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Toal ready for action

Email|Link|Comments (0) Posted by Mark Blaudschun, Globe Staff August 30, 2008 08:45 AM

CLEVELAND -- A year ago Brian Toal was sitting in the stands at Alumni Stadium, watching Boston College open its season against Wake Forest.

"I was pretty bummed out,'' said the BC linebacker who took a medical redshirt last season as he recovered from off season shoulder surgery. I watched the opening kick off. It was my toughest game."

Toal was a spectator all of last season as he watched the Eagles roll to the ACC Atlantic Division title and an 11 win season.

But once the season ended, the 6-foot-0, 238 pound linebacker became even more focused as he prepared for his last season at BC. Tonight at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Toal will play his first football game in two years as BC open its season against Kent State.

BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said that Toal's role was clear.

"Make things happen,'' said Jagodzinski. "That's his role.''

In his role at weakside linebacker, Toal is expected to do that against a Kent State offense led by option quarterback Julian Edelman and running back Eugene Jarvis.

The Eagles defense feels it is prepared for the Kent State and the antics of Edelman and the super quick, but smaller sized (5-feet-7 inches) Jarvis.

"In my eyes their two best players are their QB and their running back,'' said BC strong side linebacker Mark Herzlich, whose job is to keep an eye on both Kent State players. "Edelman is very shifty. He still makes guys miss. And Eugene Jarvis, you need to keep eyes on him. And when you do get him, your form has to be perfect. If you go too high he can dive underneath you and if you go diving at his legs, you'll miss him.''

For Toal, it was a matter of simply getting into a flow of a game he has played most of his life. The game plan that Jagodzinski has set up for Toal was to make things happen on defense and be available for goal line situations at running back.

Tonight will be step one in that master plan.

It will be the first meeting ever between Kent State and Boston College...BC went into the game against Kent State having won all three of its season openers since moving to the ACC in 2005. The Eagles also won its last three openers on the road--Central Michigan in 2006, BYU in 2005 and Ball State in 2004....Ten BC players have already earned their undergraduate degrees..

Although the meeting between Kent State and BC will be the first ever between the two schools, there was a linkage since the Golden Flashes offense is a mirror image of BC's offense.

"It's exactly like ours,'' said Kent State coach Doug Martin, who worked for BC offensive coordinator Steve Logan at East Carolina. "The terminology is the same, everything is the same.'' Whether the familiarity breeds winning is the issue tonight.

Jagodzinski said he will change the Eagles schedule around this week. He will give the players off on Sunday and have shortened practices on Monday and Tuesday before getting into the full prep for Georgia Tech (the home opener next Saturday). Classes start at BC on Tuesday and Jagodzinski is aware of that.

"Traditonally, the first day of classes is always one of the worst practices of the year,'' said Jagodzinski. "The players have a millon things on their mind. So what we're going to do is basically give them off on Sunday and combine Monday (the usual off day for the players) and Tuesday with two shorter practices as we put in the game plan for Tech."

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