Good news on the injury front for the Boston College football team at practice this afternoon. Senior defensive co-captain and middle linebacker Mike McLaughlin returned to practice for the first time since tearing his right Achilles tendon in an offseason workout last March.

And he did it with style. During a drill today McLaughlin went on the field as a scout team linebacker. BC quarterback Justin Tuggle dropped back, looked for a receiver, and threw the ball right into the hands of---McLaughlin.

"It felt good,'' said McLaughlin as he sat on the sidelines, with his ankle wrapped in ice and his practice session over for the day. "I'm still in the rehab phase, and it's going to take time. I'm going to take it slow, but it's up to me (as far as the progress of his comeback).

The original prediction was for a return by mid-September. McLaughlin, the Eagles' starting middle linebacker until his injury, thought that was optimistic. "I'm not sure,'' he said. "We still have a ways to go. But this is definitely a step in the right direction.''

BC coach Frank Spaziani, who is trying to put together a finished project at QB as Tuggle, Dave Shinskie, along with freshman Mike Marscovetra, all take their turn running the offense and at linebacker, where McLaughlin and outside LB Mark Herzlich (cancer) are out, says he is not projecting anything yet.

"He's ready to go,'' said Spaziani on McLaughlin. "Medically, he's done all the tests. We are just waiting for him to test it to see if he's ready.''

Today was a first test. Tomorrow will be another one and the Eagles will see how it plays after that, with a remote possibility that McLaughlin could be ready to dress by the game at Clemson on Sept. 19, but a more likely possibility is that his return could happen against either Wake Forest on Sept. 26 or Florida State the following week.

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Neither Tuggle nor Shinskie distinguished themselves at practice, which might have prompted BC offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill to insert Marscovetra with the first team for a series....Spaziani said he anticipates rotating QBs against Kent State the way he did against Northeastern....Herzlich, who is serving as an unofficial coach this season, has resumed chemotherapy treatments this week at Dana Farber and was not at practice yesterday....Spaziani was a bit miffed when he was introduced on the ACC coaches conference call as,""Frank Spaziani of the Boston College "Golden" Eagles....the Eagles defensive game plan is simple: Find a way to stop Kent State's talented tailback Eugene Jarvis. "You are going to see him on first down, second down, and third down,'' BC defensive coordinator Billy McGovern told his players as they ran against the scout team with running back Jeff Smith playing the role of Jarvis. The 5-foot-5 inch 170 pound senior running back had 141 yard rushing yards (1 TD), 3 receptions for 30 yards and a total of 265 all purpose yards against Coastal Carolina, which led the country for the week.