Sophomores Should Be Able To Avoid A Slump In 2025

That's probably because a lot of guys simply don't stay in one place long enough to have two years somewhere, but the Eagles have a group of second-year guys that need to avoid those two words if the team is going to handle a difficult schedule successfully this year.

BC has six 'true' sophomores with 18 redshirt ones heading into spring ball in a few weeks. If you take a look at that group, there's some names here that not only should have an impact, but need to for the team to win games.

Let's take a quick look at the true sophomores first...

Turbo Richard

Turbo is a key piece to that running back puzzle. Last year after a big spring ball and training camp, he sort of first made his presence known with a 15-carry, 74-yard performance against Duquesne. He came up big in the rain on Red Bandanna Night vs. Michigan State with a TD on 10 carries with 16 yards. Richard only got nine carries each against UVA and VT, but churned out 51 and 64 yards respectively. Finished with 278 yards on 55 carries. Assuming he continues to improve he should be a weapon again for this offense.

Ashton McShane

McShane and the next two guys took a big hit this past weekend with the loss of coach Ray Brown to the 49ers, but they're still very talented and proved they could play at this level more often than not last season when forced into early action. McShane's stats certainly didn't stand out (he finished with 14 solo tackles and four pass break ups in eight games), but he's a good cover guy and still learning.

Omar Thornton

Most of the same can be said for Thornton after a great season a year ago. Thornton had seven games with two or more tackles with 10 games played. He finished with 20 solo tackles and a forced fumble.

Syair Torrence

Torrence is an interesting case. He obviously didn't see the field last year aside from the UNC game (he had one tackle in that game), but with Jackson carefully working his way back, he should be able to compete for some time early on in the spring.

Jonathan Montague Jr.

Montague Jr. had quite an interesting first year with BC, getting looks at QB and at wide receiver. His biggest impact will obviously come at receiver. While that room is very deep and it'll be tough to see the field at times, you can't teach speed and he has a lot of it. He had five grabs for 26 yards last year. Will be interesting to see if that speed gives him a leg up on anyone else fighting for a role.

Favor Bate

Coming over from Merrimack, Bate could immediately add to the pass rush group and become a favorite of new D-line coach Jordan Thomas. Bate had 2.5 sacks and five solo tackles a year ago as a freshman forced to play early on. They'll ease him in to ACC ball, but he may leave them no choice but to put him on the field early and often.

In that large group of redshirt sophomores, there's guys we already know are going to be extremely important and others that still have something to prove when it comes to earning more playing time.

Reed Harris, Josiah Griffin, Datrell Jones, Carter Davis and Eryx Daugherty are players in that redshirt sophomore group that we absolutely know should and need to have an impact. New addition Ty Lockwood (Alabama) could be a massive addition at tight end. 'Bama's Dylan Lonergan will make life hard on Grayson James at QB. Merrimack O-lineman Amir Johnson and Kennesaw State receiver Bryce Dopson could (and probably are expected to) immediately step in and help.

Other redshirt guys already in-house that could very well take another step forward are Nate Johnson (WR), Palaie Faoa (LB), Ryan Mickow (OL) and Michael Crounse (OL).

We'll take a look at the juniors and seniors next week as we creep closer and closer to the unofficial start of the season.