SI All American Boston College Eagles Football Commits and Targets

Highlights and evaluations of the ten Boston College's current committed recruits to make SI's first ever All American list.

It is only early July, but Boston College is well on their way to completing their recruiting class. As of the time of this writing, Jeff Hafley's staff has 18 hard commits for their class. Even as a new coach, and without the benefit of meeting most of these kids in person due to COVID-19, Hafley has put together a solid class that puts BC in the middle of the pack of the ACC. There are ten recruits committed to Boston College on SI All American's prospect watch list. 

The class is headlined by Jalen Cheek, a cornerback out of Winslow Township in New Jersey. The 6'2 junior committed to BC back in April over a bevy of strong offers including Baylor, Penn State, Purdue and Pittsburgh. He is the type of big cornerback that should thrive in Jeff Hafley's system. 

This should be a big class for the Eagles, and they should go up to 25 recruits, and possibly more if they can find wiggle room with early enrollment grey shirts. Currently the Eagles have put the most focus on their defensive backs and defensive line, but wide receiver may be a position that they use those last few scholarships on. 

What stands out on this class are the offers these recruits are getting. Typically over the past decade under previous head coaches Frank Spaziani and Steve Addazio, many BC recruits were very under recruited. The typical BC kid would have offers from a myriad of MAC schools, or BC would be the lone offer. With Jeff Hafley at the helm, seemingly every commit has at least a handful of Power 5 offers. That is a big step forward in recruiting for the Eagles. 

Commits (Click on the link to watch video and read evaluations on each of the players):

Winslow Township (NJ) - Cornerback Jalen Cheek

Wayne County (GA) - Linebacker Trevin Wallace

Catholic Memorial (MA) - Linebacker Owen McGowan

Bailou (DC) - Defensive end Andre Porter

East (Ohio) - Cornerback Shawn Gates

Oswego (IL) - Offensive lineman Otto Hess

Loganville (GA) - Defensive end Neto Okpala

Charles Herbert Flowers (MD) - Cornerback Jalen McCain

Episcopal (VA) - Quarterback Emmett Morehead

Williamstown (NJ) - Linebacker/defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku

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Also there are a handful of Boston College targets that made the list. Some of the recruits are already committed elsewhere but might be flip candidates moving forward. 

Offensive Targets

Noble and Greenough School (MA) Offensive Lineman Drew Kendall
St. Thomas More High School (LA) Wide receiver Jack Bech (Vanderbilt commit)

Defensive Targets

Saint Peter's Prep (NJ) Defensive lineman George Rooks
Santa Margarita Catholic (CA) Defensive end Derek Wilkins
Pike (IN) Defensive end Kyran Montgomery
Brentwood (TN) Defensive back John Howse IV
Upper Marlboro (MD) Defensive tackle Tommy Akingbesote (Maryland commit)
Mansfield HS (MA) Defensive tackle TJ Guy (Michigan commit)
John Paul Catholic (FL) Defensive back Terrion Arnold

More than 1,000 student-athletes, representing every state in the country, are SI All-American candidates. Video highlights, scouting analyses and a breakdown of each player’s college verbal commitment and/or top college contenders can be found on their bio pages, broken down by state, at SIAllAmerican.com.

Over the coming weeks, SI will unveil its preseason top 10 for each of 14 position groups (kicking off with quarterbacks this week). SI will unveil its initial top 99 ranking, the SI99, on August 24.

The evaluation process will continue throughout the season “until the list of 1,000 contenders coalesces around just 25 young men who can say proudly they are the best of the best -- they are Sports Illustrated All-Americans,” said SI Director of Football Recruiting John Garcia, Jr.

The candidates will be narrowed to 250 in October and 99 in November, and will culminate with 25 first-team Sports Illustrated All-Americans saluted at SI’s annual Sportsperson of the Year banquet in New York in December.