Boston College QB has maturity edge on Hokies

BLACKSBURG — Maturity and poise aren’t words usually associated with freshman quarterbacks, but they are appropriate descriptors for Dave Shinskie.

He’s got something most freshman signal-callers don’t. Then again, he is 25 years old.

Shinskie, who is expected to make his third consecutive start for Boston College (4-1, 2-1 ACC) today at No. 5 Virginia Tech (4-1, 2-0), has seven years of minor league baseball experience to fall back on when faced with adverse situations on the football field.

When some baby-faced gunslingers get rattled, it can mean the difference between a win and loss. That hasn’t been a fear with Shinskie to this point. Of course, his baby-faced years are behind him, and he borrows from his time as a professional pitcher to keep perspective when things go awry.

“He looks good. He’s poised. He’s calm out there. He knows what he’s doing,” Hokies linebacker Cody Grimm said. “He’s a lot more mature than most freshman quarterbacks. I think it shows.”

Boston College is one of the big surprises of the ACC this season, thanks in large part to the emergence of Shinskie. The Mt. Carmel, Pa., native earned the starting job two weeks ago and since then has completed 31 of 51 passes for 439 yards, five touchdowns and one interception in wins over Wake Forest and Florida State.

He’ll face his most difficult test today against a Hokies defense eager to atone for its missteps in last week’s too-close-for-comfort 34-26 win at Duke.

Tech allowed five long plays against the Blue Devils that accounted for 237 of their 397 yards.

“We just got beat a little bit,” Grimm said. “That’s going to happen sometimes, but you don’t want it to happen for (237) yards.”

The Hokies face a BC offense today that has churned out 398 yards in each of its last two games, both against teams that were at one time expected to compete for the ACC’s Atlantic Division title this season.

Shinskie has been the catalyst behind the offensive breakthrough. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns in the Eagles’ 27-24 overtime win against Wake Forest two weeks ago, and he followed that up with a 211-yard, two-touchdown performance against Florida State last Saturday.

“I’m seeing some nice things on the sidelines, in the huddle and in his demeanor out there,” BC first-year coach Frank Spaziani said of his quarterback.

Shinskie’s cool under pressure goes back to his pitching days in the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays organizations.

He was drafted by the Twins in the fourth round (118 overall) of the 2003 draft, four picks behind Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon.

In seven seasons, he compiled a 24-30 record with a 4.61 ERA. He made 12 relief appearances this spring for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Blue Jays’ Double-A affiliate, before being released in May.

“I was more shocked than anything, because I wasn’t ready to be done playing baseball,” the 6-foot-4, 216-pound Shinskie said. “When I went home, it really didn’t sink in for a couple of days.

“It’s hard for an athlete at any level I think to be shut down from their dream. In any sense, if I didn’t get released I wouldn’t be here at BC. It’s almost like one door closes and another one opens.”

The Eagles are seeking their third straight regular-season win over the Hokies, though Tech has atoned for the last two by beating BC in the 2007 and ’08 ACC championship games.

“I think the way it ended up the last two years, we’d prefer it to be that way,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “If we’re going to get beat, get beat in the regular season and us win the championship.”