Lewis Bond Ready For Breakout Season
CHESTNUT HILL - If there's a chip on the shoulders of BC's offensive line this year, then there's a boulder on the shoulders of the wide receivers.
With Zay Flowers already showing he's going to be a huge addition for Baltimore, the BC offense has constantly had to answer the question of "how do you replace Zay?" all offseason. One of the guys that's had to answer those questions is Lewis Bond.
Bond - along with Dino Tomlin, Ryan O'Keefe, Taji Johnson, Jaden Williams, Joe Griffin and others - believe the room is more than capable of being a productive offense, maybe even a more dynamic one than it's been the last few years.
"(Coach) Wyatt touches on that a lot," Bond said after practice Wednesday when asked if there's a "prove it" feel in the room with all the talk about replacing Zay. "Every day, he says 'we can't talk about who's not in the room, we've got to worry about who's there.' We'll miss him because he's Zay, but, hey, we've got guys that can play in the room still right now."
Bond finished last season with just five catches for 51 yards as a redshirt freshman. With Zay no longer eating up the majority of the targets, guys like Bond will have more of an opportunity to ball out in 2023. Bond was already turning some heads this camp, and that was before his ridiculous one-handed catch was posted to BC social media pages during a practice this week.
"Just a little play, I got open. Ball was a little bit behind, but you've gotta make the play," he said. "Reward your quarterback for throwing you the ball."
The chemistry between Morehead and the receivers has grown exponentially from where it was at when the season ended a year ago, but is still a work in progress. For Bond and Morehead in particular though, joining the program together allowed them to build a relationship early on, which can only benefit them on the field moving forward.
"We came in together, so that's (Emmett) someone I feel really close with," Bond said. "He knows me, I know him. I know how he throws the ball. He knows how I run routes. We've got a good connection. I'm pretty close with him. I like the relationship I've got with him."
Despite redshirting the first two years, being in the program for three years now is huge for Bond. The comfort factor and knowing what to expect has gone a long way in allowing him to hit the ground running in 2023.
"I just felt more prepared physically and mentally this camp," he admitted. "Coming in as a freshman, I was behind Zay learning from him. I feel like I learned a lot from him and I'm just putting that to use this year."
With Chudzinski's offense now implemented, there's opportunities for every guy in the room to become a playmaker. There's no such thing as "too many mouths to feed" when BC's offense has struggled as much as it has the past few years.
"Yeah, we've got a lot of good receivers in the group," he said. "Jaden, O'Keefe, Dino, Taji, Joe...like, we've all got different skill sets, but we're all great at something. It's good to see everybody getting used in a way that they can play....Coach Chud staying here through the summer and in the spring, I learned a lot from him. Game plan wise, scheme wise, he's somebody that I talk to when I don't know what I'm doing or just trying to learn some more. He's got a lot of great insight."
A big part of this receiver group spreading the wealth will be O'Keefe's ability to stretch things out. Bond didn't give away any secrets, but did say there's some stuff fans will see this year that they probably haven't seen in a while.
The excitement Bond and the other receivers have within this offense should have fans excited too.
"He's fast, an explosive guy," Bond said of O'Keefe. "I just seen him open up for one of the first times (Tuesday), he's got some wheels, he can run...we've got a couple plays where he's taking the top off the defense where we've got something coming behind it. He's going to open up a lot for everybody."