While Boston College football’s season came to a close with a 32–23 loss to Syracuse on Saturday night, seven Eagles received postseason accolades on Tuesday for their performances throughout the 2022 season.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers was named to the All-ACC First Team, marking his third consecutive year receiving All-ACC honors. Flowers made the All-ACC First Team in 2020 and the All-ACC Third Team in 2021.
Flowers also won the University Division Gold Helmet Award, which is given to the top Division I football player in New England, voted on by the New England Football Writers. Flowers is BC’s first winner of the award since former defensive end Zach Allen won it in 2018. He is the 10th BC player to receive the award all time.
Sophomore defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku earned All-ACC Second Team honors while senior defensive back Josh DeBerry, graduate linebacker Vinny DePalma, graduate cornerback Elijah Jones, graduate defensive tackle Chibueze Onwuka, and graduate safety Jaiden Woodbey picked up All-ACC honorable mention honors.
Flowers led the Eagles in 2022 with 78 receptions for 1,077 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, setting the BC’s single-season record for receiving touchdowns. He set BC’s record for all-time career receptions with 200, all-time career receiving touchdowns with 29, and all-time receiving yards with 3,056 yards.
Ezeiruaku tallied 8.5 sacks and 60 tackles—including 14.5 tackles for loss—in 2022. He ranked second in the ACC in sacks per game with .71 and forced three fumbles on the season. In a dominant performance against Syracuse, he recorded 2.5 sacks and nine tackles.
DeBerry and Woodbey each earned All-ACC honors in 2021, DeBerry on the second team and Woodbey as an honorable mention. DeBerry recorded 50 tackles and four pass breakups during the 2022 season. He caught an interception during BC’s promising first-half against Clemson on Oct. 8.
Woodbey came to the Heights after three years at Florida State and served as a reliable safety for the Eagles, starting in all 12 games in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons. In his final season as an Eagle he totaled 79 tackles, good for second on BC’s roster.
DePalma—a fifth-year, vocal leader for the Eagles—led BC with 87 tackles this season, including seven tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. After an Achilles injury forced him to miss the entire 2020 season, DePalma played in all 12 games of his last two seasons for the Eagles.
Jones tallied 34 total tackles—32 of which were solo tackles—and two interceptions on the season. Jones has been a consistent piece of the Eagles’ defense since 2019, missing only one game in the past four seasons.
Onwuka transferred to the Heights in 2020 after a successful three-year stint at Buffalo, where he tallied 43 tackles in 2019. In his first full year since 2020, Onwuka totaled 41 tackles in 2022, six of which were for a loss.
