Ray Olivier
Anchor Staff
Following their 51-0 victory over Colgate University, the Boston College Eagles were off to a hot start. Former Notre Dame transfer Phil Jurkovec, was under center for the Eagles to begin his second season in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Coming off an impressive first year with Boston College (BC), where he completed 61% of his passes with 17 touchdowns and a quarterback (QB) rating of 138.7 in just 11 games. The junior from Pittsburgh carried that success into the blowout over Colgate where he threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns while completing 67.9% of throws made.
Riding the high of that victory, Head Coach Jeff Hafley and his starting quarterback headed to the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) with high expectations. The Eagles were quickly humbled as on the first drive of the game Jurkovec suffered a significant hand injury. According to Andrea Adelson of ESPN, “He underwent surgery on Monday (Sept. 13). Boston College did not provide a timetable for his return, except to say the injury could be season-ending.” Fast-forward one month, four games later and the Pittsburgh native is still sidelined with this injury.
BC was able to beat lesser competitive opponents, including UMass, after Jurkovec went down. However, their last three games have resulted in a loss. First, a 19-13 loss to 25th ranked Clemson, followed by a lopsided 33-7 victory by 22 ranked North Carolina State over the Eagles and, most recently, a 28-14 loss to unranked Louisville. Now 4-3 on the season and no closer to being ranked, BC fans are hoping that their starting quarterback can return before the season ends.
With five games remaining, the Eagles have an easier schedule than they have had the past two weeks. They do not face another ranked opponent until the final regular season game when they welcome the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons on Nov. 27. If Jurkovec is able to return in-time for this game and play well, then he could instill excitement in BC fans for next seasons run. Assuming he will return for his Senior season.
If he were to declare for the 2022 NFL draft, Jurkovec is expected to be one of the first QB’s taken. Currently projected to be taken behind Spencer Rattler (Oklahoma), Carson Strong (Nevada), and Kedon Slovis (USC) the BC quarterback would be the fourth taken from that position. To put that in perspective, there were five QB’s taken in the first round in the 2021 draft.
NFL teams will not be as aggressive drafting quarterbacks in 2022, as they were this year, but being the fourth QB taken could mean that Jurkovec gets drafted in the back-half of the first round if not somewhere in the second round.
Coach Jeff Hafley and the Eagles head to Syracuse to take on the Orangemen where they hope to rebound from yet another loss. Back-up QB Dennis Grosel will look to bounce back from a disappointing performance in Louisville this past weekend.
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