There's a doin's a-transpirin'!

It's more of a minor flap, really, but it'll have to do.

Embittered ex-BC safety Ryan Glasper doesn't like the way his injury situation was handled by Tom O'Brien.

"I'm redshirting," Glasper said.

"No, you've been cleared by the doctor to play," O'Brien said. "You're choosing not to play."

Glasper was shocked into silence. But O'Brien continued.

"I hold the keys to what you do," the coach said. "We don't have to grant you a fifth year. Besides, I can't count on you."

Glasper seethes at the retelling of the story.

"I respect all people and I've always been a team player," Glasper says. "But when he said all that, I just wanted to punch that dude."

The problem I have with this is that all of the words attributed to O'Brien are coming from Glasper's recollection of the encounter. It's been months since that brief exchange, and instead of going the safer route and paraphrasing, Alan Grant uses direct quotes as if someone had tape recorded the conversation. I'm not sure I'd be that confident in Glasper's memory.

I don't agree with what O'Brien did, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was a little more tactful in dealing with Glasper than Glasper remembers.

Later in the article:

[W]hen asked about the decision not to redshirt Glasper, [ex-BC defensive backs coach Kevin] Lempa, now at Maryland, was silent for a few moments before stating, "That was the head coach's decision."

In a New Haven Register article on the same subject, Lempa elaborates on the staff's unspoken thought process:

Lempa, a Hartford native and former Southern Connecticut State University star, admits that some politics were involved in BC coach Tom O’Brien’s desire not to redshirt Glasper.

"He was a guy that was going to help us win, we knew that," said Lempa. "The guy that replaced him was doing a good job, but Ryan was a better player. We knew with him, we would be a better team."

As for this comment from Glasper (from the ESPN article)...

"Looking back I think he already knew he was going somewhere else," Glasper says. "So I guess he needed the defense to be intact that season."

...I don't want to believe it's true, but I worry that it might be.

Lots of huff-puffery from Boston College fans on this one:

Eagle Insider thread
Eagle In Atlanta
For Here Men Are Men (highly recommended)

We already had fans on both sides secretly (or not-so-secretly) hoping for the demise of the other so they could have that I-told-you-so moment (I'm guilty as charged), and now Ryan Glasper has added a little kick to the developing mini-rivalry. It's weird to think about bad blood between schools as historically disconnected as Boston College and NC State. What a strange reality, this post-expansion world.