Four takeaways from Boston College coach Bill O'Brien's appearance at ACC Football Kickoff
Versatile defense could be the key
Dealing with player losses following graduation and the NFL Draft is par for the course for college coaches, so O'Brien isn't fazed by the departure of top defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku, who the Cowboys selected in the second round.
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O'Brien expects his versatile defense will have no trouble filling the hole left by Ezeiruaku, who was the 2024 ACC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the conference with 16.5 sacks.
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'I feel very confident in our ability to play good defense this year,' O'Brien said. 'We have a lot of versatile players. We have guys that can play safety and corner. We have linebackers that can play in the box. They can walk out on receivers. We have nickels that can play safety, that can play corner. We have defensive linemen that can play inside, that can play off the edge. And over the course of 30 practices in training camp, that'll all come together, and we'll be ready to go when the season kicks off.'
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— Boston College Football (@BCFootball)
BC's NIL money is awarded to players who 'earn it,' including by attending class
O'Brien called revenue sharing and name, image, and likeness legislation in college football 'the wild, wild west,' especially when compared with the NFL's model.
'There's all different things that go into the NFL, but it's very uniform. There's rules,' he said. 'That's something that I believe has to happen eventually in college football — that there has to be enforcement.'
Despite facing the added challenge of recruiting players to a private, Jesuit university with high academic standards, O'Brien is satisfied with the way he, chief of staff Berj Najarian, and the administration have handled their NIL model.
'We do a good job of making sure the players understand it's an 'earn it' philosophy,' O'Brien said. 'Every [football player] coming into BC as a freshman, they're going to make a certain amount of money. From that point forward, they're going to earn everything they get.'
By performing well, players can earn additional money. But those performance incentives are not limited to the field.
'Going to class, being on time for meetings,' O'Brien said. 'You don't necessarily have to be an All-American right away. Just got to be a good guy, a good locker room guy, good teammate, somebody that's a contributing member of the team. And if you do that, you'll earn more and more as you go through your career at BC.'
The difference between a winning and losing record is minor details
The Eagles haven't finished above .500 in conference play since 2009, when they went 5-3 in the ACC and 9-5 overall.
O'Brien has tried to convey to his players that the difference between finishing 4-4 in the conference — as BC did last season — and winning 10 or 11 games overall comes down to a handful of mistakes.
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Three of the Eagles' six losses last season were by less than a touchdown, and five were by 10 points or fewer.
'There's a small margin of error for all the teams, and we have to figure out how to be on the right side of that margin, whether it's turnovers or missed opportunities on defense, maybe a lack of communication here and there,' O'Brien said. 'My point is it comes down to seven or eight, maybe nine plays in a game that make a big difference.'
O'Brien likes to leverage local connections in recruiting
It's no secret that BC faces stiff competition in recruiting from schools that can offer more NIL money, larger stadiums, or more trophies in their cases, so to lock down his top prospects, O'Brien presents BC as the whole package: a great education in a major city, where players can earn money and play in a Power Five conference.
While O'Brien recruits all over the country, he also likes to sell local players on the idea that their families can attend every game, and he tries to use BC's identity to his advantage.
'We recruit at every Catholic school in the country,' he said.
O'Brien also said he doesn't put much stock into prospect rankings and stars.
'I want to see what they do on the field when they get there,' he said. 'We have a process of how we evaluate prospects, and I think we're on the right path.'
Emma Healy can be reached at
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