Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley believes his team improved not only physically but also mentally from the first scrimmage of fall camp to the next. By his estimation, though, the Eagles still have work to do before they can line up against Colgate on Sept. 4.
“Are we ready to play right now,” Hafley asked rhetorically during BC’s annual media day on Monday. “We’re closer. We need this week to get them more ready to play in the real game. We’ll do a lot more game-type work this week. We’ll get the coaches on the sideline, and we’ll put the players on the field. It won’t be scripted.”
In the next week and a half, Hafley wants his crew to sharpen its execution. That means no missed assignments or coverage busts.
He joked that he’s worried about second-year defensive coordinator Tem Lukabu giving away BC’s playbook to Colgate, Lukabu’s alma mater. Lukabu starred at linebacker for the Raiders, winning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 2002 and 2003.
It’s an Eagles playbook that Hafley promises will be significantly more creative than last year’s, which he often refers to as “vanilla.” Hafley said the schematic installations have been going well in fall camp, however, he noted that the playbook will expand game by game. In other words, we won’t see everything new all at once.
“I want to see this week how much we can handle,” he said. “Because once we figure out how much our guys can handle, and then we start game planning, then we need to shrink it. How much can we really carry into a game? That’s our job as coaches to figure out.”
For now, BC’s focus remains self-improvement, something Hafley and his staff have preached since they arrived in Chestnut Hill last offseason. “Fundamentals” and “technique” are the bread and butter concepts of that coaching principle.
Hafley explained that once you switch into game mode, you lose some of that emphasis as well as a degree of positional competition across the roster. He elaborated, pointing out that, in a game week, the ones face the scout team—players who are outside the two-deep—whereas, right now, it’s “good on good”: the ones versus the ones, the two versus the twos and so on.
“It’s Zay Flowers against Josh DeBerry,” Hafley said. “And how good can we get him in the next three or four practices. It’s Phil Jurkovec going against the first-team D-Line and our first-team back seven and trying to maximize him getting better.”
What’s more, there are still ongoing position battles. Hafley said that he and the staff are “close with most of” the depth chart but that there are still some starting spots that aren’t settled yet. He discussed how his staff meets every week on the players’ off day and they go through the personnel, with position coaches ranking their guys and explaining each player’s strengths, weaknesses and respective roles.
“I want a competitive group right until we kickoff,” Hafley said. “And then Week 2 and 3, I want that [second-string] guy to be breathing down their neck so they stay on top of their stuff.”
Hafley noted that, particularly in the secondary and the wide receiver room, it’s been helpful to have so much depth, which he says is the catalyst for competition.
The second-year head coach isn’t worried about holding off until Monday to start Colgate prep. After all, typically, teams only have a maximum of six days during a game week.
Still, there’s no doubt he’s excited to be in Alumni Stadium again—this time, with fans.
“I think it will be fun running out and actually when the smoke clears this time seeing real people. Just hope they’re not yelling at me. But I’m excited for that.
“It will be fun.”
