Boston College: Football Preseason Practice Report No. 14

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Football Preseason Practice Report No. 14

Eagles wrap up Tuesday’s practice working on overcoming adversity

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College head football coach Steve Addazio had his team running and chasing on Tuesday morning as practice wrapped up.

After a strong start to the session on Alumni Stadium, the third week of preseason camp began to take its toll on the Eagles, both mentally and physically.

“It gets hard right now,” Addazio said. “You saw that today. The defense struggled early and then the offense struggled late. Everybody’s tired. That’s that area where you are trying to work on mentally: your ability to overcome all that. That’s where we are. They know it. Every team in America gets to this point. We have to learn how to come out of that stuff.”

And Addazio had an answer for that … and it’s an answer that he knows will benefit his team in the long run.

“We’ve got guys that are fatigued making poor decisions, whether it be on a football play, whether it be how you handle something,” he said. “We’re going to learn how to be in better shape to make better decisions. It’s all decision making to me. Inability to execute and inability to make good decisions. It creeps in, it starts to grip you by the throat when you’re fatigued and you’re tired and you get whiny.

“What you’re trying to teach is how to handle adversity – whatever the adversity is – how to handle adversity. Human nature has a tendency with adversity to buckle, to complain. You have to really work at learning how to stay strong in the face of adversity. And so you try to train your whole team that way: how to get your team to bring the strength out of each other, not the weakness,” Addazio continued.

One area Addazio is excited about is the continued competition on the squad. With a host of starters and veterans returning, he’s been seeing great things from the younger members of the team – creating solid competition at almost every position.

He’s enjoyed the competition so much, he and his staff have held off releasing a preseason two-deep as he wants to see camp play out.

“I think we’re in a good spot right now,” he said. “Competition is good. I think when you have a guy that’s clearly defined, that’s one thing. When you don’t, it’s different. Let the personalities emerge, let it develop. Let it happen a little bit. Sometimes what you do has guys fit themselves into a certain kind of mode and I don’t want that now because it’s not necessary.

“But every year is different and every situation is different. That’s where I feel it is right now. But I feel that in a very positive way,” he said.

PRACTICE NOTES: Former BC tight end Mike Naples and former wide receiver Drew Barksdale attended today’s practice as guests … a scout from the Atlanta Falcons was on hand … in situational 11-on-11 drills, freshman quarterback Anthony Brown hit graduate wide receiver Charlie Calnan over the top for a deep completion … in the same series, sophomore running back Davon Jones found a hole in the line for a long scamper after the handoff from Brown … freshman quarterback Matt McDonald connected with freshman wide receiver CJ Lewis twice for long receptions, then sophomore wide receiver Nolan Borgersen hauled in a long diagonal pass from McDonald deep in the corner of the end zone … in later full 11-on-11 action, senior wide receiver Thadd Smith broke free down the left sideline for a touchdown from graduate quarterback Darius Wade.