Talent levels

There are many things that can be said about Tom O'Brien's tenure as the head football coach for Boston College but and inability to recruit should not be one of them. Before O'Brien, the BC program had not had many first round draft picks in the NFL draft. However, a first or early second-rounder seems to be getting more and more common for the Eagles.

Last year Matt Ryan was selected third overall in the NFL Draft, the highest ever by a BC player. This year, B.J. Raji was selected 9th overall and Ron Brace went to the Pats early in the second round. Today, while looking for some wayyyyy to early predictions for the 2010 NFL draft I find that SI.com is predicting Mark Herzlich to be selected #7 overall (which would be tied with Mike Mamula as second-highest BC selection in draft history).

One has to wonder what will happen for the players that were drafted by Jagodzinski over the past two years and if any of them have first or second round potential. O'Brien truly raised the level of talent as well as the expectations for the school. I hope that Spaziani can carry on that proud tradition and build on the solid foundation that O'Brien laid.