The QB Rotation Needs More Time...And Development

On Monday, I kicked off the week by saying Steve Addazio and the Boston College coaching staff had enough data to announce there's a clear-cut starter. I felt like after two games, it would benefit the team to name someone as the starter and move forward with that person executing the game plan.

More than anyone, I really want BC to begin the process of moving forward. I want the coaching staff to say, "This guy's really established himself as the starter" and name a guy. I want to see what happens when a guy gets the whole game to himself, and I want to see what happens when BC can finally rally around a guy.

But the more I think about it, the more I don't want to force it. That's a perspective I gained between Saturday and Tuesday afternoon. My shortsightedness of being raw from the loss to Duke needed to get back to perspective. That's something I urge all of you.

At this point, Steve Addazio is flat out admitting that neither quarterback is ready to take every snap of the game. To put them into a game for an entire four quarters wouldn't help development in his eyes, and he's the guy who watches these guys day-in and day-out...not us. To call plays forcing them to make decisions is to potentially develop bad habits that are harder to break than it is to be patient and foster good habits. If it were worth putting a single quarterback on the field, he would pick a QB and roll with that guy. But he can't do that in good conscience without the risk of destroying the development of the team. He can't risk next year or the year after by making a potentially poor decision right now.

We knew last year that the Eagles were in trouble at a number of positions. In the quest to balance out the roster, BC was going to get A LOT younger at the skill positions, offensive line, and, most importantly, quarterback. There was the chance they would line up a number of players who had never taken a collegiate snap together at the exact same time. As 2015 got underway, that's exactly what happened.

Five games into the season, it's not wrong to expect some type of growth out of positions. We're seeing it in certain areas. Over a larger body of work, the offensive line is getting better, and the receivers are doing a better job of getting open. Thadd Smith had two great touchdown catches on Saturday - one of which came of the board. That's two more than what he had all year.

Unfortunately, that growth isn't happening at the speed we would like it at the QB position. We want to sit back and see this team moving forward at the same lightning pace it did the last couple of years. That's just not happening. Because the roster is so much younger, it's going to take longer, test more of your patience. BC can't put a green QB in a position to lead this team without him being truly ready. As a result, it's best, at this point, to keep developing both players slowly and with a conservative approach that will protect them, not expose them.

When will we know when someone's ready? The answer is simple - when one of them does enough so that we're all in agreement he belongs as the full-time signal caller. Just saying, "Pick a guy and build around him" doesn't do anything if the guy isn't ready to be built around; the foundation has to be solid. The answer is more patience, patience I know is hard to have but patience that is required to have. When the time is right, they'll play one guy. Until then, don't try to push this team any further than it is. Nurture the next step instead of forcing it; it'll pay off more if they're able to reach that point.

It's never something we want to do to sit back and want a decision, feel like the team should be in a position to make that decision, and be forced to admit that nobody played well enough to warrant that decision. Our patience is running out, and that's okay. But we just need to find more, no matter how hard that is. After McGuyver'ing this team to two bowls the last couple of years, Steve Addazio's earned at least that.

We're onto Wake Forest.