Lasting impression: scholarship for Maglio

How do you earn a football scholarship at Boston College? If your name is Mark Maglio, a walk-on junior cornerback from Mequon, Wis., you do drop-dead accurate impersonations of coach Jeff Jagodzinski and other members of the coaching staff and administration.

Maglio did them so well that Jagodzinski noticed, and yesterday the coach offered his reaction.

"We had a team meeting before practice today," said Maglio, whose career at BC has included redshirting his freshman season and playing on the scout team for the past two years. "Coach Jags managed to say one of his classic lines. He looked over at me and said, 'Mags, are you going to imitate that one?' I said, 'Probably.' So he said, 'Why don't you come up here now and do it for the team?' I went up and was doing the imitation and he said to me, 'Have you ever been paid to do that before?' I said, 'No. Is this a trick question?' He said, 'How about if we give you a scholarship?' "

Generally, scholarships are not just hanging around the BC locker room like shoulder pads, but when freshman offensive tackle Patrick Neumann left last week, the Eagles had an extra one available.

Jagodzinski said the decision was a no-brainer. "He's a great kid and he's worked his butt off here," said the coach, who emphasized he was giving him the scholarship for his work ethic.

Maglio's BC version of "Rudy" started four years ago when he followed his older brother to The Heights. "I went to a Jesuit high school in Wisconsin [Marquette University High]," said Maglio. "My brother came here for the academics and I came here for football and academics and decided to walk on for Coach [Tom] O'Brien."

In high school, Maglio was a decent cornerback who earned some local honors and attracted some attention from smaller college programs. "But I thought BC was the perfect fit for me," he said.

With the total cost for BC approximately $50,000 per year, it was an expensive fit for the third of Kathy and Sam Maglio's five children.

Mark arrived at BC in the fall of 2005 with great ambitions, both as a student and football player.

When asked if he did an impression of O'Brien, Maglio laughed. "No, as a walk-on freshman, I didn't think that was a good idea," he said.

After two years on the scout team, Maglio is more confident. His duties are not likely to change this year, although he will now have new status as a scholarship player.

"That's a $50,000 job," said Jagodzinski.

It may be an obscure one, too, but yesterday was a highlight film wrapped into a neat, feel-good package for Maglio.

"I'm ecstatic," he said. "The best part of it was when Coach Jags did that, I got a standing ovation from the team."

Contacted by phone at North Carolina State, where he's now coaching, O'Brien laughed when he heard the story and thought Jagodzinski made a classy gesture. "Good for Jags," he said.

Maglio's first priority on coming out of the locker room was to text-message his brother to see if his parents were home. "He told me that they were, so I can't wait to tell them," he said. "I think they will enjoy hearing that. For me to come here and do this for four years has been great. This is the perfect fit for me. I got the opportunity to play football and the opportunity to get a great education."

Not surprisingly, Sam Maglio was thrilled to hear of his son's good fortune. "It's like the Olympics," said the elder Maglio by phone. "He brought home the gold. We're real proud of him. He is the second of three children we have sent to Boston College, an older brother and a younger sister. He's worked real hard and it's nice to see someone who has worked so hard get rewarded for his hard work."

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