He emerged from the tunnel to roars of applause, in a foreign country, with thousands of hungry eyes eagerly anticipating the imminent clash of helmets and bodies.

As he looked around, a state of shock taking hold, he saw the ESPN cameras, the field beneath his feet.

“This is it,” he thought. “This is big time.”

With that, Boston College freshman and Uphams Corner native Isaiah Miranda stormed onto the football field with his teammates to take on Georgia Tech in the schools’ season opening showcase in Dublin, Ireland. The Eagles would leave the field in hair-tearing defeat, 17-14, after leading for much of the second half.

Miranda is no stranger to BC’s maroon and gold. The 6-foot-0, 230-pound walk-on was a standout middle linebacker at BC High in Dorchester, where his four sacks, two forced fumbles, and team-leading 97 tackles (18 for loss of yards) his senior year propelled him to the Catholic Conference All-star team.

Miranda was a member of the National Honor Society in high school and has enrolled in Boston College’s undergraduate business school, diverging from most of his teammates, who often select what are widely considered easier course loads in the arts and sciences to accommodate the grueling demands of their football schedules.

Still, football predominates, and Miranda has had to adjust from playing a pivotal role as the centerpiece of his high school defense to mostly staking out the sidelines in college.

“From high school to college… the game is way faster,” he said. “In terms of plays and schemes, the playbook is very in depth. In high school, it’s simplified, and players play off instinct. But now you’re playing with the best of the best.”

Back at BC High, if he made the wrong initial read on a given play, Miranda was often able to recover with his superior athleticism and make the tackle. But in college, that split second can make the difference between successfully chasing down the ball carrier and getting lost at sea among waves of players--players who are bigger, faster and stronger than anything he has ever faced.

“We’re in a top five conference,” Miranda said, referring to BC’s status in NCAA Division One’s Atlantic Coast Conference, “playing schools like Clemson and Florida State.”

Choosing Boston College wasn’t a chance draw from the hat for Miranda. His father, Nelson, an administrator at BC High, is a Boston College alumnus. So, too, are his aunt and a pair of cousins.
“It was,” he said, “more familiar to me. Lots of colleges came across. BC was always closer.”

But the decision play for Boston College wasn’t always his. College football’s national signing day this past February, where hundreds of student-athletes--including a number of Miranda’s own high school teammates--sign letters of intent to play for their selected schools, came and went without an offer from the Eagles.

“It was very stressful,” Miranda told ESPNBoston.com later that month, “and seeing all my friends and people around me committing and deciding where they were going didn’t help.”

Weeks droned by until one day in late February at BC High, right before lunch, Miranda got pulled out of class and told to go see Jonathan Bartlett, the school’s athletic director and football coach. Miranda didn’t know what was the matter. When he entered Bartlett’s office, the coach said, “I got a call from BC…” Miranda’s head began racing. “Is it good?” he replied. He called back from the office, and a BC assistant answered; he had a spot on the team.

Miranda felt, more than anything, a sense of relief. His next move was a no-brainer. Miranda made his way to his dad’s office and told him the news.

“He was happy--ever since me and my brother were younger, he wanted us to go to BC,” he said, “because he thinks it’s the best school ever.”