp. 

If you look outside the Bay State and around the rest of New England, there are plenty of recruits that BC is in play with. Jason Onye a defensive end from Bishop Hendricken in Rhode Island is a highly sought recruit with offers from Notre Dame, Michigan and Penn State. Jeffrey Davis Jr. a wide receiver from Connecticut would also be a big get for the Eagles. He had planned on visiting BC on March 15th, but because of the COVID-19 outbreak did not get to the Heights. 

This aggressive approach to the region will need to extend beyond this season, as the area continues to produce top level talent. In 2022 there are a handful of local recruits Boston College may target like inside linebacker Tyler Martin from Buckingham, Browne and Nichols, who recently visited and Ishmael Zamor a wide receiver from Everett. 

With COVID19 impacting his impact to meet with recruits, Jeff Hafley has a tall task ahead of him. But he hopes his energy and enthusiasm will make a difference in landing commitments from these local recruits.