Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley wants his defensive backs to finish violently. That’s what associate head coach and DBs coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim preaches, too.

“My philosophy is, I’d rather them tell me to slow down than to pick it up,” fifth-year strong safety Jaiden Woodbey said after BC’s spring game. “I’d rather them be like, ‘Alright, hey, relax. Don’t do that.’ Rather than, ‘Come on, pick it up.’

“So that’s all of our mindset.”

It’s part of living in the “jungle,” what Abdul-Rahim has called the Eagles’ secondary since he joined Hafley’s staff ahead of the 2020 season.

“It gets dangerous in the jungle,” Woodbey said. “You gotta be cautious where you go in the jungle. There’s a lot of animals. We all just got to be animals on the field.”

Two years removed from allowing the ninth-most yards per game through the air and grading out as the 10th-worst Pro Football Focus pass coverage team in the country, BC ranked third nationally in pass defense in 2021. The Eagles allowed an ACC-best 173.5 passing yards per contest—an average of 72 yards fewer than the previous season when they jumped 40 spots to 82nd in the FBS.

“I think Coach Aazaar has done a really good job,” Hafley said. “I think that has to be one of the strengths of our team. We were the third-ranked pass defense in the country last year. And we need to improve off that.”

As remarkable as BC’s improvement against the pass has been, it’s important to note, however, that the Eagles ranked 92nd in the country in rushing yards allowed per game (170.25) last year. And, consequently, the Eagles were rushed against in non-garbage time the 24th-most often nationally in 2021, according to Parker Fleming of Football Outsiders.

In a nutshell, teams were running on BC more than they were going to the air. So that makes the Eagles’ secondary look better on paper. But it doesn’t really take away from this group’s transformation.

For instance, even in matchups where BC gave up hefty aerial yardage against pass-first teams, its secondary made plays to either keep the Eagles alive or win them the game. Like against Missouri, when BC notched two interceptions, including Brandon Sebastian’s overtime pick that iced a field-storming victory. Or in the regular season finale versus Wake Forest when Sebastian gave the Eagles an opportunity to maintain a one-score game before halftime by intercepting Sam Hartman in the red zone.

The biggest outlier was the North Carolina State Homecoming blowout, in which BC allowed Devin Leary three passing touchdowns. It was a throw-away game for the Eagles, though, as everything that could go wrong, went wrong. It started with Wolfpack receiver Devin Carter making a circus scoring grab while being draped by BC cornerback Elijah Jones.

But, aside from that loss, BC allowed just 11 passing touchdowns in its other 11 games. The secondary played a significant role in the Eagles ranking 27th nationally in opponent third down conversion rate (34.7%) and 29th nationally in opponent red zone scoring percentage (76.9%).

Not only was BC tied for 16th in the country in fewest passing touchdowns allowed (14), but it was also tied for 27th in the FBS in opponent completion percentage (57.9%).

The Eagles were seventh in PFF coverage grade (87.8) with seven different defensive backs who finished the year with individual PFF coverage scores north of 72.

BC’s backend is filled with playmakers, or, as Woodbey would say, “animals.” Despite missing the final two games of the 2021 campaign, Josh DeBerry still finished fifth on the team in total tackles and ranked atop the BC leaderboard with 36 solos. The All-ACC second teamer moved to nickel last season, and he thrived. DeBerry was used in blitz packages, as a run defender and, of course, in coverage. He posted the second-best PFF tackling grade (84.0) and the highest coverage grade (79.2) on the team.

“The guy shows up on game day,” defensive coordinator Tem Lukabu said this spring. “And what’s more important than that? He knows there’s a lot of things that he can work on and get better at. But if you’re looking for a player, the bottom line is, what does he do when the whistle blows on Saturdays or whenever we play, and that’s what he does.”

He’s not alone, either. BC defensive backs made a habit of making big plays when it mattered most. Woodbey intercepted Georgia Tech’s Jordan Yates in the red zone late in the third quarter, protecting what was a four-point Eagles lead at the time. Free safety Jason Maitre sacked Clemson’s DJ Uiagalelei on a critical 3rd-and-3 to give BC one last shot at its upset bid in Death Valley.

In addition to DeBerry, Woodbey and Maitre, the Eagles also return Jones—BC’s best gunner and a corner with rich starting experience who had the fifth-best PFF coverage grade on the team in 2021—as well as a host of young playmakers, including former four-star recruit CJ Burton and a head-turning mid-year in Amari Jackson.

“There’s two sides of it,” DeBerry said. “There’s the returners, like me and Eli, who are coming back. We have some experience. We gotta step up and have more of a leadership role. And there’s the younger guys who have to step up and have to [make] an impact right away as well.”

Hafley, who spent seven years coaching defensive backs in the NFL before returning to the collegiate ranks, likes to rotate BC’s DBs. Last season, seven of them played more than 290 snaps.

Jalon Williams, now a redshirt freshman, wasn’t part of that group. He’s competing for the open spot left by NFL hopeful Sebastian, but he’s well aware he could get onto the field even if he’s not the starter.

“It’s just a day-by-day thing,” Williams said of the cornerback competition this spring. “It’s whoever is on that day. We’re all fighting for that position, and it doesn’t really matter who really gets it because we’re all gonna play. We’re all gonna see some playing time. So it’s just when your number’s called.

“It’s if you’re ready or not.”

There’s a certain edge to BC’s secondary.

The program is known for producing NFL O-Linemen. Zion Johnson is the latest surefire prospect scouts and analysts have salivated over, and for good reason. Plus, the Eagles could have as many as three other offensive linemen selected in this year’s draft.

From 1999 to 2015, 44% of the program’s NFL draftees were O-Linemen. But from 2016 to 2019, the Eagles saw five of their defensive backs drafted, including safeties Justin Simmons and John Johnson III, who are the third- and 11th-highest paid NFL players at their position, respectively.

Woodbey, a former five-star recruit who played his first three years at Florida State, wants to join that fraternity. And that starts with his goal for 2022: becoming the best safety in the ACC.

He’s aiming high, and so is the rest of the Eagles’ secondary.

Fierce and determined. All gas, no breaks. Creatures of habit.

“I feel like that jungle,” Woodbey said. “I feel like we embody that. We take pride in it, too. That’s what we break out on every meeting after every practice, before every practice. It’s just a culture. It’s a habit.”