With spring practice really getting into full swing, it came time for Boston College to do what it does best — minor administrative tasks. That means it’s time to pour over the official spring football roster and take stock of who is there and who is not quite so fortunate. Iowa transfer Marcus Grant and Spring enrollee Karim Zoungrana are getting a early start at their new home while only two players that might have been expected to be there fell short: safety Hampton Hughes and one time top recruit, Mike Goodman Jr.
Very few photos exist of Goodman's time on the Heights, so we had to go back to High School (Photo: Scout.com)
Hughes was a walk-on wide receiver turned stop-gap safety last season. To paraphrase Frank Spaziani’s thoughts on everything: he was what he was. The Eagles have enough defensive backs — young, developing ones at that — to erase the need for a fifth-year guy with limited upside. Goodman on the other hand, is a different animal. Though the loss of a backup lineman is nothing to cry over, Goodman is yet another highly-touted prospect to come to BC only to flame, or more correctly, fizzle, out.
The rankings are never perfect, but BC has had an unprecedented bad streak with their top-tier recruits. Since 2005, here are the players to come into the program with a rating of four stars or higher (according to Rivals):
2005:
- Andre Jones, DB/WR, ****
- Pat Sheil, OL, ****
From what I could tell, Jones never even made it to BC and instead wound up at Akron, playing both sides of the ball there to some success. But again, that’s at Akron. Sheil actually made it to campus but never really had an impact, tearing a pectoral muscle in the weight room when he looked poised to break into the lineup.
2006:
- Richard Lapham: OL, ****
- Jordan McMichael, TE, ****
Two big players who never quite lived up to their lofty billing. I would stop short of calling Lapham a disappointment as he managed to hold down a starting spot on the right side of the line for the better part of three seasons before injuring his knee. He managed to lock down a spot at the combine and looked like he would get a shot at the next level thanks to his massive 6-foot-8, 315-pound frame. However, that knee injury prevented his signing with the Buffalo Bills and he is still without an NFL gig. McMichael never even got that shot. Stuck behind Ryan Purvis and Chris Pantale, the 6-foot-5 tight end was almost exclusively a blocker on the Heights. He also had injury troubles but managed just eight catches in three full years of action, leaving to little fanfare after the 2010 season.
2007:
- Corey Eason, DE, ****
- John Elliott, OL, ****
Eason was physical specimen of a defensive lineman and a major New England recruiting victory. Problem was, he could never get it together. He transferred after a red shirt season, landing at then Division-1AA UMass. He never saw the field there either, leaving school after being arrested for receiving stolen property. Elliott disappeared nearly as fast. After being injured before his freshman year and taking a red shirt, Elliott was on the 2008 roster, but never again reappeared. Solid top end recruiting class right here.
2008:
- Mike Goodman, OL, ****
- Josh Haden, HB, ****
- Okechukwu Okoroha, DB, ****
Another much-heralded class that amounted to very little. Haden was the headliner, teaming with Montel Harris to form a formidable freshamn backfield. Problem was, the unheralded recruit (Harris) was better than the almost-blue chipper (Haden) so he transferred in the middle of his sophomore season. After allegedly committing to Florida, Haden wound up with his brother at Toledo — sort of. He never actually turned up on their roster. Okoroha started for all of the 2010 season at safety, but was dismissed for disciplinary reasons before last season. He also hasn’t turned up anywhere. And then we have Goodman. A redshirt, an injury and two seasons as a backup before his fifth-year snub. At least he stuck around.
2009:
- Dillon Quinn, DT, ****
Another physically gifted, enigmatic defensive lineman. Some light talk of steroids and a three-game suspension as sophomore don’t make for a reassuring picture. Reviews of this kid coming in made it seem like he would singlehandedly replace B.J. Raji and Ron Brace, but he’s been a very mediocre rotation player on the interior of the line so far. Thankfully, he has at least one more year to set it straight.
Kevin Piere-Louis has been the only four-star success story for the Eagles in the past few seasons (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
2010:
- Shakim Phillips, WR, ****
- Kevin Peirre-Louis, LB, ****
One more disappearing act please! Phillips had all of one catch as a freshman — though that was hardly a well-run offense in any sense of the word — before bolting for UConn. He redshirted last year, so he’ll most likely get some run this season with the Huskies. Pierre-Louis has been the rare success story on the Heights. A borderline star in his first two seasons, KPL will get to take over the reins of the defense from Luke Kuechly this season.
It’s too early to grade out the 2011 class, but two of them did see time as freshman — and Albert Louis-Jean was a starter in the secondary — so hopefully the trend is starting to turn around.
Why the more highly-touted guys tend to fail at Boston College is a mystery. Injuries played a big part for some, but maybe they weren’t deserving of the acclaim in the first place. To delve into all the is wrong with recruiting in Division One sports –football in particular — is simply too big of an animal to handle here.
What can be handled is the problem that in the six recruiting classes from 2005-2010, three different head coaches were able to turn their 12 most coveted recruits in just two multi-year starters. Three of those recruits never saw the field in Alumni Stadium. Half of them either transferred, were kicked off the team or simply fell off the face of the earth. Three were career backups and, while the jury is still out on Quinn, one might very well be heading that way. Only Kevin Pierre-Louis truly lived up to that virtually irrelevant number of stars next to his name.
Did Boston College get it wrong? Did the recruitniks? Or, more likely, did BC just get caught on the wrong end of the unfortunate attrition of college football a few too many times?
Dan Popko
Tim
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