By Mike Sidhly
NEFJ Correspondent

CAMBRIDGE – On Tuesday night, Buckingham Browne & Nichols took part in the now annual Massachusetts Showcase Day, with over 100 college coaches in attendance to watch hopeful recruits show off their skills.

Head coach Mike Willey was pleased with the day’s effort from his players, and was grateful for the big turnout from college scouts who came from around the country,

“Our guys work really hard all winter, and it’s a good chance for them to get out and rip it up a little bit”, he said. “I think they did a great job today, it was a great turn out from a ton of coaches, at all the levels. It was really good, so a very productive day for us.”

In total, 31 athletes participated in different drills and workouts, hoping to gain the recognition of those coaches in attendance. Highlighting this group of participants were five-Star long snapper ‘27 Dante Snoonian, ‘28 RB/DB Owen DeSalvo, and ‘28 DL Xzavier Chafin.

DeSalvo looked great in running back drills, showcasing his lateral quickness and dynamic balance, while maintaining good ball control and exploding out of his jump cuts.

“I wanted to get through drills, sprint through everything, have effort”, said DeSalvo, who received offers from Dartmouth and Georgetown after today’s showcase.

Chafin really impressed as a defensive lineman, with surprisingly quick feet for his size. He showed off his explosive upper body during padwork, and ripped through the agility drills with ease.

Chafin definitely recognises these as strengths within himself, and emphasized these traits while talking about the attributes he wanted to show off.

“On the field it’s my quickness and power, and my mind”, said Chafin, “I think internally with my mental state, I’m just a dog and I have something to prove, and a lot of people count me out so I just want to prove myself.”

Along with those two, the showcase featured a more specialized star, long snapper Dante Snoonian, who is regarded as one of the best in the entire country at the high school level. Dante was having conversations with coaches all night and displayed a consistent placement with his snaps, while also maintaining high velocity.

All in all, Willey knows the essence of every recruit starts with a good program, and BB & N has the core values that draw in top talent time and time again,

“We have three core values: you’re gonna be hard working, you’re going to be accountable, and you’re going to be mentally and physically tough”,  he said. “That’s it. We want those guys to be like that in the classroom, on the football field, weight room, baseball diamond, basketball court, whatever you’re doing we want those three things to show through.”

BB&N went 6-3 last season, and after their 2024 ISL Championship, they’re hoping to get back to their title winning ways.

Based on the talent that was on display, that shouldn’t be too difficult.