FOXBOROUGH – Before spring ball starts back up on Tuesday, Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley, director of recruiting Jason Tudryn and new co-defensive coordinator Sean Duggan were all at Gillette Stadium for the 25th MHSFCA Coaches Clinic on Saturday to give presentations.

Following Coach Haf’s presentation on secondary play that had standing-room-only attendance, he was nice enough to give us an exclusive interview about a number of things revolving around the program.

Enjoy.

ON WHY CLINICS LIKE THE ONE THIS WEEKEND ARE STILL IMPORTANT TO HIM

“This is basically how I got started, coming to clinics, learning football, getting inspired and this is giving back. This is what football is all about. Helping high school coaches, helping youth coaches, helping college coaches that are coming. Share knowledge and not thinking we have all the answers, but being able to help other people and share ideas and thoughts and grow our profession. These are huge, I think that people don’t attend them as much as they used to and I think there’s too many coaches out there who don’t want to share their thoughts and Ideas. I don’t know, if I can give back to high school coaches and youth coaches – especially in this area – I feel obligated to do so.”

ON IF HE STILL USES NEW THINGS HE LEARNS FROM CLINICS

“Yeah, growing up as a young coach, that’s where I got a lot of my stuff. I’ve met great people, developed great relationships with coaches and made friends. When I was a young coach, every weekend I was going to one of these things. Constantly. We’d get in a car, find (a clinic), get a hotel and take notes and notes and just try to pick people’s brains and learn. You can learn from coaches at any level. NFL guys, college guys, high school guys, it’s all football. You get great ideas from different people.”

ON IF HE’S STARTING TO SEE FAMILIAR FACES NOW AT THESE TYPES OF EVENTS

“Starting to, yeah. Three years ago I moved in right around this time and I spoke at this clinic…and then the whole world shut down. So, literally, three years ago to this clinic, I spoke and I remember I think three days later, everything shut down. The clinics kind of died out a little bit, but yeah, now starting to see some of the same faces and starting to know the high school coaches better and they’re getting to know me better. I want to put myself out there and help them as much as we can.”

ON MANAGING THE START AND STOP OF SPRING BALL WITH SPRING BREAK

“You start on that Friday because then you’re able to go a whole prior week and do some OTA-type work. It’s a light practice on Friday. These guys are excited. I’ve heard from multiple of them. You’ve got to ease back into it a little bit because they’ve been away from it a little bit. We’ll jump right back into it and they’ll be out there with full energy and they’ll be excited I’m sure. We’ll meet Monday, watch the film and then Tuesday we’ll go back out and have a practice.”

ON CONTINUING TO ECHO POSITIVITY AND PLAYERS TAKING THE SAME APPROACH

“I want our guys to be like that. When we lose, I want them to be pissed off, I’m pissed off, but it doesn’t mean you walk in and it’s doomsday. When we win it’s great and everybody’s happy, but it doesn’t mean that everything is fixed. There’s a process to it and it’s about everybody doing their best in everything you do every single day and win or lose, you’ve got to do it again. You’ve got to get better for the next time. I think our guys have that mentality where they understand the process, they understand the work they have to put in. We were really young last year, we worked through it and now w have a lot of guys that have played. We have depth, we have more experience, our younger guys are getting older. I think they’re focusing on the details and the little things that are going to help us win games. I am positive. I’ve said it, this is a new year. I’m very upbeat and very excited and I think our team is. There’s great energy, great attitude and I think people should be excited and I think they’re going to be.”

ON IF HE FEELS LIKE HIS ORIGINAL VISION HAS FINALLY TAKEN SHAPE

“It’s starting to be. You look at this thing, I have two recruiting classes that are here. The third is coming in. Some of them are here, some of them will be here in June. Everybody thinks all of the sudden this is every recruit we’ve got is here. We’ve got two classes – the freshman and sophomores who will now be sophomores and juniors – and the one class coming behind them. Now we brought in the transfers with them. Certainly, we’re starting to feel much more normal without Covid. Really, even last year at this point, we were worried about some stuff. It’s starting to be that way and you’re starting to see it going in that direction.”

ON WHAT IS NEEDED FROM THE FAN BASE

“I think they need to see what we’re building. I think they need to see the talent, the young talent we have. They need to see certain positions now have depth. I would say the support is really good. The calls I’ve gotten from alumni, from fans, from people I see around here, from the high school coaches, the support is great. Now, are there going to be people that are upset and disappointed? Yeah, and they should be. We weren’t good enough. I’ll take that, but we’re going to be. I said it when I got here. This will be a process and we’re going to build it, we’re going to build it the right way and we’re going to win. We are. They need to stick by these kids and this team and understand that last year wasn’t good enough, but it’s over. It’s done. Put it on me. Good. Let’s move forward and we’re going to get behind this team, be positive, be energetic and see what these kids can do. These players need them behind them as well. I think that’s what makes the real BC people special. They have had our backs and they have had my back and they will be rewarded.”

ON ANY PARTICULAR GUY PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THAT COULD BRING SOMETHING SPECIAL TO THE TABLE

“I think there’s a lot of the young guys. I think you saw a lot of them play last year. If you look back, we saw the true freshman and sophomores play last year. I think you’re going to see in the spring – that’s the fun part about the spring – it’s why it’s awesome you guys (media) come by practice. You’re going to see some new storylines. You saw flashes of Joe Griffin, but you didn’t see a healthy Joe Griffin play last year (hernia), you saw flashes of Emmett Morehead. You didn’t see a full season, practiced Emmett Morehead. You saw Drew Kendall play with a broken hand and a torn meniscus last year and be a freshman All-American. You saw Ozzy Trapilo jump out. There’s multiple guys like that. George Takacs  – when healthy – what he can do and now he’s back. You saw Jeremiah Franklin play as a true freshman. You saw Donnovan Ezeiruaku lead the ACC in sacks and some people now think he’s the best pass rusher in the ACC. You saw a lot of young guys late in the season that made plays. I think that’s why the spring’s fun and what people should be talking about. Who are the young guys that are going to take the next step that were sophomores and played that are now juniors? Or, the freshman that played that are now sophomores. Or, the transfers that come in and compete for jobs. There’s a lot to talk about and I think that’s what the focus needs to be.”

ON THE ACTIVITY IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL AND EXPECTATIONS FOR THOSE GUYS

“I expect them to compete. You look at the two O-linemen we brought in and we also have a lot of linemen coming back now that will be healthy, so they create depth. One of them was a starting tackle at Virginia, the other was a starting guard at Texas State. You’ve got an all-conference player there and a guy with three years left who was a starting left tackle in the ACC. We’re excited about those guys. We brought in a back with some size that I think will push guys, bring us some depth and also compete for a job. We’ve got a bunch of DB’s that have size, length, ball production and then a receiver that can fly. We brought these guys in to compete, to push people – which, we have not had that depth, we haven’t had the competition – at Boston College since I’ve been here and now we do. We have competition, we have depth and it’s going to bring out the best in people. That’s what spring is so exciting for, you’re going to see…I saw it before we went on break. You’re going to see a level of competition and some battles that we haven’t had because there hasn’t been that depth and competition at jobs where I feel like now, at every position, jobs are up for grabs. That’s what you need.”