Major Takeaways from Boston College Football's Spring Roster
With the MLB season currently in purgatory, hope springing eternal resides with the beginning of the spring season in college football. Boston College released their spring football roster last week. It contained updated position changes, heights and weights, and jersey number changes. Let’s get into some of the most significant changes on the new spring roster.
Position Changes
Surprisingly few to report on this front, with even fewer of major consequence. Jackson Ness moved from defensive line to offensive line. After four years on the team, Ness earned only 15 snaps on the defensive line. With the defense undergoing a major change since the end of the Adazzio era, he did not fit what Hafley and Lukabu were looking for anymore. Ness most likely still needs to put on more weight if he wants to see any real playing time in the future. But given his athletic ability, he might be useful as an extra lineman/tight end on goal-line packages.
The only other position change will likely not result in any changes on the field. Former walk-on running back Tony Muse moved to wide receiver. At 5’9” and 154 pounds, playing on the perimeter makes much more sense. It is doubtful that Muse will see any playing time this season.
Body Changes
We typically see significant weight fluctuations across the team on the initial spring roster. There is perhaps none more important than Christian Mahogany’s. Mahogany was listed at 318 last season but is now up to 335. To be fair, looking at Mahogany last year, especially relative to Zion Johnson, who was listed at 316, he was much larger than his counterpart. I imagine that when the fall roster comes out, his weight will fall a bit, landing between 325 and 330.
If Mahogany’s increase came from anywhere, it might have been at the expense of Nigel Tate, a freshman defensive tackle. Tate was listed at 6’2” and 340 pounds last year as a true freshman. But now, he is listed at a lithe 322 pounds. Tate is the only defensive lineman on the roster that weighs more than 295 pounds. He needs to see a significant jump in playing time this year to help this defense stop the run.
One unsurprising weight loss is Phil Jurkovec, down from 226 to 214. Anyone who watched BC the last few years certainly noticed that during the last few games of 2021, Jurkovec looked much faster when running the ball. Both Jurkovec and Hafley mentioned this weight change last year and how it helped Phil become a better runner. But this gives me a small amount of pause, given Jurkovec’s injury history. He’s still big enough to take hits and slough rushers off, but we still have yet to see him play a complete season.
Jaylen Blackwell is up from 195 to 209 pounds. He’s still listed as a linebacker but will likely take on a hybrid role this season. Many teams are moving lighter linebackers out of the box into the overhang/slot area to help take away RPOs. Blackwell may be a major asset in helping the Eagles’ defense stop mobile quarterbacks.
Numerical Changes
I believe jersey numbers have a significant impact on a player’s career trajectory. There can be even more volatility in college football due to the lack of rules concerning numbers. Obviously, due to the turnover on the roster, players can change their numbers and possibly alter their destiny. For example, freshmen Dante Reynolds (87) and Lewis Bond (83) redshirted last year. With those numbers, they might turn into solid role players. But now, donning 9 and 11, respectively, they will surely become dynamic players very soon.
In terms of the players we will see the most, Jaden Williams switching from 80 to 0, Alec Sinkfield from 26 to 6, and Kam Arnold from 27 to 5 are among the most notable. The second is my least favorite of these three, as a 6 in the backfield is somewhat strange. But matching Arnold’s 5 with Bryce Steele’s 2 makes for a very aesthetically pleasing linebacker corps. Furthermore, the addition of the number 0 to the field is entertaining.
But there is one player who saved his career more so than any other: Cole Batson. Last year as a true freshman, Batson donned the number 47 (arguably the worst possibly jersey number) while he redshirted. But now he is listed as 23 on the roster, one of the most iconic numbers in sports. It is unclear how much playing time Batson may receive this year. But a 6’4” 192-pound safety presents a very interesting profile, especially when wearing 23.
General Takeaways
The biggest conclusion from this roster is that Hafley and company have worked hard to streamline the roster in the post-COVID rules world. In 2021, there were 114 players on the roster; currently, with 16 recruits set to join in the summer, that figure sits at 81. Add in a handful of walk-ons and there will probably be only 100 players on the team by the time the 2022 season kicks off.
With more of “their guys” on the roster, I expect the coaching staff to give the established stars more snaps. For example, the cornerback room is relatively thin behind the starters (DeBerry, Jones, Burton). On offense, with Jurkovec back under center, expect Zay Flowers and Jaelen Gill to earn the vast majority of snaps and targets. With regards to the offensive line, we will need to wait until the conclusion of the spring season to have a good sense of who will be the new starters.
