11 Who Need to Step Up in '07: Part 1

As fall approaches, college football fans across the country all have high hopes for their teams. Some expectations are more unreasonable than others but, all the high expectations have a common thread.

That similar thread is that each fan has a few players in mind that they can envision performing better than they did the year before, and thus giving their teams the extra bump that they need to push their team to new heights.

After re-watching Boston College’s wins and losses last season I picked out 11 players that I feel need to step up their game in some way for BC to compete for an ACC Championship. In no particular order they are:

K Billy Bennett - The top 3 things I remember about former kicker Ryan Ohliger are:
1) He was kicked off the team
2) He got in a bar “altercation”
3) He missed many easy extra points and field goals in just ½ of a season Steve Aponavicius, he was a nice story, but the Eagles need a kicker who can nail a kick from 35+ yards out, and boot a kickoff past the 15 yard line.

Enter stage right Billy Bennett, who is ranked by Scout.com as the #2 incoming freshman kicker. How’s that for an upgrade? Bennett has the ability to launch the kickoff into the endzone on any kick, while also being able to boot FG’s of 50+ yards. Since this is Bennett’s 1st season, “stepping up” would require Bennett to just out perform last year’s kickers. To do that, the freshman just has to hit the easy ones and give BC at least an average kicking game.

CBs Taji Morris/ Roderick Rollins - After DeJuan Tribble’s spectacular ’06 season in which he picked off 7 passes, I think ACC teams are finally going to be smart enough to keep away from him. The senior CB is one of the closest things to a “shutdown corner” in the ACC. That’s going to put a huge bull’s-eye on whoever is playing opposite of him.

Right now Morris is the starter, but that’s not set in stone. It’s going to be a battle between Morris and Rollins to see who gets their name called the least amount of times by Jon Meteperel on a weekly basis. The reason I say that is if one of the corner’s opposite Tribble is getting their name called a lot, it probably means they are getting beat by the opposing WR. BC doesn’t need Morris and Rollins to be stars; they just need them to not be incompetent. If neither CB can emerge, it will start to make Tribble's value tumble, as teams will simply pick on Morris or Rollins all game long.

OLB Robert Francois - Francois will be filling the shoes of Brian Toal who will be red-shirting this season. In spite of injuries in ’06, Toal had a few games where he was a major contributor to a victory. Needless to say, Toal’s absence will be a gigantic loss.

Luckily, with Toal being injured for many games it gave Francois a chance to get some good on the job experience. Against BYU, Francois showed he can be a very solid starting LB when he registered 9 solo tackles. On other occasions Francois showed spurts that he could rekindle another performance like he did against BYU, but there were also games when he was caught out of position and it resulted in a big run. His status for the season opener is uncertain, but his name was not on the two-deep so if he plays it will be sparingly.

RB Andre Callender - For the last 3 seasons Callender has “split” carries with LV Whitworth, and all during that time I’ve wondered just why they “split” carries. By the way, I put “split” in quotation marks because in reality Whitworth 47 more carries than Callender in ’05 and 28 more in ’06. Plus, Whitworth was almost always the RB that started the games. In any event, Callender clearly out-performed Whitworth in ’05 posting more than a half a yard more per carry then Whitworth. On top of that, my eyes always told me that Callender looked like a better weapon than Whitworth, but TOB never seemed to see it my way.

One reason for TOB’s decision not to make Callender the main back was because of Callender’s inability to hold onto the ball. From the start of his career, the RB has had fumbling problems that have held him back from being the main man in the backfield.

Luckily, for Callender there’s a new sheriff in town. Coach Jags has decided to turn the tide and make Callender his starting RB. Now that Callender is the starter it’s more important than ever that he starts holding onto the ball. If he does, BC will have a shifty RB that fits Steve Logan’s offense more than a big barreling type of RB like Whitworth. In the end Callender just makes the offense run more efficiently.

OT Gosder Cherilus - Cherilus is moving to LT, and is now responsible for protecting Matt Ryan’s blindside. Let’s be honest, do I really need to explain why Cherilus has to step up his game to new heights? Coach Jags summed up the importance of Cherilus’s new job at Media Day when he said, “When we came in and started watching film, the really good players jump out at you. He is one of those guys. He is a very talented young man. I put him at left tackle because I want to protect the backside of 12 (Ryan). I don't want him getting hit in the back of the skull.”

One false move by Cherilus and it has the potential to put BC’s season in jeopardy, as compared to last year when one false move might have led to an incomplete pass.