Boston College Football: OL Preview 2023

Time to talk hog mollies. The Achilles heel of last season, the OL hopes to be a unit of strength this go around. The position group succumbed to injury after injury, and while there was no overcoming that last year, the hope is that newfound experience with younger players, along with the return of now healthy veterans and depth pieces, can not only make the group serviceable, but also a potential strength for the Eagles.

It all starts with the All-American caliber, future NFL prospect Christian Mahogany. Sorely missed last season, Mahogany returns from injury to ‘build something special’ at Boston College. Rated the number two guard prospect in the upcoming draft class (projected around pick 20 in the first round right now), Mahogany will be this unit’s anchor.

Next, let’s look at a couple of transfers brought in to bolster the ranks. Kyle Hergel from Texas State is big strong guard who recently appeared in Bruce Feldman’s annual Freaks List. Joining him will be redshirt sophomore Logan Taylor, the UVA lineman who stayed in conference.

Ozzy Trapilo and Drew Kendall were both highly rated coming into college. Kendall picked up some valuable experience last season and ended on some Freshman All-American teams. He’s still young, but the center came of age and still stands to be the next in a line of exceptional BC lineman. The statesman Trapilo was one of the few mainstays last season at left tackle. Kevin Cline held down the line on the other side for two games before falling to injury. The redshirt junior returns to set things right. The 6-7 Jack Conley took over for Cline primarily, but also had a number of snaps along the line.

Other lineman who picked up scattered starts through the season include Jude Bowry, Jackson Ness, and Dwayne Allick. Some shuffling saw Bowry slotted at RT as Conley went swiss army knifed as needed. The redshirt junior Allick was a fixture at right guard primarily. The young 6-4, 300 pounder Nick Thomas also started two games as well at both guard and tackle.

To put this all together, Matt Applebaum returns to the program after a season stopgap with the Miami Dolphins. Applebaum coached the position for the first two seasons of the Hafley administration to solid success. He seems to have the team gelling again. They’ll strive for success, but now enough players have seen the field to count this as a particularly deep position.