Last year, the Eagles went below the radar and dubbed a 3-10 record that nobody really wants to remember. All three wins were against non-conference teams but it’s a new year for the Eagles with new recruits coming in to make a splash.
Ireland is a beautiful country with picturesque views but on September 3rd, it’s where the Eagles take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic that only some teams have experienced and fortunately this year, BC is a part of the Irish football classic.
Looking at what the Eagles have, the QB situation has beefed up with the addition of transfer student Patrick Towles from the University of Kentucky and he will do what Tyler Murphy did a few years back and play as a grad student. Towles, who stands at 6’5, is a bigger QB, something BC hasn’t worked with in a while. Along with Towles, there still is Darius Wade, Troy Flutie and Jeff Smith but Smith according to sources, is switching to a wide receiver. For the running backs, BC gets back a prized running back in Jon Hilliman, who had a season ending injury early in the season. Hilliman looks to guide BC on the ground along with receivers like Sherman Alston Jr, Charlie Callinan, and I have my eye on junior Thadd Smith, who is a speedster out in the open field.
On the defensive side of the ball, there were some key losses from the NFL Draft (Simmons, Abdesmad, Daniels, Wujciak) but the Eagles are still one of the most feared defenses and a shutdown defense to say the least. On the edge rushing side, DE Harold Landry and Wyatt Ray are two young guns that will pressure the QB and will do it against the best competition (watch the Florida State game from last year) and Landry especially could make this year special and could possibly be playing on Sundays down the line.
The linebacker corps had been solid with Steven Daniels, but now with the Washington Redskins, Daniels is fighting for his career but who could replace the brick wall of Steven Daniels? Senior LB Matt Milano and fellow LB Connor Strachan have shown promise and both are prepped for good production in the 2016 season. In the secondary, we all know who Justin Simmons was and he delivered in 2015. Now after the Simmons era, senior defensive back John Johnson is prepped in my opinion to take over the Justin Simmons role for BC. With 3 interceptions last year, Johnson quietly had a decent year in the Simmons shadow. His best performance came when he had totaled 11 tackles against Louisville.
On special teams, the kicker position has been kind of a jumbling problem for BC but trimming down to two kickers was smart because now they have to keep up the consistency of kicking field goals/PAT’s. Knoll and Litchenberg are the two kickers that are battling for the starting job.
For Georgia Tech, the one name that keeps popping up for the Yellow Jackets and the most important position for GT is QB Justin Thomas. Thomas, a senior, is what you would call the ultimate dual threat QB as Thomas ran for over 50 yards in 6 different games and double digit rushing numbers in 9 games.
Get ready cause BC football is around the corner and it starts September 3rd!
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