Marcus Valdez, a two-year starting defensive end, spent much of the last three seasons playing alongside fellow edge rusher Brandon Barlow. Unlike Barlow, though, Valdez has an extra year of eligibility.

And the 2020 team captain is using it.

“After much thought, I have decided to return to Boston College for my last year of eligibility,” Valdez wrote in a statement via Twitter Thursday night. “I’m ready to continue improving my craft while helping lead this team to compete for a championship.”

Valdez missed the first three games of the 2021 season with a hand injury. Even so, he ended up tallying a career-high five sacks, which was tops on the team. He registered 27 total tackles, including 7.0 TFLs, and forced a pair of fumbles, in addition to recovering one.

The 6-foot, 259-pounder had a strong finish to the year, logging sacks in each of his final three games. He sealed the deal against Georgia Tech with a strip sack of Yellow Jackets quarterback Jordan Yates. Valdez then notched five solo tackles versus both Florida State and Wake Forest.

During Military Bowl prep, Valdez reflected on his time at BC, the trajectory of the program and head coach Jeff Hafley’s extension through the 2026 season.

“Coach Haf’s great,” Valdez said. “He brought a new energy to this program. I feel like we’re trending in the right direction. The record might not always show it, but I feel, intangibly—what people can’t see outside—things are trending in the right direction.”

Valdez recorded a team-leading 25 pressures this season and batted down a pair of passes, according to Pro Football Focus, although he did miss five tackles, posting a 17.2% missed tackle rate.

Setting the edge and containing dual-threat quarterbacks proved to be a challenge for Valdez and Barlow during their three years together.

Still, Valdez has consistently turned in high PFF defensive grades. As far as that metric goes, he was second on the team in 2020 (77.4) and first the year before (79.7).

In 2019, when he actually made only one start yet appeared in all 13 games, he totaled a career-high 35 pressures. Notably, Valdez had a strip sack in his first career start at Pittsburgh amid the Eagles’ bowl-clinching, regular season finale victory.

BC has been stuck in the bottom six of the ACC in sacks the last three seasons. Valdez will try to help the Eagles break that threshold.