Williams aims to carry big load
Boston College senior tailback Andre Williams performed light duty during yesterday’s intensive practice at Alumni Stadium.
Williams was the Eagles’ featured ball carrier in Saturday’s 24-14 win over Villanova. Williams intends to resume that role when the Eagles host Wake Forest on Friday (8 p.m.) in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Williams rushed for 114 yards on 23 carries that included a 26-yard touchdown dash down the left sideline that put BC up 21-14. But Williams’ right hamstring felt uneasy following the touchdown, so he sat out the fourth quarter.
“It is all right, it’s just precautionary today but I’m going to be ready for Friday,” said Williams. “It was just a little twinge when I came out for the third quarter and after the touchdown.”
Williams’ success on the ground forced the Wildcats to load the box with run-prevent formations. Eagles quarterback Chase Rettig exploited Villanova’s overload with play-action passing and threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite eclipsing the 100yard barrier for the sixth time, Williams said the game film revealed deficiencies in his effort.
“I’m glad I reached a hundred and it is always nice to enjoy the win,” said Williams. “But when you come in for film the next day and you see how many yards you left on the field.
“I have a lot more improving to do just overall. That means making better reads on the certain plays and in pass protection and following through on all my assignments.”
Williams has a lot of unfinished business to account for with the Demon Deacons. As a freshman, he didn’t touch the ball against Wake Forest and sprained his right ankle on his second carry the following season.
Williams suffered a freak injury on his fourth carry at Wake Forest on Nov. 3 and missed the remainder of the 2012 season with abdominal issues.
“I got tackled and one of the linemen jumped on top,” said Williams. “It kind of splayed my legs apart and it strained my abdominals.”
Bloody Tuesday . . . early
BC coach Steve Addazio condensed the team’s practice schedule to compensate for the short week.
Tuesday is typically the Eagles toughest and most comprehensive session, but Addazio moved it up a day.
“We call it Bloody Tuesday because it’s rough and it’s ugly and it’s hard and we don’t have a lot of time or margin for error,” said Addazio.
Grobe factor
Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is difficult to game plan against because the Demon Deacons use a lot of option and misdirection to enhance the talents of quarterback Tanner Price, who is one of the best field generals in the ACC.
Addazio said the staff did preseason advance scout work on Wake Forest, but got most of its working knowledge from the Demon Deacons’ 31-7 win over Presbyterian on Aug. 29 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
“If you are playing against a conventional team and you’ve got enough weeks in, you can say, ‘ Let’s use this game plan.’ But that’s hard to do now,” said Addazio.
“But with their option (attack) they will pose a lot of issues for us in a short week. You hope to plan a lot of vanilla teams early and we are not getting that.”