We’re 57 days away from Boston College football’s season opener against Colgate, and on Thursday we got a little bit closer to seeing what the Eagles will look like in 2021.
The team updated its roster, complete with 115 players—12 more than last year—including eight walk-ons and six sixth-year players.
Walk-ons:
QB Andrew Butler (6-foot-3, 210; DePaul Catholic / Wayne, New Jersey)
QB Jack Brandon (6-foot-2, 195; Cheshire Academy / Williamsville, New York)
RB Tony Muse (5-foot-9, 170; Lawrence Academy / New Haven, Connecticut)
WR Luke McLaughlin (5-foot-10, 180; Hudson / Hudson, Ohio)
LB Emmett Hanna (6-foot-1, 215; St. Ignatius / Cleveland, Ohio)
OL Nick Thomas (6-foot-4, 283; Immaculate Conception / East Orange, New Jersey)
TE Tommy Degnan (6-foot-1, 240; Winchester / Winchester, Massachusetts)
K Matt Wilderson (5-foot-9, 170; DePaul Catholic / Wayne, New Jersey)
After spring ball, the quarterback room took a hit when Sam Johnson and Matt Valecce—the team’s third-string quarterbacks in 2020 and 2019, respectively—entered the transfer portal. Even though the position group was headlined by a promising gunslinger (and potential NFL prospect) as well as a proven backup, it was down to five players. Second-year head coach Jeff Hafley and his staff added some arms to the mix by pulling in walk-on signal callers Andrew Butler from DePaul Catholic (where four other Eagles played) and Jack Brandon from Cheshire Academy (the former home of cornerback Brandon Sebastian and wide receiver CJ Lewis, then a QB).
Butler was a two-star recruit and attracted “medium interest” from Penn State, Rutgers and Wake Forest, according to the Rivals recruiting database, but his lone offer was from FCS Long Island University. As a DePaul Catholic junior, he threw for 2,859 yards—a single-season school record—and 27 scores while leading the team to a state championship. Brandon, on the other hand, didn’t receive a star rating from Rivals or an offer, per the site’s database, however, he did toss 36 touchdowns in the span of three years at Cheshire Academy, where he also averaged north of 20 points per game for the basketball team.
BC brought in another running back from Lawrence Academy. He has some big shoes to fill. The last guy set the all-time program record for rushing yards and touchdowns and now plays for the Green Bay Packers. Obviously, the expectations for Tony Muse are different than AJ Dillon’s were. And Muse isn’t the same kind of player, either. He fits offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.’s footprint as a smaller, agile back who can catch the ball out of the backfield and line up in the slot. He ran a lot of misdirection and outside zone at Lawrence Academy, mostly out of the gun.
Then there’s Tommy Degnan, a local guy from Winchester, Massachusetts who was a quarterback in high school, where he led the Sachems to the Division III North Final while throwing and rushing for more than 1,000 yards. He was a two-way player, also spending time at linebacker and registering 70 tackles, two sacks and three interceptions. Degnan enrolled as a student at Miami last year but used his redshirt in 2020 and recently joined BC as a tight end. His father, Michael Degnan, was a three-year letterwinner at defensive tackle for the Eagles in the ’80s.
It’s also important to note that Matt Wilderson, another DePaul Catholic grad, will join the special teams unit as a kicker. This will be Aaron Boumerhi’s sixth and final year in the collegiate ranks, and the Eagles have three-star Virginia native Connor Lytton on deck, but it’s never a bad thing to have more fresh legs to boost training camp competition, especially after Boumerhi graduates.
Number Updates:
● Jacksonville State transfer tight end Trae Barry will wear No. 3.
● Three-star defensive end Neto Okpala will wear No. 4, the number Max Roberts donned last year when he led the team in sacks.
● Three-star defensive back Jalen Cheek will wear No. 15.
● West Virginia transfer running back Alec Sinkfield will wear No. 26, David Bailey’s old number.
● Three-star linebacker Owen McGowan, the 2020 Gatorade State Player of the Year in Massachusetts, will wear No. 52.
● UMass transfer defensive lineman Jake Byczko will wear No. 95.
● Three-star defensive tackle Nigel Tate will wear No. 98.
Position Changes:
Freshman Jalon Williams was brought in as a defensive back and had an array of offers to play corner in the Power Five, but the Grand Prairie, Texas, native will be lining up at wideout this fall. He has the speed. After all, he was part of a school record-setting 4×100-meter relay at South Grand Prairie.
Freshman Jamareeh Jones signed with BC as an “athlete.” Now, he’s listed as a defensive back. The 5-foot-11 Highland Springs (Richmond, Virginia) product played quarterback, wide receiver and safety in high school. At the moment, he’ll be sticking to the defensive side of the ball.
Freshman Jaylen Blackwell was recruited as a safety yet has made the move to linebacker, like fellow classmate Bryce Steele and sophomore Kam Arnold. At 6-foot, 195 pounds, Blackwell has a good frame for the position. He should be valuable in the open field, as he spent time in the backfield for Union Grove, piling up 1,048 career rushing yards and 15 touchdowns ahead of his senior year.
There were a few players in BC’s 2021 recruiting class who were originally listed as hybrids such as Okpala (DE/OLB) and Lewis Bond (WR/RB). Okpala is now down as just a defensive end, and Bond is solely part of the wide receiver corps. He had two catches for 36 yards in the Spring Game, along with what could have very well been a highlight-reel, toe-tapping touchdown grab.
Notable Weight Changes:
Note: These are measured by comparing the team’s spring roster to the updated 2021 roster.
● CB CJ Burton went from 160 to 172 (+12)
● LB Bryce Steele went from 220 to 215 (-5)
● CB Jason Maitre went from 180 to 188 (+8)
● WR Zay Flowers went from 173 to 177 (+4)
● S Jaiden Lars-Woodbey went from 225 to 221 (-4)
● DT Khris Banks went from 299 to 294 (-5)
● DE Donovan Ezeiruaku went from 224 to 237 (+13)
● TE Joey Luchetti went from 243 to 252 (+9)
● S Mike Palmer went from 194 to 200 (+6)
● RB Xavier Coleman went from 180 to 187 (+7)
● DE Brandon Barlow went from 250 to 258 (+8)
● OL Ben Petrula went from 325 to 314 (-11)
● OL Drew Kendall went from 278 to 285 (+7)
● K Connor Lytton went from 211 to 200 (-11)
● DL Izaiah Henderson went from 266 to 289 (+23)