The official word will come tomorrow and on Saturday night at Alumni Stadium against Notre Dame, Chase Rettig will make his collegiate debut as Boston College's starting quarterback against Notre Dame.

""Chase is going to start and Mike (Marscovetra) and Dave (Shinskie) will battle for No. 2,'' said one team source tonight. "Chase took about 80 percent of the snaps (with the first team) in practice today.''

The decision to change starting QB's was made by BC head coach Frank Spaziani following a 19-0 shut out loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon in which Shinskie and then Mascovetra failed to put the Eagles on the scoreboard, the Eagles first shut out in 12 years.

Rettig is the second true freshman to start for the Eagles in the last two years. Shinskie made his debut last season as a true freshman, although he began his college career as a 25-year old freshman after spending 7 seasons as a minor league baseball pitcher.

The 6-foot-4 inch 205 pound Rettig enrolled at BC last January after passing up overtures from Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Arizona and Arizona State. Rettig, who lives in San Clemente, Calif. was regarded as the BC QB of the future when he came East last winter.

Spaziani and offensive coordinator Gary Tranquill had hoped to bring him along at a slow and steady pace, which meant redshirting this season and then competing for the job next spring and summer.

But when neither Shinskie nor Marscovetra, both who played last season as true freshman, made enough progress embracing the BC offensive scheme during the first three games of the season, Spaziani had to make a key decision: waste Rettig's redshirt season and give him some on the job training, while trying to compete in the ACC this season or simply muddle through the season, hoping that Shinskie or Marscovetra made some dramatic improvement.