Eagles football is taking flight - but slowly

The Boston College football team yesterday conducted its final scrimmage of summer camp with another vanilla performance from the offense and a more low-key approach from the defense at Alumni Stadium.

"I would have liked to have seen more intensity," said coach Jeff Jagodzinski, who did add he was more interested in coming out of camp healthy than in anything he could see in a scrimmage. "This was our last live scrimmage, because I want to make sure my team is in a healthy state going into the Kent State game [the season-opener, Aug. 30]. That's my first priority."

With that in mind, the Eagles were also cautious about who played yesterday. "We had a bunch of guys out," said Jagodzinski, who presided over a scrimmage in which defensive tackle Ron Brace and linebackers Brian Toal and Mike McLaughlin did not participate. Toal was not even on the sideline. On offense, starting wide receiver Rich Gunnell did not play.

With three defensive starters missing, the offense looked better than it did in last week's scrimmage, cutting down the turnovers. Starting quarterback Chris Crane threw one touchdown pass and had one late interception.

"We ran the ball well and we're making progress," said Crane, who completed 10 of 20 passes for 66 yards. "Each day we're getting better. We just have to get better every day."

Freshman Josh Haden picked up 52 yards on eight carries, including one 22-yard burst that set up an 8-yard TD pass from Crane to Brandon Robinson.

Jagodzinski was not happy with his field goal kickers, as Billy Bennett missed a 37-yard attempt and Steve Aponavicius missed a point after, although he did convert field goals of 38 and 26 yards. "I'm disappointed in our kickers," said Jagodzinski. "Maybe we'll have to go for it on fourth down every time unless we are inside the 15. But I am happy with our kickoffs [Bennett]." Jagodzinski also liked the way freshman Ryan Quigley punted . . . The coach announced that freshman offensive tackle Patrick Neumann had left school for personal reasons. "We gave him some time, but he won't be back," said Jagodzinski . . . The Eagles will start putting in the game plan for Kent State this week and also start working on the plan for Georgia Tech (the home opener, Sept. 6) because Jagodzinski wants more time to prepare for new Tech coach Paul Johnson's option offense.

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.