Linebacker Joe Sparacio is another “Florida find” for the Boston College football program.
The 5-foot-11, 225-pound, under-recruited redshirt freshman from Naples, Fla., made his first career start and ACC debut in last Saturday’s 35-28 victory over Virginia Tech in the season opener at Alumni Stadium.
Sparacio started at the Sam linebacker spot in place of junior Isaiah McDuffie, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery. Sparacio finished with six tackles and an interception in the end zone that squelched a Hokies scoring drive at the end of the first half.
“It was a pretty awesome moment,” said Sparacio following Tuesday morning’s practice inside the Fish Field House. “I had a sense about (ACC football) playing against our offense, our fast and physical offense.
“But I definitely have a good feeling now getting a game under my belt.”
BC coach Steve Addazio made extensive connections in the Sunshine State when he was an assistant coach, offensive coordinator and recruiter under Urban Meyer at Florida from 2005 to 2010. There are six players from Florida on the BC roster and five are starters.
Sparacio played fullback and linebacker for his father, Billy, who is the head coach of First Baptist Academy in Naples and had previous dealings with Addazio.
Sparacio had a distinguished scholastic career but was not tendered an offer from any of the Florida-based FBS programs or any school in a Power 5 conference.
BC running backs coach and recruiter Brian White had talks with Billy Sparacio and Addazio followed up with inquiries at Clemson, where Joe Sparacio worked out at a football camp.
“I liked him and I liked his tape and Clemson numbers-wise wasn’t going to go on him,” Addazio said. “I called down to Clemson and asked those guys, ‘How did you like Joe in camp?’ and they loved him, loved his character and loved his tape.
“I looked again at his tape and thought this guy is for us. He had no Power 5 offers, but from our evaluation and research we felt really good about him. We trusted our evaluation and that’s the stuff we have to do here.”
Sparacio appeared in two games in 2018 against UMass and Holy Cross before redshirting the remainder of the season. He made initial inroads toward a starting job in spring ball and brought that intensity and commitment into fall training camp.
Sparacio compares favorably in size and style to former BC linebacker Ty Schwab, another under-recruited kid from Merritt Island, Fla., who led the team with 107 tackles in 13 starts in 2017.
“He’s a really good athlete, really explosive guy and you could just see it in spring where he was making unbelievable strides,” Addazio said of Sparacio. “You could see he was ready to play and he’s a really good player.”
With McDuffie’s status uncertain, Sparacio practiced with the first unit alongside veterans Max Richardson and John Lamot, a move that enhanced the strongest unit on the BC defense.
“It helped a lot having guys like Max Richardson and John Lamot weeks before the game telling me what it is going to be like and helping me practice the right way to prepare for the game,” Sparacio said.
“They were giving me little bits and pieces of information to help me do what I did on Saturday.”