Boston College Football End of 2020 Season Superlatives

A look at some of the big players coming out of this season

Yesterday, Boston College players elected to opt out of the bowl season, effectively concluding their 2020 season. With the games in the books, let's take a look at some of the biggest performances of the season. Here are our superlatives for the year for individual players, we will do another post on moments of the year some time in the future. 

Freshman of the Year. Kam Arnold. Two injuries brought Arnold to the forefront of the secondary this season. Made a handful of big plays in his role this season, and is setting himself up for a heavy increase in snaps.This was an odd year as no true freshman really played a huge role for the team. (Honorable Mention: Cam Horsley, Spencer Witter)

Transfer of the Year (non-Phil Jurkovec edition) Deon Jones. Clearly Jurkovec would have won this award, but he could win almost every award. Jones was a fantastic find, in his first year out of Maryland, and could arguably be the defensive MVP of the team. Finished the year with 42 tackles and one sack, Jones was a difference member in the backfield and added stability in the back half. Will be back for one more year in 2021. 

Most Improved Player: CJ Lewis. Raise your hand if you thought that Lewis was going to finish the season third on the team in receiving yards and tied for second in touchdowns. If you have your hand raised you're a liar. Lewis, who missed last year, came out of no where to be one of the best stories of 2020. Had five touchdown catches including two incredible ones (Clemson, Louisville), and has become one of Jurkovec's favorite big targets deep in the red zone. 

Special Teams MVP: Aaron Boumerhi. This was a challenging decision, because this could have also been given to punter Grant Carlson. But place kicker Boumerhi was incredible this year, hitting 80% of his field goals, and being a major part of a special teams unit that moved up to 16th on the SP+ ranking scale. He had a game winner against Texas State, and didn't miss a single extra point all year. It was refreshing to see BC's special teams go from a major liability, to rock solid in a year, much credit goes to special teams coach Matt Thurin and his place kicker Aaron Boumerhi.

Defensive MVP: Max Richardson. The captain of the defense, Richardson's leadership was vital to the play of the unit. The stalwart of the group, Richardson finished the season with 99 tackles (4th in the nation), eight tackles for a loss, and 3.5 sacks. This was a defense that was certainly up and down this season, but when they were playing well Richardson was a big reason.

Offensive MVP: Phil Jurkovec. This was honestly a tough decision, as the award could have arguably also been awarded to Zay Flowers or Hunter Long. But Jurkovec had to be the choice. Finished the season, 2,558 yards in just ten games, to go with 17 touchdown passes and five interceptions. Jurkovec did everything for the Eagles, and more than surpassed expectations many had for him. In one season he took an offense that lived and died by the run, and made them one of the most prolific passing attacks in the ACC. All of this, while starting for the first time since high school. This was a special year for a lot of reasons, but the play of Phil Jurkovec may be the biggest story of the season on the field.