By: Bryce Mitchell
Boston College’s Head Coach Jeff Hafley didn’t sugarcoat his press conference about the upcoming season at the 2023 ACC Kickoff last week.
Hafley’s recurring comment during his time at the podium was that his team has got to “prove it.”
“We’re not going to sit up here and talk about how good we are going to be…we have to go prove it, and we have to get better,” said Hafley.
But Hafley said that he’s as excited as he’s ever been as a head coach headed into training camp. He really likes this team and he’s excited for the upcoming season.
The energy and excitement extends to the players as well. Hafley said the attitude is “contagious.”
The Boston College team is getting older and Hafley has juniors, seniors and transfers that he said will be the key to a successful season.
Embed from Getty ImagesBoston College also has the home advantage for the first three games of the season. Hafley plans to take full advantage of that and said his team needs to “start fast.”
“You have to use home field advantage. The beauty of it, too, the first three are at noon, so there’s consistency. There’s time to recover.”
Nasty football
The Eagles’ representing players mirrored their coach’s excitement during their own interviews at the podium.
DL Donovan Ezeiruaku, OL Christian Mahogany and QB Emmett Morehead accompanied coach Hafley to Charlotte, NC for the conference’s media days.
Christian Mahogany promised the media that the first game of the season will be “nasty.” He said the team is going to have everything they didn’t have last year.
“It’s going to be nasty football. People aren’t going to like it, but I will, no doubt,” said Mahogany.
The offensive lineman is a projected first-round draft pick and was very adamant about finishing his time at Boston College, especially after missing last season due to a knee injury.
“I want to build something here,” said Mahogany.
Mahogany’s teammate, Donovan Ezeiruaku, emphasized the lessons the team had to learn through last season’s adversity.
“So you definitely cannot forget the past. We know what happened last year. We went through a lot of adversity, a lot of trials and tribulations. At the same time those are lessons,” reflected Ezeiruaku.
The team has also grown closer during the offseason, especially the defensive unit. Ezeiruaku feels that this tighter bond will pay dividends later in the season.
“I’ll trust the men next to me, and he will trust me to do my job, and I’ll trust him to do his job,” said Ezeiruaku.
The defensive lineman has been named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watchlist, which is awarded annually to the best defensive player.
The Boston Eagles’ first game of the 2023 season kicks off Saturday, September 2 at noon against Northern Illinois.
