Junior WR Alex Amidon Having Breakout Year for Boston College Eagles

After a disappointing 4-8 season last year, Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani hired a new offensive coordinator with the intention of significantly improving the team’s lackluster offense. Doug Martin, the former head coach at Kent State, was expected to utilize BC’s top weapons from 2011, including WRs Bobby Swigert and Colin Larmond, and TE Chris Pantale.

But all of those players, who ranked as BC’s top three receivers in yards last year, got hurt before the season. It didn’t seem to bode well for the start of Martin’s reign as offensive coordinator.

WR Alex Amidon, though, had other ideas.

The junior from Greenfield, Mass. has helped the Eagles offense score 66 points in its first two games. He’s accumulated 16 catches and 248 yards, the latter total the fifth highest in all of college football.

So how does a player with only 558 career receiving yards heading into the season suddenly become one of the top offensive producers in the nation? It helps that he’s been given the opportunity because of all the injuries, but Amidon has taken the chance and run with it.

“We’re giving [Amidon] more opportunities on the outside,” QB Chase Rettig said. “I have a lot of trust in Alex. He’s really hard working. Just seems like we have the right plays called for him at the right time.”

Those plays have allowed him to lead BC in receiving by over 100 yards just two games into the season. Amidon attributes the new offensive system as to why he, and the offense, has had so much success this year.

“[The offense] is more fast paced and a little simpler,” Amidon said. “I love it. Sometimes when you’re in an intricate offense there’s a lot at the line of scrimmage to think about. With this offense, we’ve been doing the same thing for so long now, it’s just second nature- you can play as fast as you can.”

The extra workload and hits from defenders hasn’t been a problem for Amidon, at least not yet. His teammates mention that he’s full of energy on the field, and don’t see any signs of him slowing down.

“He’s kind of done it all for us so far,” Rettig said. “He’s motivated, which is the most important thing.”

“I’m not used to [being involved in so many plays,]" Amidon said. “The most catches I’ve had before this year is four in a game. It’s a lot different being out on the field for the whole game. It’s a lot to do with the offense. The new offense we have- it’s focused on giving a lot of different players touches.”

The Eagles face their biggest test of the season so far when they travel to play Northwestern in Chicago this weekend. They’ll need another big game from Amidon if they want to avoid a 1-2 start heading into their bye week, with a big-time matchup against Clemson looming September 29.

Stephen Sikora is a current BC student and Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained first-hand at BC Football’s weekly media day.