Scrimmage Recap: Quarterbacks
The Boston College football team held their first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium. Before we dive into details, let's first go over how the scrimmage is played because it's not like a normal football game.
Who Plays: The 1st string offense goes against the 1st string defense, and the 2nd string offense goes against the 2nd string defense. Some players(particularly those in position battles) play on both units during the day.
Time Limits: The game is not timed. Each "string" gets 12 snaps and then switches off with the other "string"
Kickoff and Punts: None. Therefore, each series of 12 snaps starts off on a specific spot on the field. Those pre-assigned spots for the offense are- Own 20, Own 35, 50, Opponents 35, Opponents 20
Other Quirks: There are downs just like a real game. Since there are no punts, when 4th down comes up the offense "resets". It becomes 1st down again, and the offense restarts at the pre-assigned yard spot for that series of 12 snaps. The only exception is if the offense is in field goal range they will attempt a field goal on 4th down.
Quarterback Protection: The quarterbacks are down when they are touched.
Quarterbacks
Chase Rettig (11-for-16 171 yards) had a very impressive debut to the spring, which was highlighted by a 35-yard touchdown bomb to Ifeanyi Momah, on a pass that traveled more than 40 yards through the air. Rettig lofted the ball just high enough for Momah, so that he had an advantage over the shorter cornerback. Rettig's other TD pass went to Momah, this one from 20 yards out. Rettig hit Momah on a slant pattern 15 yards down the field and the wideout did the rest to get into the endzone.
Rettig came out of the gates looking good, as he took the 1st team offense on a long opening drive, which is almost unheard of in the 1st scrimmage of the year. The 1st team offense was without Montel Harris, Colin Larmond, Chris Pantale, Nathan Richman, and Mark Spinney, but Rettig was able to take the makeshift 1st unit on a 12 play drive inside the redzone of the defense. The drive ultimately stalled out when Max Holloway sacked Rettig coming off of the edge on a 3rd down inside the 20.
Overall, Rettig looked very comfortable in offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers' new offense. Rogers utilized Rettig out of the pocket quite a bit, and Rettig looked comfortable throwing on the run.
Aside from the touchdown passes, another highlight of Rettig's was a 25-yard bullet down the field to Alex Amidon. Rettig through an extremely difficult pass 25 yards through the air and struck Amidon perfectly in the numbers as the wide receiver was cutting across the middle of the field. It was one of the best and most difficult passes I've seen Rettig make in a game situation. Late in the scrimmage, Rettig showed off his legs when he scrambled 12 yards for a 1st down.
Of Rettig's 16 passes, one was thrown right to Kevin Pierre Louis, but the linebacker dropped the ball. It was Rettig's only bad pass of the day.
Almost as impressive as Rettig, was junior Dave Shinskie, who has definitely taken an early lead in the backup quarterback battle. Shinskie finished 8-of-10 for 97 yards and three touchdowns, and if not for two botched exchanges with the center you could've said that he played almost as well as Rettig did.
Shinskie was actually the 3rd quarterback onto the field, as Mike Marscovetra initially took snaps with the 2nd unit. When Shinskie got his turn, things went south quickly as he fumbled his first snap under center.
To Shinskie's credit he settled down after a shaky start and got into quite a groove. Shinskie's 1st touchdown pass came inside the redzone, when he found Donte Elliot on a quick out-pattern from the 5-yard line. Although a short throw, it had a high degree of difficulty, as Elliot was covered closely and caught the ball just inside the out of bounds marker on the short side of the field. Shinskie looked right and threw a bullet putting the pass literally in the only spot that the defender couldn't touch it and Elliot could catch it inbounds. It was a great play by both players.
After the touchdown, the offense "reset" and took the ball at the defense's 35-yard line. Feeling hot, Shinskie threw a 35 yard bomb on the very next play to Alex Amidon, who had created a little separation from the cornerback when Shinskie let the ball go. The pass hung in the air a little and the safety probably should've knocked down the pass at the very least, but instead the ball came down right into Amidon's hands for a touchdown.
Later in the scrimmage, Shinskie threw his 3rd TD of the day, this time to Lars Anderson. Unlike the bullet TD pass to Elliot, this one Shinskie lofted to Anderson as he broke free in the left corner of the endzone. Shinskie had nice touch on the ball.
< b>Mike Marscovetra finished 11-of-13 for 86 yards. Looking back, Marscovetra delivered exactly what you'd expect from him. He didn't make any dramatic or dazzling plays and at the same time he didn't really make any mistakes. It was a very conventional day from Marscovetra.
Josh Bordner had the worst day statistically of any of the quarterbacks finishing 5-of-13 for 32 yards. Of all the quarterbacks, Bordner was probably the most sporadic.
On the negative side of things, Bordner threw two pass attempts that probably should've been interceptions. On both occasions, Bordner had to rush his throws with the pass rush coming. On a positive note, Bordner had probably the prettiest incompletion of the game. Midway through the scrimmage, Bordner threw a bomb that traveled over 50 yards in the air to Paul Maglio, and it looked to be a perfect touchdown pass. The wind caught the ball and at the very last second Ted Davenport was able to tip the pass away.
Check back soon, as EagleAction will have observations about the rest of the offense, the defense, and special teams.
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