The Boston College Quarterback Situation: Blame Steve Addazio

Yesterday was a real eye-opener in regards to the current state of the program, and specifically how head coach Steve Addazio does or doesn't evaluate talent. After watching Troy Flutie and Jeff Smith flounder for weeks, Addazio finally decided to put in walk on freshman John Fadule. And the scary thing? He was clearly better moving the ball with his feet than Smith, and had a better arm than either of them. He wasn't perfect, but he completed some passes, and moved the ball. My biggest question out of this is why did it take Steve Addazio until the end of October to figure this out?

Going into this season the hope was that Darius Wade was going to be the starter all season, something that he had been groomed for since he walked onto the campus early in 2014. After Wade the guess was that it would greyshirt freshman Elijah Robinson and Flutie who both had the experience to step in if needed. Robinson struggled during the summer and was told that his best chance of contributing to the team was to switch to wide receiver, and Jeff Smith/Flutie were given the backup role. John Fadule's name was out there, mainly as a scout team quarterback, but really the media and coaching staff ignored him. Even as the season progressed, all the talk was about Jeff Smith and Troy Flutie, with both backups given their shot to run the offense.

Now here we are on November 1st, talking about Fadule as clearly the best quarterback left on the roster. Given the style of play Steve Addazio wants out of his team, my question remains why did it take so long? He hits the hole harder and more physically than Jeff Smith, he has decent touch to his throws. Did Addazio stick with Jeff Smith and Flutie longer because of some moral obligation to scholarship athletes? If that's the case, that's pretty dumb; Fadule probably could have helped BC win a handful of games (Duke, Wake Forest and possibly Louisville). This is a case of really bad talent evaluation done by the coaching staff. Evaluation errors that have cost BC games.

Even going into next week's home finale against N.C. State, Head Coach Steve Addazio was non-committal about the starting quarterback. This is concerning, as it is as clear as day that it should be John Fadule. Jeff Smith is battered, and seems psyched out right now, while Troy Flutie is offering nothing on offense. If Steve Addazio can't evaluate the talent of the team, and continues to roll out the Flutie/Smith two headed monster, it's going to be a long end of the season. And that is disconcerting, because if they do that we are going to see more of the same, and the answer (albeit not the solution) is right in front of him. His name is John Fadule.