Defense dominates 2nd controlled spring scrimmage

CHESTNUT HILL – Defense, defense and more defense.

That was the theme from Saturday’s second controlled scrimmage during spring ball. Last weekend, both sides made plays, this time, it was the defense owning the two-plus hour session, officially wrapping up Day 8 for the Eagles.

Off we go…

Early observations

Packed house with Gridiron Club members and 50+ recruits lining the sidelines inside Fish Field House. Definitely the most buzz that’s been in the building for a practice this spring.

Standing near the linebacker drills during indy period early on and it’s just such a different looking room. All athletic, fundamentally sound guys. When you see them in live action, the sideline-to-sideline ability and IQ in terms of reading things is so evident. Now, it’s only spring ball against their own offense, but you gotta start somewhere.

Old defensive coordinator Tim Lewis was in the house today. His son Bryce has been a standout at times on the defensive line this spring, very disruptive. Didn’t get a chance to say hello, but Xaverian head coach Al Fornaro was at Fish too, great guy.

Team period

Didn’t chart any of the early 7-on-7, came flying in a little late after doing a ‘spring visit’ at Harvard this morning. Thank God BC practices indoors…

Mason McKenzie – Run stuff (by a bunch of guys). Short run for Ray. Run stuff again by a combination of guys. Low, line drive punt by Andy Quinn backing the returner up before he can field it. (TJ Green could be a weapon back there this season, but there will be a myriad of guys that get a chance throughout spring and summer probably).

—Ball reset back to own 25/30 (was down the other end so didn’t get exact ball placement)

McKenzie – Hard run by Mekhi Dodd. Back-to-back incompletions and a sack by Chris Marable Jr.

Grayson Wilson – Short completion to Reed Swanson. (Missed next play). Short completion to Danny Edgehill. Short run by Ray. False start. Batted ball by Micah Amedee. Incompletion. Punt.

—Ball reset

Wilson – Two hard runs by Dodd. (Missed next play). Short run by Bo MacCormack III. PBU on the sideline for DB Chandler Jordan. Hard run by MacCormack III. Interception deep by Rae Sykes Jr.

Femi Babalola – Scramble. Run by Dodd. Nice run by Sedric Addison. (Missed next play). Scramble. Run by Addison where he sort of got smoked (by spring ball standards) by Jordan. Couple plays for no gain and another PBU for Jordan.

Kickoff return work followed, definitely not a special teams whiz but it looked like there were some nice running lanes created (insert shrugging guy emoji).

Team (Ball at or near the 50)

McKenzie – Would-be lengthy TD run for Evan Dickens and Dodd had one the next snap (pretty much it for the offense from there)…Offside defense. Sack by Onye Nwosisi (ball down inside the 25). QB run (Ashton Cunningham shuts it down early with a ‘tag’). PBU by Marcus Upton against Brady Clough. Luca Lombardo hits a 32-yard field goal.

—Ball reset

McKenzie – Short run from MacCormack III. Two incompletions and a run stuff followed. Short scramble and no play (whistle blown with air tight coverage) wrapped up the ‘drive.’

Punt return work and then back around midfield…

Wilson – Short completion to Edeghill. False start. Completion to Swanson on the sideline. (Missed next play). Completions over the middle and along the sideline to Edgehill. Drop By Swanson. Swanson makes up for it with a sick leaping, jump ball TD in the back right corner of the end zone (great ball too). Lombardo added the PAT.

Babalola – Nice catch and run by Zach Schnorrbusch. Completion to Duke Brennan. Run. Drop by DJ Johnson. Scramble. Short gains by Addison on back-to-back plays. Incompletion. Addison stuffed. Addison short TD run.

Coming out from own territory

McKenzie – MacCormack III shows off his vision with a nice run. Nwosisi forces a scramble. Short completion to Johnathan Montague Jr. (Quick bathroom break, way too much Dunkins earlier)…came back and Mckenzie threw an incompletion to the sideline.

Babalola – Hard runs by Dodd and a screen for little gain.

Wilson – Comeback to Swanson. Short pass to Javarius Green. Hard run by Tim Longo.

Red zone

Mckenzie – Sack by Nwosisi. Incompletion. Short gain by McKenzie. Run stuff by Kris Jones and Marable Jr. and a sack by Favor Bate before Mckenzie finally scrambles in.

Wilson – Short completions to Cameron Kossmann and Dodd, but ultimately no score.

Babalola – Scramble, then back-to-back TDs, one was a pass to tight end Dominic DeSarno, the other was a run by Ray.

Goal line

Really intense and physical. As you’d expect when you don’t get many opportunities for real ‘big boy’ stuff this time of year.

Mckenzie – Ray gets in after initially getting stuffed (with some help) and then a throw away.

Wilson – Dodd is stuffed and then gets in.

Babalola – Dodd TD run.

Team also worked on coming out of its own end too. Nwosisi, Anthony Palano and KJ Sampson were all in on a sack and not long after, Sampson, KP Price and Max Tucker blew up a short pass. Njita Sinkala and Griffin Collins ran Ray out of bounds after only a short gain. Wilson also had a nice completion up the seam to Kossmann and Kameron Howard had a PBU.

Team

McKenzie – Run stuff by Sampson. Scramble and then a combo sack for Kris Jones and Nwosisi. Couple quick completions to MacCormack III and Jackson Wade with a run stuff thrown in.

Babalola – Short completion to Kossmann and a scramble. (Missed the next play). Completion to Dodd and a would-be sack, just didn’t see by who.

Ball at the 10, down by 6, 15 seconds to go…

Awesome stuff to end the day. Really competitive with both sidelines chirping players on the field.

McKenzie – PBUs by Tucker and Cunningham with a throw away.

Wilson – Wilson ran one in after a PBU by Da”jon Green and a catch by Swanson that was out of bounds, narrowly missing getting his left foot down.

Babalola – Throw away, incompletion and a PBU by Charleston Coldon to put a stamp on great day for the defense.

Up next

Different schedule this week with Easter…team practices Monday and Wednesday before getting the holiday break. Media will be there on Monday, TBD on Wednesday.

Overall, I’m not too worried about the offense. The defense under Roof so far has been relentless and could be a problem for a lot of teams. It’s only March, but the experience the secondary got last year is now clearly showing and the portal additions look like hits so far. I also can’t stress enough how different the linebacker room looks and feels, with Cahoun and Palano being the main reasons.

We’ll see how the O responds on Monday.