Brian Cafarel
New coach Tom O’Brien knows this team needs some time to get used to his system. On Friday, he saw the first signs of progress.
In the first scrimmage on March 23, O’Brien said players missed assignments and lined up in the wrong places during a very sloppy game. Friday’s scrimmage showed a substantial all-around improvement, he said.
“I thought we had a much better go of it today,” O’Brien said. “The intensity was better, and the hitting was much better. Last week, we didn’t tackle well, and I probably didn’t hear pads hit each other.
“This week, it sounded like we were playing football out there, that’s what I liked best. We tackled much better, and we got lined up much better, especially on defense.”
Defensively, the squad forced six turnovers and showed a much better understanding of the new plays and schemes brought in by O’Brien. O’Brien said he liked what he saw from the team but he added it’s too early to single out any players.
“If you look at the stats, we created some turnovers on defense, which was good,” O’Brien said. “We are rotating so many guys at so many different things that until we hone in on anybody, it’s tough to comment. They were in the right position and they tackled a lot better today, so that’s a positive.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the three quarterbacks — sophomore transfer Harrison Beck, redshirt freshman Justin Burke and last year’s starter, redshirt junior Daniel Evans — ran approximately the same number of plays. O’Brien said the competition among the three is expected to be tight.
“I expect [the competition] to continue all the way to the first game,” O’Brien said. “No one has separated themselves right now, and I didn’t expect them to. Evans is still showing his experience and his command of the offense.
“Those other two kids are kind of learning, but they were much improved in the operation. The whole operation was better today, getting out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, getting the ball snapped.”
The running backs, a major strength of last year’s team, performed well, O’Brien said. Junior Toney Baker and redshirt sophomore Jamelle Eugene combined for 187 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. O’Brien said he was impressed with their play.
“They are tough running backs, and they are tough to tackle and bring down. That was part of the problem for the defense last week, but they caught up with them a little today. Those kids run hard, and that’s good.”
Overall, O’Brien said it’s nearly impossible to talk about this spring in relation to his years at Boston College.
“It’s pretty hard to compare a program nine days into it to one that’s been 10 years,” O’Brien said. “The faster they figure out where they’re supposed to be and how they’re going to get there, the better they will be at their fundamentals.
“We are much improved from a week ago, but we have a long way to go here and we know that. We just have to continue to keep working and look at the tape and get back on the practice field Monday.”