Boston College Eagles:
Bill O’Brien had agreed to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, but then Boston College came calling. With family considerations on the East Coast, O’Brien jumped at the chance and he’s now a college football head coach for the first time since 2013. For a program that has historically been about running the football and playing hard-nosed defense, things could look a lot different in Chestnut Hill this year.
Expectations are not high and it will take time for O’Brien, whose last two college stops have featured far more talented rosters at Alabama and Penn State, to put together the group he wants.
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Offense
Thomas Castellanos is what I’d call a 1.5-threat QB. He’s a better runner than passer, ripping off 1,113 yards on the ground and 13 touchdowns, but he had a 15/14 TD/INT ratio. O’Brien has obviously worked with some top-notch signal callers in his career and has the chance to mold Castellanos into something more than a runner who also throws, but this is not a team that has paid tremendous attention to the WR position. After all, Zay Flowers was the first BC WR drafted since Kelvin Martin in 1987.
Kye Robichaux and Treshaun Ward make a good 1-2 tandem in the backfield and Lewis Bond is a good building block on the outside after racking up 52 catches for 646 yards and seven of the team’s 15 receiving TDs. Robichaux had 4.8 yards per carry and eight scores, while Ward has over 2,200 career yards from scrimmage. The offense should be more interesting, but the scheme change will bring challenges.
Defense
Former head coach Jeff Hafley left to become the Packers defensive coordinator, but this wasn’t a great defense last year anyway. The Eagles were 118th against the run in total yardage allowed and 117th in yards per play. Even though they defended the pass fairly well under Hafley, whose level of expertise is with coaching defensive backs, this is a team that needs to get a lot tougher up front.
DC Tim Lewis is aggressive and the Eagles focused on pass rushers and guys that could cover in the portal, so this could be a boom-and-bust type of defense that harasses the QB more, but also gives up more big plays through the air.
Outlook
To call this a transitional year is an understatement. It’s not that O’Brien is against running the football, but this will not be the Steve Addazio Eagles. The schedule is tough, as other teams in the conference are a year or two ahead on their upward trajectories. My numbers have BC down for 4.15 wins.
Pick: Under 5 Wins
