Hafley, Eagles ready for spring football
Practices kick off on Saturday
A lively sound of spring on the Boston College campus is the cracking of shoulder pads emanating from the Eagles’ football training facility adjacent to Alumni Stadium.
BC will begin the process of building upon last season’s 6-5 record when spring practice begins on Saturday at Fish Field House.
The session will include 14 practices and an NFL pro day on March 26 for tight end Hunter Long and linebackers Isaiah McDuffie and Max Richardson. The mini training camp will conclude with the Jay McGillis Memorial Spring Game April 24.
Last season’s spring practice was canceled after five sessions when BC shut down at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Second-year head coach Jeff Hafley plans to use every minute of spring ball as the foundation for the 2021 season opener at home against Colgate on Sept. 4.
“I want this to be about competition and we’ve gotten more players and we know each other and I want guys to compete and push each other,” said Hafley during a remote press briefing.
“That goes back to our beliefs in fundamentals and techniques stressed by our staff. What I think is so important now is that we can dive into schemes on offense, defense and special teams which we had to hold back on a bit because we didn’t have a spring last year.”
Hafley values continuity on his coaching staff to facilitate team-building while assimilating mid-year transfers and the dozen freshman recruits granted early enrollment.
Defensive backs coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim declined an opportunity to be a defensive coordinator at a Power-5 school while offensive line coach Matt Applebaum turned down an NFL job offer. Hafley rewarded Abdul-Rahim’s loyalty by promoting him to associate head coach.
“Keeping my staff together was the most important thing I could do in the offseason before spring ball,” said Hafley. “We had guys with good opportunities.
“We came in and discussed them and we didn’t lose any of them, which is huge, and they love Boston College and they love our players.”
While the offseason program was limited by COVID restrictions that remain in place, it is light years improved on last spring when players were scattered across the country with limited training options.
BC strength and conditioning coach Phil Matusz did a remarkable job in training camp last August conditioning the troops for the season opener at Duke. Half the roster returned to campus from locked-down states.
Hafley deliberately started spring ball a week late to provide Matusz’ additional time to fully implement his offseason conditioning regimen.
“Phil got really creative thinking outside the box and the fact that our kids came back in probably better shape than most was because he and his staff reacclimated them,” said Hafley.
“This year we pushed spring ball back to the 20th which is late because we wanted to give Phil more time to develop our team. I think the development physically and mentally in the weight room is as important as anything we as coaches can do on the field.”