It took three years, but Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley got his first real recruiting class and now he finally gets a legitimate offseason to continue implementing his vision.

Think about it. Just about two months after taking the job in December of 2019, Coach Hafley had any spring ball plans completely erased by a pandemic. Instead of getting to know his new team, he was just trying to make sure all of them remained safe in extremely uncertain times while getting adjusted to a brand new region.

A year later, Hafley got to go through spring ball last March…sort of. Testing, restrictions, masks and Zoom meetings were all far more prevalent than they will be when the Eagles hit the field on Saturday morning for the first spring practice session of the 2022 campaign.

You can make the argument that Hafley has had to deal with more in his first two seasons as head coach at BC than any coach in program history. Taking a job on the brink of a pandemic, moving your family in that pandemic, trying to bring in new classes of athletes without ever laying eyes on them in person, dealing with your star quarterback getting hurt just minutes into one of the early games of 2021, building a relationship with a new athletic director seemingly minutes after taking that new job. We haven’t even gotten to the fact that he lost his offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and offensive line coach this offseason and already hired suitable replacements for all of those positions.

All of this while trying to completely change the culture and turn BC into a legitimate ACC contender.

With all of that now behind him, Hafley should finally just be able to go out and coach football the right way. No social distancing, no split up team meetings. When the Eagles head out for practice on Saturday, it’ll be nothing but FTT (For The Team) on everyone’s mind.

There are a ton of exciting questions surrounding this team, which makes this particular season even more intriguing than the past two. There was always this cloud hanging over the college football landscape with the ideas of bubbles or teams having to forfeit games. Not anymore. The only thing the Eagles and their fans need to be thinking about on Saturday is how does Phil Jurkovec look? Is that grip strength back? What about Zay Flowers, can he and Phil become one of the most dynamic duos in the country this season?

How about the running game? Let’s not forget some big losses on defense, but also some key guys returning for one more crack at an ACC title run. Can the rest of the receiver room step up and put on a show alongside Jurkovec? What will Coach McNulty’s offense look like? Can Connor Lytton repeat his stellar freshman season as the team’s primary kicker? How will the young offensive linemen and veteran Christian Mahogany vill the void left by Vrabel, Petrula, Lindstrom and Johnson? What’s the recruiting class look like? Can some of the young guys have an immediate impact?

Saturday’s first day of spring ball is much more than just the first of many practice sessions.

Saturday’s first day of spring ball is a true return to normalcy after two years. Saturday kicks off a time where fans can start to ask questions about and study the team, not worry about whether the first two weeks might be canceled or not.

You could say that Saturday’s first day of spring ball is the first real day of the Hafley Era. The anticipation is palpable.