Petrula finds his place at center of BC’s offensive line
There are no rollover defensive tackles in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Boston College true freshman center Ben Petrula adjusted to that cold certainty over a short period of time against some real beasts.
Petrula is guaranteed another tough encounter with North Carolina State senior nose tackle B.J. Hill when the Eagles host the Wolfpack tomorrow in a crucial Atlantic Division clash at Alumni Stadium.
“I feel way more comfortable now than I ever have and way more than I did earlier in the season,” said Petrula. “I feel like we are really starting to jell as an (offensive) line, especially after these last three games. We played some really good tough competition, topping off against the Florida State defense. It just goes to show we’ve been working together and working hard to get where we are at.”
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Petrula is part of a rotation at guard or tackle, the two positions he played at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J. Petrula’s careful immersion into the BC blocking mix was shelved after the first game of the season. Senior center Jon Baker of Millis, who began the year on the Rimington Trophy watch list, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opener at Northern Illinois on Sept. 1.
Baker’s backup, Shane Leonard of Marshfield, hurt his knee in training camp and was not available. That left BC without a center for the season opener.
Eagles coach Steve Addazio and offensive line coach Justin Frye selected Petrula, who has started eight straight games, a stretch that included ranked opponents Notre Dame, Clemson and Virginia Tech.
“He’s still a young guy and those first couple of games for him was a whole new world,” said Addazio. “I think more than being a freshman it was changing to a position that can be overwhelming and I’ve never seen a guy handle it like that before. In the big scheme of things it is pretty unbelievable with the gauntlet of teams we’ve played how fast he adapted. And playing the center position added an extra dimension to it.”
Petrula’s first order of business was establishing a working relationship with redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Brown. Petrula took a crash course in the fundamentals of snapping in the shotgun, reading defensive formations and directing the guards and tackles on both sides of the ball.
“That following week me and Ben worked tremendously,” said Brown. “We gave so many hours into working snaps and running through plays with him under center and him calling out plays. He made it a lot easier for me and I made it a lot easier for him so we just contributed to each other’s learning.”
BC is coming off the bye with three straight ACC wins. With three games remaining, the Eagles are averaging 24.3 points and 370.1 total yards behind an offensive line that has allowed just seven sacks.
“Toughness and knowing your stuff really helps,” said Petrula. “Knowing your assignment on each play and chemistry throughout the whole offensive line is very helpful as well. Knowing on your double teams and having timing and just being able to move people really.”