Boston College Preseason Practice Report No. 12

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Boston College Preseason Practice Report No. 12

BC held a scrimmage for the second time this preseason

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Boston College football team held its second scrimmage of the preseason Saturday morning inside Alumni Stadium. The first team was able to run 65 plays as the scrimmage saw both the offense and defense have their moments.

Boston College head coach Steve Addazio offered his perspective after the morning scrimmage. “I thought that we had a great day of work here today,” said Addazio. “We came out here and we tried to keep it into quarters. We wanted the ones to come out here with about 65, 70 snaps and they took 65 snaps today. That’s a lot but it’s good.”

The Eagles tried to mimic game conditions and went into the locker room for halftime, like a normal game day. “It’s the first time we tried to keep it in some kind of a game flow right there, so I was really pleased with that,” added Addazio. “Obviously, we ended the day healthy. We had really good moments throughout the scrimmage. I have to watch the tape and really assess everything in detail. I thought that we competed hard and I thought that there were some good learning experiences in there, for some of the young quarterbacks too.”

Addazio is pleased with the team’s health and spoke about the progress the team has made so far this camp.

“Overall, we’re two weeks into camp and the guys are pretty heavy legged right now to be honest with you. It was fairly crisp for a two week in training camp right now. I was pretty encouraged by that. And we’re healthy. We were out of here healthy as far as I know right now, which is maybe as important as anything. We’ve gotten a ton of work done here in the last two weeks.”

Both quarterbacks vying for the starting job – graduate student Darius Wade and redshirt freshman Anthony Brown – both had their moments during Saturday’s scrimmage.

Wade led the first team offense to a touchdown on the opening drive, finding junior tight end Tommy Sweeney three times, including on the scrimmage’s first touchdown. Wade also threw a perfect pass to junior wide receiver Jeff Smith over the middle for a 20-yard gain.

Brown looked to settle in during the second half of the scrimmage and found his groove. The New Jersey native connected with redshirt freshman wide receiver Kobay White for a 60-yard gain on the biggest play of the scrimmage as he threw a perfect pass downfield. The two also connected on a route over the middle for a big gain as he hit White in stride.

“They both looked like they had their moments where they looked good,” Addazio said. “I kind of want to watch it. When I’m out there, I’m trying to stay ahead of how many plays the ones had, how many plays the twos had. Those quarterbacks are constantly rotating who they are working with and I almost lose track of who’s in each series. It’s really hard for me to assess that right now, that’s what the tape is for. We tried to get them all reps and I think we did. Maybe we didn’t get enough reps for the top two, I have to go back and take a look at that. But today was the day we wanted to make sure they all got some reps.”

One position battle still ongoing as well is at placekicker. Junior placekicker Colton Lichtenberg was a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals during the scrimmage, including a long from 42-yards out. Senior Mike Knoll was also 2-for-2, with his long of 37 yards.

After an off day Sunday, the Eagles begin week three of preseason camp Monday.

Practice Notes: Freshman EJ Perry found junior tight end Joe Vitiello in the red zone for a touchdown … senior linebacker Connor Strachan, who has played both inside and outside linebacker in camp, was all over the field Saturday. The All-ACC linebacker drilled freshman running back AJ Dillon on a running play and also recorded a big TFL in pass coverage … junior running back Richard Wilson scored two touchdowns during the scrimmage … AJ Dillon had one of the best runs of the scrimmage as he ran through true freshman defensive back Jahmin Muse for a big gain … redshirt junior Jon Hilliman and sophomore Davon Jones continued their strong preseason with several nice runs during the scrimmage … sophomore defensive back Hamp Cheevers almost had a pick-six during the scrimmage but could not come up with the catch … junior defensive end Wyatt Ray continues to flash during preseason as he tallied another sack Saturday.