1-on-1 with Director of Player Personnel Ryan Roberts (Part 1)
In what’s ultimately the busiest time of year for every new NFL-style regime in the land of college football, recruiting is a 24-hour business.
GM Kenyatta Watson, assistant GM Julian Rowe-Cohen, new Director of Player Personnel Ryan Roberts and a litany of other staff members are now tasked with building the program in the chaotic NIL scene. There’s a renewed passion and commitment to recruiting with the new staff structure and the fruits of everyone’s labor could be seen early, given the impact many transfers made during spring ball.
On Wednesday morning, Roberts was kind enough to give me about 20 minutes of his time to talk about basically anything I could think of in that window. In just those few short minutes, you can see why Bill O’Brien wanted him around.
Here’s the first (lengthy) of everything he had to say, I’ll have two more pieces coming shortly:
On why he took the role at BC
“First and foremost, the situation I was at with Mississippi State was around a lot of good people. That’s what makes it hard, is leaving good people. Coming here, you understand you’re doing the same thing. Coach O’Brien, his history, NFL background and whatnot, that’s been a huge piece for me. Just with the goal’s of the NFL, the goal’s to get that piece in the evaluation sense, so having a structure like that. Obviously, Kenyatta and Julian, I worked with Julian in the past at UNC. So, had a friendship, had a personal relationship there. It’s an easy transition knowing you’ve worked with someone. Then, with Kenyatta, just knowing him across the business and the respect he’s garnered from a lot of people. It was a very easy decision for me to move up and have a little bit more say.
“So, all together man, this made a lot of sense. Coming back closer to home, being able to recruit the Northeast growing up in Delaware, not too far away. Just being able to, I guess continue to grow my career and just be around the right people. To be able to grow around professionals that have the same goals and aspirations I have.”
On this area producing talent that might not get enough credit
“Yeah and it’s our due diligence, right? Like, you can tell with recruits, ‘there’s talent there,’ but it’s our due diligence too. I think this area as a whole is very under-recruited. What I mean is, you see the same few school hitting the region. You’ll get a few of the big time schools from the south. They’ll dip their fingers in and try to get a few of the kids. But, what I mean by that is, these showcase events we have up here in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the kids from Pennsylvania, kids from Maryland, Jersey, Delaware, the DMV area, all the way up here into Massachusetts. Maine has a few kids, New Hampshire…we need to do a great job of being intentional with building relationships with these coaches.
“In this day and age of the portal, you have kids who are at these schools, end up signing elsewhere, might go to an Ohio or a Ball State or Western Michigan, end up having a great career and entering the portal. These relationships that we have with the coaches up in these areas all throughout the Northeast are what’s going to help us. For the kids, thinking about where they’re at too, their best exposure – and it’s just the nature of the Northeast and where we are – is camps, live evaluation. Having them come out. The private schools do a great job up here from my understanding so far having these showcase events and having these kids go through a structured day where we can come out and get eyes on them.
“For us, that’s where we get a lot of our data and information, along with grinding tape. We’ll go into Hudl accounts and watch these rosters and body-typing these guys. I think the biggest thing for kids…me growing up in this area, seeing the same schools and whatnot, the BC, the Syracuses, the Rutgers, the Marylands who recruit a lot of it, it’s exposure for a lot of the younger guys to get out and get to camps and get in front of live evaluation. That’s how I’ve seen a lot of these guys really take off and grow in the recruiting sense.”
On if there’s a certain perception at other big time schools about Northeast football or BC
“I don’t know if it’s a perception. I think Northeast guys, the ones that I’ve been around – and I started my career at Liberty as a student – so, I think at Liberty and Virginia, you get a lot more Northeast guys than probably UNC or a Mississippi State. I have met certain coaches who have a certain…’I won’t recruit above the Mason Dixon line’ and this and that. Really, if you’re asking me personally, I haven’t seen much difference, but I’m not the one out there coaching them. That piece though, I don’t know if I can say for certain there’s a difference in the Northeast kids.
“BC as a whole, man, I guess my knowledge and I’ve talked to a lot of buddies about this, the NFL respect is one of the best things the school has. The amount of production that’s come out of this place. And, I think that’s the biggest part for us too in the recruiting sense. It’s a great thing to sell. We have had tons of guys…you can look at the walls around this building and see the guys that have come through here. All-Pros. Pro Bowlers. Hall of Famers. Guys that have recently gotten drafted. I mean, 10 in the last three drafts. It’s great for us.
“When I accepted this job, that’s what I heard a lot, ‘man, that’s a great NFL development spot.’ You have an NFL head coach. You have an NFL pipeline. The Northeast is known for a couple things, right? It’s the big guys, the offensive linemen, the tight ends that you’re going to get from up this way. If you had to group this area of Massachusetts and surrounding areas in a body type or player type, it’s the big guys up front who we’ve really done a good job at. It looks like we’re continuing to do that with the guys that signed in the 2025 and 2026 class and hopefully, we can continue to do that with the 2027 class.
“So, all that to say, I think BC, the pro understanding of how people view it in the ACC and how we develop guys, having the third-most (drafted) this past year is a really big help in understanding – all across college football, whether it’s coaches, recruits, personnel guys – we all kind of understand the respect factor BC garners. I think the Northeast kids understand that as well. “
On how competitive BC was in NIL during the portal cycle compared to what he’s used to at a place like Mississippi State
“That’s something I’m very careful speaking about in this day and age. There’s a difference everywhere, and I say difference…it’s all about how the situation is structured, right? Whether it’s the collective part of it, the rev share, th conference itself, the conference rev share. That all plays a part in it. The situation here seems like a great one across the conference. I have nothing to really add other than we’re in a great situation where we’re at and I’m excited to keep building this thing out.”
On working with Kenyatta Watson
“It’s awesome. I have nothing but great things to say about that man. He brings the joy and the fun every day. That’s the environment that fires me up to be in. With our ties back to the SEC and just with his background and a lot of the paths we’ve crossed wherever before here, it’s just neat to know…he was with Coach Freeze’s staff, I was with Coach Freeze’s staff as a student at Liberty. It’s just neat to kind of hear all the stories. But, also, just his ties to the south. Like, that’s something I’ve prided myself on the past couple of years of really trying to build on too. Just being able to talk about a lot of the same players, build out the Florida pipeline, the Georgia pipeline, working our way down that way. Mississippi, Alabama, all that’s important to us.
“So, for him, just as a human being, he stands out and I’m sure many people can say that. Being able to work alongside him with his connection base and trying to get this thing rolling in that direction down there is a really cool piece. These coaches have been fantastic too, even before me getting here. Understanding that they have a piece down there in Florida, Georgia, Alabama getting kids up here. So, now it’s just bolstering that and making sure we’re doing a little bit better too in the national pipeline, especially with that Boston College NFL piece, knowing that we have that development here.”
