FIRST AND TOAL ; BC BACKER FINDS NEW ROLE AS RB
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -Brian Toal is becoming a bit of a cult figure in this town. He’s not up there with the Red Sox “idiots” -but that could change tonight.
Toal is Boston College’s multi-tasking, powderkeg linebacker who doesn’t merely tackle opposing ball carriers. The former New Jersey all-state high-school star explodes into runners like a shark attacking a baby seal. He is power and fury, seeking out the rusher with almost a primal instinct.
“Every team has their playmaker, their go-to guy,” Boston College defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani said. “No question, Brian Toal is that guy for us.
“You look at the guy, and you’d never know. He’s not what you’d call a physical specimen. But from the waist down, he’s got tremendous power. And he comes from a football family, so he knows the game.”
Toal has a newfound role on the Eagles (2-0), who play their first Atlantic Coast Conference game tonight against national power Florida State (2-0) in Alumni Stadium. On goal-line situations, the 6-foot-1, 223-pound sophomore is brought in as the lone power running back.
In Beantown, they refer to this formation as “First and Toal.”
“Yeah, I like it,” Toal said. “When you’re down on the goal line, it’s all about the will to win. Who’s going to keep their pads low? It’s just me and the linebacker meeting in the hole.
“As a linebacker, I’ve thought about it. If I met myself in the hole, who would win? Crazy, huh?”
No crazier than the fact that Boston College -that small, private Catholic school in New England -is a one-point favorite to knock off the Seminoles, one of the kingpins of college football.
The ‘Noles are struggling at quarterback, where redshirt freshman Drew Weatherford was pressed into the starting job when Wyatt Sexton was lost for the season with Lyme disease. Weatherford was awful in a 10-7 win over Miami. He completed seven of 24 passes for 67 yards and one interception.
Boston College has one of the nation’s best defensive ends in Mathias Kiwanuka. Spaziani said that last season the team began incorporating schemes that allow Kiwanuka to freelance.
“When we were playing basketball together sophomore and junior year [of high school], I used to guard him [and] he used to guard me,” said BC offensive tackle Jeremy Trueblood, who will have his own matchup battle against FSU’s Kamerion Wimbley. “I was a good 80 pounds heavier than him and [he] used to always hold his own.
“I always used to think, this guy plays a lot bigger than he is. And it translated onto the football field. He’s always been making plays ever since I’ve known him.”
The Eagles are hoping Toal, Kiwanuka and Co. make plenty of plays against Weatherford. BC believes it can be the new kid on the ACC block. Maybe there’s another group of brilliant idiots in Boston.
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