Examining the Eagles: Football Edition Part 2
by Quinn Kelly
Part Two: The Offense
While Part One of this series was optimistic, reminiscing on an excellent year defensively, Part Two will struggle to maintain that tone, reflecting and regretting a difficult year on offense. There will certainly be optimism about the upcoming season, but it will be tampered to try its best to meet reality. The reality is the offense was abysmal last year. People like to ignore the fact that we were ravaged by injuries in a way that I have never seen a team ravaged before. We lost our starting quarterback and running back to season-ending injuries so early on that they qualified for medical redshirts and will both be repeating their sophomore seasons. We got thin enough at quarterback that we were starting John Fadule, you know, the kid who started the season on the practice squad as the 4th string QB. And I’ll never forget the interview Coach Addazio had with Jon Meterparel towards the end of the season when he enlightened us to the fact that during one of our midseason games, there was only 1 of the 6 running backs available due to the other 5 being injured earlier in the season or at some point in that game. The ignorance of the injury problem was my biggest gripe when talking to people about last year. Yeah, sure, we went 3-9, but do you have any idea why that is? In fairness, it would be equally ignorant of me not to concede that injuries weren’t the only problem. I think everyone can agree that the playcalling last year was cringe-worthy. The offense that was run by Addazio and first year coordinator Todd Fitch was ineffectual at best. Every Monday we would have to listen to Addazio tell us that he was playing it safe as he didn’t want to ask too much of young, inexperienced players. I could respect that early on and midseason after the injuries, but it really bothered me that after the season had taken its turn for the worst and it was clear we weren’t built to contend, there was no opening up of the playbook. There was nothing left to lose but there was still a reluctance to air it out or mix things up a bit. But it’s a new year, and Scott Loeffler is here to save the day. The new offensive coordinator will hope to freshen up the offense a little bit, ideally putting the ball in the air a little bit more than in years past. He’s going to have one major new weapon and a few returning from injury to help him towards a successful first season at the helm. With that said, let’s dive in to the offense and the changes of the new year that will hopefully bring this team back to bowl season.
Departures:
While the defense only saw 5 players leave this offseason, the offense had a much larger cast of departures. In total, 15 members of last year’s offense are gone; 11 to graduation and 4 to transfer. Though this number is so much larger than the defense’s, the significance of these losses is far lesser. The Eagles running back depth took a bit of a hit with the departures, with Marcus Outlow, Jordan Gowins, and Sherm Alston (listed as a WR, did both) exiting as underclassmen in search of fresh starts at new schools (Outlow at Coastal Carolina and the latter two at Stony Brook). Of the three, Outlow hurts the most. He was the biggest fixture in the run game last year, appearing in 10 games and rushing for 241 yards, good for fourth on the team. Alston will always be known for his end-around against USC, and for that spectacular moment and his part in a huge upset we will be eternally grateful. But, his sophomore season fell flat after looking like he would be poised for a breakout in 2015. He played minimal roles in both the passing and rushing game, totaling just 113 yards from scrimmage. He suffered from a case of stone hands and fell out of trust as the punt returner with a series of muffed catches. In all likelihood, he would’ve had to have had a stellar camp to find a role on this team as a junior. For Gowins, the freshman appeared in 3 games last year and looked like he could’ve become a big component in the rushing attack a couple years down the line while serving a small role this year, but with Jon Hilliman receiving a medical redshirt and repeating his sophomore season this year, Gowins knew that he’d never be better than second fiddle. Hard to miss what you don’t know, so this loss is of fairly little consequence.
We also lose a little bit of depth in our wide receiving core. Fourth leading receiver David Dudeck and feel-good story Bobby Swigert have graduated and BC will have two spots on the depth chart to fill. Neither were starters, but both provided veteran leadership that helped to mentor a young receiver core.
A loss that shouldn’t be big but may end up being impactful is that of Alex Howell. Howell was an excellent punter during his tenure at BC. Though he was a bit infamous for his inconsistency as a placekicker, Howell’s punting was always solid. This ended up playing a big role in last year’s season in because the Eagles led the ACC in punts, kicking away possession close to 8 times per game. Howell kept the possession battle manageable over the years for the team, giving the defense just a little bit more cushion than it would’ve expected from your average college punter. Ideally, Howell’s absence isn’t missed too much because the Eagles offense punts a little less and doesn’t have so many three and outs and his replacement doesn’t feel the same pressure he did.
The biggest position to replenish, and the toughest, will be the offensive line, which loses two of last year’s starters in Harris Williams and Dave Bowen. Williams, like Bobby Swigert, was a guy who had injury trouble during his time at BC, but had some good seasons and was a great leader last year. Bowen, similarly, was a key senior piece to the line last year, saving it from being truly lost at times. This is a unit that seriously needs to improve this year so not to waste the great talent that the Eagles have at running back, and losing two key pieces to graduation is going to make that pretty difficult.
The rest of the list of departures isn’t too significant. The Eagles lose a tight end, Louie Addazio, and a pair of fullbacks, Sean Burke being the more active of the pair with AJ Caruso only having played in 2 games for the Eagles. The Eagles finally lose three guys who never saw the field, seniors Jake Wilhelm and Michael Fischer, and redshirt freshman Chase Pankey, who transferred to Illinois State this offseason.
Biggest Loss:
Picking the biggest loss here is tough. As I said, losing two elder statesmen on the line is tough, so you could give co-biggest loss to Williams and Bowen. I lean towards Outlow just because he’s the most skilled of all our departures. Reading the piece about him on the Norwich Bulletin makes me think he was a bit disgruntled throughout his time here, upset he wasn’t seeing more carries. I can understand that, and really, with the host of guys at his position it’s reasonable to think he wasn’t going to see much improvement in that area. I don’t think that any loss is particularly big so I’ll go with Outlow on the grounds that its really unfortunate we won’t get to see him blossom into the great player he has the potential to be.
Looking at the 2016 Team:
The offensive alignment for game 1 has just come out and for the most part it’s similar to what you saw last year. There’s a little bit of shifting around and a few newcomers to the 2-deep, but at the key positions, there’s a lot of familiar names.
No questions on the running backs, clearly Hilliman’s job and we should all expect better production from the group this year barring more injuries. This production, though, is in large part dependent on the offensive line. As we said, they lost a pair of guys, but they did add graduate transfer Jimmy Lowery and have seen a year’s maturation in guys who got plenty of playing time last year in Baker/Cashman/Lindstrom/Monteiro. This group needs to step up big time and signs through camp suggest they will.
When I look at the depth chart, there are two big question marks. One, why isn’t your returning leading receiver Thadd Smith listed as a starter? I know we’ve seen the emergence of Michael Walker as a real threat and Callinan is the leader of the core, but it’s surprising to me to see Jeff Smith get the nod over Thadd. That certainly doesn’t mean he won’t play, but it makes me wonder if he’s not 100% or if he just hasn’t progressed in the way we’d hope.
The other one for me is this “Patrick Towles or Darius Wade” nonsense. Hey Coach, the games Saturday! You’ve had all summer to name a starter, don’t hit us with this wishy washy BS week one. It’s absurd and really angering to me to see that this is going to be the way again this year. Going through the weekly “let me wait to name Smith or Flutie the starter until Friday” thing last year was freaking taxing. How do you expect a guy to build confidence and take the reins of his team when he’s got another voice to compete with? I mean, come on, this is coaching 101 stuff. It’s time to stiffen up and make your pick. And quite frankly, if it’s not Patrick Towles, it’s the wrong pick. You brought the guy in here as a grad transfer to take the job. Wade was not ready to start last year, as you made clear by saying you regret not bringing in a grad last year. He’s got one more summer under his belt, sure, but I still don’t buy that he’s ready. Give him another year to mature, Towles this year, Wade the next two and Anthony Brown the two after that. There, problem solved for you. Towles is here to play, so let him. Or at least let him week one with a short leash and have Wade ready to come in when needed. Blood is starting to boil behind the keyboard so I’m just going to ignore the depth chart and say that Patrick Towles is going to be under center for snap number one this year.
That being said, let’s take a deeper look at Mr. Towles. The book on Towles, who joins us after three years with Kentucky, is that he’s a traditional, drop-back QB who’s got a good arm but is prone to interceptions. And let’s be clear, that is perfectly fine. I said many times last year that I would have traded a few more interceptions to see us throw the ball a little more. That’s part of having a college quarterback. But I just can’t stand another season of being second to last in the ACC in pass attempts. Last year the Eagles threw the ball 248 times, averaging a shade over 20 times a game. If that number seems a bit high to you like it did me, it’s probably because they only completed 110 of their attempts, or less than 10 per game. Now that number seems more familiar. We can rest assured, though, new offensive coordinator Scott Loeffler will be airing it out quite a bit more. Will Addazio limit the depth of passes Loeffler calls, let’s hope not but maybe. That being said, the short ball is much more apt to be completed by Towles than anyone we saw last year. So what should we expect from Patrick Towles? To get an idea of that, let’s look at his numbers.
Ideally, what we want is junior year Towles. 14-9 TD-INT ratio is about what you would hope for from him. Only problem is, those are career best numbers. So really, it’s not what we should expect from him. I’d expect him to be in between his junior and senior stats, completing about 200 passes for 2200 yards with around a 12/8 ratio. And that’s plenty good. The Eagles have a great running back core and don’t need a gunslinger, just someone who can make them less predictable and one-dimensional and take some of the pressure off them. That’s a role Towles can definitely fill. Oh yeah, and obligatory note about how he’s dedicated his season to Harambe and how that will lead us to a bowl.
Who’s Gonna Step Up?:
My pick here is Patrick Towles. As I said, he’s here to play and to do a job. I expect him to take the reins early on and lead this offense. In a very different sense in terms of role on the field, Towles will play the part of 2014 Tyler Murphy, being a skilled, veteran player that can lead the offense.
Breakout Player of the Year:
I think this is going to be Jeff Smith. The switch to receiver will do him well and with the introduction of a pro-style offense, his lightning speed will again find a home as a receiver. The kid is an athlete. He never had a great arm and probably shouldn’t have been a college quarterback, but it does appear as though he has the skills to be a more than serviceable WR. I’d also look within the WR corps for big plays from Thadd Smith and Michael Walker.
Offensive MVP:
No doubter here in taking Jon Hilliman. Hilliman is going to be a man on a mission coming back from injury. Expect with a better line in front of him for him to topple his great freshman year numbers. He will be the leading producer on the offensive side of the ball. I have him going for over 1000 yards and becoming the first running back to do so for the Eagles since Heisman candidate Andre Williams did in 2013.
Final Notes:
Let’s be very clear about this offense, they will not be the driving force behind winning football games. They don’t need to be though. They are a unit that needs to find a way to put together 3-4 scores to win almost any ball game. They should be able to do that. Please God just don’t let a monster defense go to waste again this year. Anything but another season as the worst scoring offense and offense with the fewest yards in the ACC will do. Just give me lower-middle of the pack and I’ll be satisfied. I promise.
Thanks for stopping in again and stay tuned for the Examining the Eagles finale dropping tomorrow afternoon!