Weekly Kickoff: Solid recruiting continues; stepping off the ledge?

Trying to come up with an angle for this ‘weekly kickoff’ column wasn’t easy. We are heading in to a matchup with Florida State and we frankly don’t have any reason to feel much different than we did after the Virginia Tech game. BC defeated Maine, and a win is a win, but it’s a win that didn’t tell us much and in fact caused its own moments of heartburn.

With Florida State’s solid 3-0 start to the season and top-40 ranking by most metrics, this has become a game where BC has to be considered a very heavy underdog, as reflected in Grant’s resetting expectations column, which shows that the Football Power Index suggests BC has about a 11% chance of winning this one.

And as for what the keys would be for growing that 11% chance, we pretty much already know. The TEs and running backs need to provide better support for the line. Phil can’t be running for his life. BC needs to have some semblance of a running game. We know all of this. It will be the story every week.

So what to talk about?

If you’re looking for reasons to be hopeful and optimistic, it’s probably not going to come from anything that happened on the field against Maine.

But if you’re looking for reasons for optimism about Coach Hafley and his building process, a good place to start would be on the recruiting train, where BC has continued to retain its existing commitments despite their ugly start, while also adding three in the last week, all 3-stars: running back Durell Robinson, defensive end Josiah Griffin, and defensive back KP Price.

Robinson chose BC over offers from fellow ACC teams Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. KP Price, his fellow Baltimorean, drew interest and offers from Duke, West Virginia, VT, Wake and Syracuse.

The local DE, Josiah Griffin, out of Springfield, MA, is rated MAs’ 11th best player in the class, and drew some other FCS interest, including offers from West Virginia, Army and Temple.

247Sports now has BC’s class rated 42nd nationally as the Eagles just have a bevy of solidly regarded three-star recruits. The Eagles have been top 40 in recruiting in Hafley’s first two full classes, and the impact of the increased talent pipeline should theoretically start to show itself this year and next year.

If the Eagles’ tough start is impacting their recruiting, it’s not really showing, as the Eagles continue to get commitments from many of their top targets.

Are we grasping at straws for things to be optimistic about? Maybe. But it’s good to see recruits continuing to invest their future in the program.