Bill O'Brien 'Inside Access' Interview on ACCN

Earlier this week, Bill O’Brien was on the ACC Network’s ‘Inside Access,’ with Andrea Adelson and David Hale.

Here’s everything he had to say…

On the NFL Draft and what it meant for BC

“We were absolutely thrilled for those guys. They all got drafted by great organizations. Jude Bowry to Buffalo. Buffalo’s a winning organization, great coaching staff, so that’s a good place for Jude. Logan Taylor to go play for Coach (Jim) Harbaugh out at the Chargers is a great opportunity. I think it’s awesome that Lewis Bond is at my old team, the Houston Texans with Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans. And then, Q Hutchins, I was so happy for Q. He came such a long way with us. When we first got here, it was kind of a long journey for him. So, for him to be drafted by Mike Vrabel and the Patriots is awesome. So, we’re very happy for all of them and we’ve got some guys with undrafted free agent opportunities. Kevin Cline down with the Miami Dolphins, guys like that. We’re excited for our guys.”

On how BC remains a developmental program while adjusting to the new CFB landscape, and if bouncing around hurts guys’ chances at reaching the NFL

“Man, that’s a great question. It’s the ultimate question in college football because of the portal. Look, we have 27 guys on our team right now that are out of the portal. So, we’re right in it. I’m not trying to say that we’re not a portal team, but we will always be primarily a high school-recruiting team. We feel with our coaching staff and the history of this program that we really do a good job of developing players.

“We bring them in as freshman and we teach them our style of football and they’re getting a great education and all that. But, at the same time, you’ve got to understand that maybe there’s players taken from your program, so you’ve got to be able to replace them with some veteran players, which is where the portal comes in.

“I still think you can develop guys out of the portal. That’s why it’s important your philosophy in the portal stands true, meaning lets bring some guys that have some eligibility left, two or three years of eligibility that maybe haven’t played a whole lot at the previous school. But, we know that we can develop them. We have connections with their high school coaches and we feel good about the guys we brought in. Some guys are grad transfers that don’t have a lot of time left. Some guys have a lot of time left. So, we try to balance that, knowing we believe in our ability to develop players. We have to continue that. That has to be a part of who we are at BC and I believe we’re doing that.”

On the new structure and approaching this offseason

“I feel really good about where we’re headed. Obviously, last year was not what we wanted. We did have a lot of close football games last year where we were just on the wrong side of what I call the margin of error, which we have to flip that. But, we also needed to improve the football team. We needed to improve several areas of the football program, so we brought in…we have new coaches have several positions. Kenyatta (Watson) has come in here and done an unbelievable job. We’ve been able to expand that staff a little bit. Julian Rowe-Cohen, Ryan Roberts, assistant GM, director of player personnel. So, we have some really good guys there that are proven evaluators and recruiters.

“I believe that in what we’ve done on the field. We’ve improved the talent. Now, we gotta go out there and do it, but I do think overall, because of the commitment that Boston College has made this past January to rev share, we were able to go out and be in the ballpark with some of these guys and be able to get them to come here. For instance, we got a defensive end from Georgia named Kris Jones. Defensive end from Buffalo named Demetrius Ballard. A running back, Evan Dickens from Liberty. Quarterback Mason McKenzie from Saginaw Valley. We feel like – Kristian Philips a guard from Michigan State – we feel like we’ve done a really good job of upgrading.

“Again, we’ve got to have a great summer. We had a good spring, but we’re fired up about our team.”

On finding Mason McKenzie and if it’s his job heading into fall camp

“I would say Mason will probably be the starter. He’s got the inside track. He’s got the most experience. We were in on a few quarterbacks in the portal, but this is a guy that had really good athletic ability. He had great production both throwing and running the ball at Saginaw. It’s a conference where – as you guys know – Trinidad Chambliss the Ole Miss quarterback was the Player of the Year in the conference the year before. Mason was the Player of the Year last year. So, it’s a good football conference. It’s a competitive conference.

“He’s come in here and done a really nice job of learning our system. He’s a great guy. Very smart, very athletic and we’re fired up about him. We have a couple guys behind him, Grayson Wilson, transfer from Arkansas who had a really good spring. And then we have a freshman named Femi Babalola from Nashville who did a really good job this spring. So, we’re very excited about the quarterback room. I’d say Mason has the inside track to be the starter here in the beginning, but there’s always competition at the position.”

On who he anticipates stepping up at wide receiver

“There’s some guys here…maybe it’s based on injury…so, a guy named John Montague, who was a high school quarterback and came to us and hurt his knee his freshman year, he’s back now. We moved him to receiver when he got here and he had a really good spring. We’re fired up about him. Jaedn Skeete had shoulder surgery, so he was out for the spring, but he’ll be back in the summertime and be ready to go for training camp. We have other guys. We have Vari (Javarius) Green from North Carolina who had a really good spring. Reed Swanson came to us from Colgate, he had a very good spring. Dawson Pough coming back from last year. We have Jackson Wade, a transfer from Florida.

“We feel good about that position. I think that’s one of the areas where we have to have a great summer. We have to have a really good summer with our passing game. We’ve got to improve from where we were in the spring, but we have a lot of guys that can make plays at the position.”

On a possible ‘X factor’ for BC this season

“I think there’s a few guys, but I will mention this one guy: Onye Nwosisi is a defensive end. He transferred to us last year from Valparaiso. Relative to progress to graduation and all that, he could only play in four games. He played, he hurt his ankle, so he really only played in two games. No one really saw what he can do and he had an unbelievable offseason, winter conditioning, he’s probably 6’5,” 260 lbs. He had a really good spring practice and between him and Kris Jones and Ballard from Buffalo, we feel really good about that position. But, I like the way Onye’s approached the spring and he’s got to have a great summer. But, if he continues on that track, he’s got a shot to have a really good year.”