By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Xaverian Brothers High School has produced some high level athletes over the years. Famously, former Hawks such as Dana Barros and the Hasselbeck brothers have gone on to excel at Boston College before later making their way to the pros.
In recent years, the Xaverian-to-BC football connection has stalled. Star athletes such as Maurice Hurst (Michigan, Las Vegas Raiders) and Joe Gaziano (Northwestern, Los Angeles Chargers) chose Big 10 schools to play their college ball instead of staying home and playing at BC.
With Catholic Memorial beginning to assert itself as a Catholic Conference power following the arrival of former Everett head coach John DiBiaso, it has become more difficult for Xaverian to produce high-level Division I football prospects with CM beginning to dip into their recruiting pool. Even with recruiting becoming more competitive with their Catholic Conference counterparts, the Hawks have started to rejuvenate one of their biggest and more chronicled Division I connections in Boston College.
This past week, rising junior offensive lineman and defensive end Jack Funke committed to BC, announcing his intentions to play his collegiate years in Chestnut Hill on Twitter.
New BC head coach Jeff Hafley, formerly the defensive coordinator of Ohio State, has hit the recruiting front hard since arriving at the Heights back in January. Under Hafley, BC has landed multiple 2020 four-star recruits (among them BC High offensive lineman Ozzy Trapilo and Milford offensive lineman Kevin Pyne), as well as an abundance of three-star recruits in the 2020 and 2021 classes.
Boston College has made a name for itself over the years as a producer of NFL-caliber offensive lineman. With Hafley taking over, that tradition should continue by landing players such as Funke, Trapilo and Pyne.
For funny and insightful sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his own personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
