Boston College Football: 2013-2014 Roster Analysis

A little more than a week left until the start of the season and we're still starting to see new faces pop up on the Eagles football roster. The latest additions are graduate student WR Jack Bramswig, junior LB Frank Radici, graduate student DE Seyi Adebayo and freshman DL Jack Kenny -- presumably all preferred walk-ons.

This got me thinking just how many new faces are there on the Eagles' 2014 roster. Here's a comparison of the bceagles.com rosters from 2013 and 2014:

2013						2014
	2	Nigel Matthews	RS FR	WR			2	Tyler Murphy	GS	QB
	3	Harrison Jackson	SO	WR			3	Harrison Jackson	JR	WR
							4	Darius Wade	FR	QB
	5	Al Louis-Jean, Jr.	SO	DB			5	Ty-Meer Brown	GS	DB
	6	C.J. Jones	JR	DB			6	Sherman Alston	FR	WR
	7	Spiffy Evans	JR	WR			7	Marcus Outlow	FR	RB
	8	Josh Bordner	JR	QB			8	Josh Bordner	GS	WR
							8	Harold Landry	FR	DL
	9	Dominique Williams	JR	DB			9	Dominique Williams	GS	DB
	10	Bobby Swigert	SR	WR			10	Bobby Swigert	SR	WR
	11	Chase Rettig	SR	QB			11	Shakim Phillips	GS	WR
	13	Christian Suntrup	SO	QB			13	Connor Strachan	FR	LB
	14	Mack Lowrie	FR	QB			14	Gabriel McClary	FR	WR
	15	James Walsh	FR	QB
	16	Mike Marscovetra	SR	QB			16	Troy Flutie	FR	QB
	17	Bryce Jones	SO	DB			17	Bryce Jones	JR	DB
	18	Dan Crimmins	SO	WR			18	Dan Crimmins	JR	WR
	19	Austin Lommen	RS FR	QB
	19	Sean Sylvia	JR	DB			19	Sean Sylvia	GS	DB
	20	Tahj Kimble	JR	RB			20	Isaac Yiadom	FR	DB
	21	Manuel Asprilla	JR	DB			21	Manuel Asprilla	SR	DB
	23	Myles Willis	FR	RB			23	Myles Willis	SO	RB
	24	Kevin Pierre-Louis	SR	LB			24	Allen Dawson	FR	DB
	25	Josh Keyes	JR	LB			25	Josh Keyes	SR	LB
	26	David Dudeck	SO	RB			26	David Dudeck	JR	RB
	27	Justin Simmons	SO	DB			27	Justin Simmons	JR	DB
	28	Matt Milano	FR	S			28	Matt Milano	SO	LB
	29	James McCaffrey	JR	DB
	84	Joel Karim Zoungrana	RS FR	WR			29	Joel Karim Zoungrana	JR	DB
	30	Joey Launceford	SO	K			30	Joey Launceford	SR	K
	30	Mike Strizak	RS FR	LB			30	Mike Strizak	JR	LB
	32	Charlie Callinan	FR	WR			83	Charlie Callinan	RS FR	WR
							32	Jon Hilliman	FR	RB
	33	Tim Joy	SO	LB			33	Tim Joy	JR	LB
	33	Jeffrey Jay	JR	WR			86	Jeffrey Jay	SR	WR
	34	Sean Duggan	JR	LB			34	Sean Duggan	SR	LB
	35	Tyler Rouse	FR	RB			35	Tyler Rouse	SO	RB
	36	Bobby Wolford	RS FR	LB			36	Bobby Wolford	JR	FB
	37	Drew Barksdale	FR	WR			80	Drew Barksdale	SO	WR
	37	Zach Wolfe	JR	DB			37	Kamrin Moore	FR	DB
							37	Will Mahar	FR	PK
	38	Ted Davenport	JR	DB
	38	Griff Rogan	JR	WR			34	Griff Rogan	SR	WR
							38	Richard Wilson	FR	RB
	46	Sean Burke	RS FR	LB			39	Sean Burke	JR	FB
	39	Atem Ntantang	FR	CB			39	Atem Ntantang	RS FR	CB
	41	Jake Sinkovec	SR	TE			41	Jack Bramswig	GS	WR
							41	Austin Stevens	FR	DL
	42	Alex Howell	SO	P			42	Alex Howell	SR	P/K
							42	Austin Brown	SO	DB
	43	Carmen Dello Iacono	JR	TE
	43	John Johnson	FR	CB			43	John Johnson	SO	CB
	44	Andre Williams	SR	RB			44	Ty Schwab	FR	LB
	45	Mehdi Abdesmad	JR	DL			45	Mehdi Abdesmad	SR	DL
							46	E.J. Fortenberry	SO	DB
	46	Joel Rich	FR	TE			46	Joel Rich	RS FR	TE
	47	Spenser Rositano	JR	DB			47	Cameron Seward	FR	DB
	48	Nick Lifka	SO	DL			48	Nick Lifka	SR	DL
	48	Jake Wilhelm	RS FR	K			48	Jake Wilhelm	JR	K
	49	Steele Divitto	SR	LB			49	Cameron Croteau	SO	TE
							49	Kevin Bletzer	FR	LB
	50	Frank Taylor	RS FR	OL			50	Frank Taylor	JR	OL
	51	Connor Galligan	JR	LB
	52	Steven Daniels	SO	LB			52	Steven Daniels	JR	LB
	53	Leonard Skubal	RS FR	LS			53	Leonard Skubal	JR	LS
	54	Marquis Little	FR	LB
	55	Kieran Borcich	SO	DL			55	Christian Lezzer	FR	LB
	56	Michael Fischer	RS FR	LS			56	Michael Fischer	JR	LS
							56	Hunter Forte	FR	LB
	57	Jack Cottrell	FR	LB/DE			57	Jack Cottrell	RS FR	DL
	58	Victor Nelson	SO	OL			58	James Hendren	FR	OL
	58	Michael Gaffney	RS FR	LB
	59	Andy Gallik	JR	C			59	Andy Gallik	GS	C
	61	A.J. Caruso	RS FR	LB/LS			61	A.J. Caruso	JR	LB
	62	Ian White	SR	OL
							63	Frank Radici	JR	LB
							63	Austin Chapman	FR	TE
	64	Harris Williams	JR	OL			64	Harris Williams	GS	OL
	65	Jaryd Rudolph	SR	DL
							66	Noah Penders	FR	LB
	67	Seth Betancourt	JR	OL			67	Seth Betancourt	GS	OL
	69	Paul Gaughan	SO	C			69	Paul Gaughan	SR	C
	70	Aaron Kramer	JR	OL			70	Aaron Kramer	GS	OL
	71	Dan Lembke	SO	OL
	72	Jim Cashman	RS FR	OL			72	Jim Cashman	JR	OL
							73	Sam Schmal	FR	OL
	74	Dave Bowen	SO	OL			74	Dave Bowen	SR	OL
							75	Ian Silberman	GS	OL
	76	Bobby Vardaro	JR	OL			76	Bobby Vardaro	GS	OL
	77	Matt Patchan	SR	OL			77	Jon Baker	FR	OL
	79	Win Homer	RS FR	OL
	80	Brian Miller	SO	TE
	81	Louie Addazio	SO	TE			81	Louie Addazio	SR	TE
	82	Jarrett Darmstatter	JR	TE			82	Jarrett Darmstatter	GS	TE
	83	Alex Amidon	SR	WR
							84	Nat Dixon	FR	WR
	85	Nate Freese	SR	K/P			85	Thaddius Smith	FR	WR
	86	Marcus Grant	SO	WR
	87	C.J. Parsons	JR	TE
	87	Malachi Moore	SO	DE			87	Malachi Moore	JR	DE
	88	Michael Giacone	SO	TE			88	Michael Giacone	JR	TE
	89	Mike Naples	SR	TE			89	Tommy Sweeney	FR	TE
	90	Connor Wujciak	SO	DL			90	Connor Wujciak	SR	DL
	91	Kasim Edebali	SR	DE			91	Joseph Vitiello	FR	DL
							92	Kevin Cohee	FR	DL
	93	Kevin Kavalec	FR	DE			93	Kevin Kavalec	SO	DE
							94	Noa Merritt	FR	DL
	95	Dominic Appiah	JR	DL			95	Seyi Adebayo	GS	DE
	96	Kaleb Ramsey	SR	DL
	97	Truman Gutapfel	FR	DT			97	Truman Gutapfel	SO	DT
							98	Mike Knoll	FR	K/P
							98	Jack Kenny	FR	DL
	99	Brian Mihalik	JR	DL			99	Brian Mihalik	SR	DL

- left program

- graduated / out of eligibility

- newcomer

The first thing that jumps out at you is all. of. the. new faces. A total of 42 (!) players are new to the roster; an impressive feat considering the NCAA caps recruiting classes at 25. So how, exactly, did all these new faces come to BC?

Twenty-seven of those 42 newcomers are true freshmen, coming in as part of last year's recruiting class. Eleven more are (presumably) preferred walk-ons -- Jack Kenny, Seyi Adebayo, Noah Penders, Austin Chapman, Frank Radici, Hunter Forte, Cameron Croteau, E.J. Fortenberry, Austin Brown, Jack Bramswig and Will Mahar. The remaining four players are the much-talked-about 5th year grad transfers -- Tyler Murphy, Ty-Meer Brown, Ian Silberman and Shakim Phillips.

Logically it follows that with so many new faces on this year's roster, the program has to have had its fair share of attrition over the past year. That's certainly been the case.

A total of 14 players on the Eagles' 2013 roster have either graduated or ran out of eligibility. Of course, among this list of players is a quarterback that accounted for 99.92 percent of all passing yards (Chase Rettig), a running back that accounted for 83.1% of all rushing yards (Andre Williams) and 68.9% of all receiving yards (Alex Amidon). So the Eagles have lost quite a bit of production on the offensive side of the ball. They also happen to lose two very productive linebackers and a placekicker that was the only kicker in the country to remain perfect on FGs on the year.

What's a bit more jarring is all the players with eligibility remaining that have left the program over the past year. Clearly Spaz didn't recruit very well during the final two years on the Heights, but the little talent he did manage to bring in has left in large numbers. A total of 25 players with some eligibility remaining -- players denoted with a red 'X' -- have left the program over the span of one year. Several of these impact players left back in March. Others, including Spenser Rositano, have been medically waived and deemed unfit to play due to concussions or other health issues. Others weren't expected to be impact players per se, but when added up, the total represents a significant roster churn from one season to the next.

When there's a changing of the guard at head coach, some roster turnover is to be expected. I'd much rather see Addazio run onto the field with 85-90 guys who are bought into what Boston College football represents and what the coaching staff is trying to build here. There was clearly a culture problem under Spaz that Addazio has done a good job of rooting out in his first year; an issue that will continue to improve as he continues to bring in 'his' guys.

Still, the sheer volume of players that have left over the past year leaves me a bit apprehensive about how this season is going to go down. If all the new faces, particularly the 5th year transfers, hit the ground running and everything starts to gel early, BC should be able to achieve the goals its set out to achieve this season (well, probably not the trip to Charlotte thing).

But if the learning curve is a bit longer, and it takes some time for all the new faces to figure things out ... say over the first few games that represent the softer part of the Eagles' 2014 sched ... we could be in for a very long season.