The Boston College defensive end was enjoying a late-summer evening in Mount Pleasant, Mich., as an Eagles team led by quarterback Matt Ryan built a 31-10 lead over the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Brian Kelly, who was the Central Michigan coach, decided to shake things up. He sent a redshirt freshman quarterback named Dan LeFevour into the game with simple instructions: Make something happen.

Albright, who was also a redshirt freshman at the time, said, “We had a big lead, I thought the game should be pretty easy now. They are using a backup QB; the kid was a freshman.’’

But when the game turned, sparked by a mistake Albright made on punt return coverage, and LeFevour kept making play after play, Albright had another thought. “I said, ‘This guy is a backup?’ ’’ BC escaped with a 31-24 victory.

Albright and the Eagles will face Central Michigan again this afternoon, this time at Alumni Stadium, and they again will see LeFevour, now a 6-foot-3-inch, 238-pound senior who is anything but a backup.

If you want to know about the best quarterbacks in college football, you could do worse than ask a BC defensive player his opinion. The Eagles already have faced Wake Forest’s Riley Skinner, Florida State’s Christian Pon der, North Carolina State’s Russell Wilson, Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor, and Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen.

Now comes LeFevour, who might be the most dangerous of the group, with an ability to run and pass that has been compared with that of former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

“It’s been fun,’’ said LeFevour. “From a team standpoint, we’ve gotten off to a great start and I’ve been fortunate to be on a team with a great defense and a lot of good people. It’s been great throwing being the quarterback in the spread offense.’’

Kelly moved on to Cincinnati three years ago and was replaced by Butch Jones, who had been the offensive coordinator. Jones helped orchestrate LeFevour’s career, which has produced 132 touchdowns (90 passing, 41 running, 1 receiving). LeFevour is the first player in Bowl Subdivision history with at least 10,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards.

The Chippewas (7-1) bring a seven-game winning streak to Alumni Stadium, with LeFevour completing 70 percent of his passes (156 of 223).

Barring an injury or slump, LeFevour is within reach of the FBS total TD record of 146, shared by Graham Harrell of Texas Tech and Colt Brennan of Hawaii.

What makes his statistics surprising is LeFevour never showed that type of skill in high school in Downers Grove, Ill. “We ran the double wing in high school and didn’t throw the ball much,’’ he said. “So we put together a tape and sent it to 30 or 40 schools. There was a little interest [mostly from Mid-American Conference schools]. And I came here.’’

Since that game against BC in 2006, LeFevour hasn’t stopped throwing or running. He followed a redshirt freshman season in which he passed for 3,031 yards and 26 TDs and rushed for 521 yards with a spectacular sophomore season, when he passed for 3,652 yards and 27 TDs and rushed for 1,122 yards and 19 scores.

This season, only Arizona in the season opener has been able to slow down LeFevour and Central Michigan. The Chippewas have not lost since that 19-6 setback, compiling the school’s best start since 1979.

BC coach Frank Spaziani is wary of what LeFevour can do against a defense that has been stretched and tested each week, but has managed to survive. “He is good and that team is good,’’ said Spaziani. “They are very good.’’

Spaziani sees warning signs everywhere for the Eagles.

“They have a tremendous scheme that fits [LeFevour],’’ said Spaziani. “He’s been doing it for four years. He’s the most experienced, the most diverse QB [we have faced]. He’s the leading rusher. How many times do you see that on a team, and he’s also completing 70 percent of his passes? He’s got a lot of stuff going for him. He’s 6-3, 238 pounds. We haven’t faced any QB like that. I don’t know how we’re going to stop him.’’

LeFevour heard the praise and laughed. “We don’t play a team like this every week,’’ he said. “They are very physical and it will be the biggest challenge of the year for us.’’

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