Haden Commits!!!

4-star RB Josh Haden has officially given his verbal to BC, arguably the biggest recruiting coup in the school's history (Brian Toal was a higher-rated recruit, but had a brother already on the team and came from a school and state that are both strong BC pipelines). In addition to national champs Florida, where Haden's older brother will be beginning his collegiate career this fall, BC beat out schools like Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio State, Penn State, and Virginia Tech as well as hometown school Maryland for his verbal. Haden will graduate high school early, join the team in time for spring ball in 2008, and is likely to see significant playing time, possibly even start, as a true freshman in the fall of '08.

The consequences of this cannot be overstated. Jags has announced, loud and clear, that BC is back as a player on the national recruiting scene. With one high-profile domino having fallen, who will be next?? 4-star LB Brendan Beal?? Virginian EJ Manuel, the #2 QB in the country who listed BC's coaching staff as the most impressive on he met with at a combine a few weeks ago?? Manuel's close friend, 5-star WR Deion Walker?? Or Haden's high school teammate, the 37th-ranked recruit in the country according to Rivals, WR/DB/RB Lamaar Thomas??

Either way, an already exciting era in BC football just got much more exciting. Congratulations and welcome to BC, Josh.

Two New Commits

Good news for BC fans yesterday as the 2008 recruiting class doubled in size with the verbals of two new recruits, including probably the class' best prospect to date. First up was sleeper prospect Christian Klein of Montvale, NJ, a high school TE/DE whose ultimate position at BC is unclear. His 40 time of 4.85 seconds at only 6'3/235 lbs is somewhat concerning, and he may end up bulking up and playing center. Unless Klein significantly bulks up or drops his 40 time, my feeling is that he ends up at fullback.

The bigger news came later in the day when Klein's teammate, highly-touted OT Patrick Neumann, gave BC his verbal. Klein, one of BC's top offensive line targets, picked BC over an offer from FSU and with several other top programs, including Miami and Louisville, getting ready to offer. Neumann is an excellent prospect, likely to be rated as a high 3-star recruit, and will continue BC's tradition of quality offensive linemen.

The new recruits' high school, St. Joe's in Montvale, is also the alma mater of former Eagles Vinny Ciurciu and Augie Hoffman; New Jersey's Catholic schools are stocked with football talent and have provided BC with a great deal of talent over the years; we got away from recruiting New Jersey somewhat in the latter years of the Tom O'Brien area, so it's good to see those pipelines up and running again.

Hockey Updates

A few stories that have come to light in the past few days:

-BC has landed highly sought-after recruit Devon MacAusland out of New Brunswick. MacAusland, a small but speedy and tenacious winger, will arrive in 2009 and seems to be cut in the mold of players like Nate Gerbe and the Gionta brothers; good to know we'll have more of those guys rolling in

-It is being reported that BC commit Barry Almeida will remain in the USHL another year and not report to BC until 2008. Probably good news, as this will give him additional time to improve his game as well as recover from a bad eye injury suffered last fall

-It appears that a deal has been reached to save the UMass-Lowell hockey program, at least for one more season. The River Hawks program, which was in danger of losing funding from the UMass board of trustees due to the exorbitant rental fees paid to the city for the use of Tsongas Arena, will be given a stay of execution as the parties involved try to hammer out a new, long-term deal. Good news for BC fans, as Lowell is a fairly easy road trip from Boston and a nice place to watch a game (albeit in the middle of freaking nowhere) in front of what is usually a pro-BC crowd

-BC's 2007-08 schedule has not yet been released, but as other schools publish theirs we can start to piece our upcoming season together. What we know so far:

10/12 - Michigan (tournament in Minneapolis)
10/13 - Minnesota/RPI (tournament in Minneapolis)
10/19 - North Dakota
10/21 - at Vermont
10/23 - Northeastern
11/10 - at UNH
11/16 - at UMass
11/17 - UMass
December - Christmas tournament in Minneapolis vs. St. Lawrence, Minnesota/RIT
1/5 - at Clarkson
1/11 - Vermont
1/12 - Vermont
1/18 - at Lowell
2/4 - BU (Beanpot)
2/8 - at UMass
2/11 - Harvard/Northeastern (Beanpot)
2/15 - Lowell
2/16 - at Lowell
2/22 - UNH
2/23 - at UNH
3/7 - Northeastern
3/8 - at Northeastern