Boston College Football 2025 Preview
- Lewis Huston
- Aug 11, 2025
- 8 min read
Year 2 of the Bill O’Brien era in Boston is here after mixed results in his inaugural season which saw the Eagles become bowl eligible for the 8th time in 9 seasons, although remarkably none of those having more than 7 wins. Whether it’s Steve Addazio, Jeff Hafley, or O’Brien there’s a clear benchmark for this program and one that they need to clear in order to get back to national relevancy they had in the 2000’s. I was high on them going into last year and they really were much closer to breaking through but turnovers and red zone issues, magnified during a mid-season 3-game losing streak, sunk them after a 4-1 start.
They led UVA 14-0 before not scoring the rest of the game and turning it over on their final 4 possessions. The following week they got blown out on the scoreboard at VT, but had 3 drives end inside the opponent’s 25-yard line with no points and spotted them a TD on another turnover deep in their own territory. The cherry on top was blowing a 27-10 lead late in the 3rd quarter at home to Louisville. Tommy Castellanos was benched the following week in favor of Grayson James and they finished the regular season 3-1, all against bowl teams.
They did lose some NFL talent but also return a lot of production. It was a rather uneventful portal season for today’s standards, so they’ll be relying a ton on their returners and player development to take that next step. Can staff and roster continuity help them clean up some of the sloppiness and show more consistency?
Offense:
The aforementioned Castellanos was polarizing last year, both on and off the field. He showed flashes of brilliance early on but went back to struggling throwing the ball and turning it over which led to his benching. He didn’t handle that well and made national headlines when he left the team midseason once Grayson James took over. The FIU-transfer offered a little more consistency in the passing game, with some solid performances against decent competition capped by a 301-yard performance in the monsoon bowl game against Nebraska.
He returns but is having to fight for the job as the staff brought in highly touted Dylan Lonergan from Alabama, a former 4-star recruit with a big arm that attempted just 8 passes in mop up duty during his two years in Tuscaloosa. They entered a QB battle in the spring which has yet to be decided and by all accounts is neck and neck. James has the built-in advantage of experience, not only duration in college (6th year senior) but also being in the system last year and playing close to half the season. He may very well get the week 1 start against Fordham, but my gut says Lonergan with his pedigree and upside eventually wins out and is the Eagles’ guy under center. That’s why they brought him in and reports are that he looked really good in the spring. Whoever wins out though will offer more stability than last year, but as long as Lonergan can convert his tools to results then he offers the highest ceiling.
The backfield loses their top 2 rushers but bring back their # 3 and # 4 in senior Jordon McDonald (371 yds, 6.8 ypc) and Turbo Richard (285 yds, 5.1 ypc) who surprised a bit as a true frosh. McDonald missed the majority of the year before a really solid 4 week stretch to close the regular season including a 15 car 133-yard performance against Syracuse. Turbo’s script was the opposite as he played the first half of the season and was starting to come on strong before missing the back end of the schedule. Despite not being at the top of the pecking order they were actually the two highest graded RBs on the roster by a wide margin per PFF so with a bigger workload, and better health, there shouldn’t be much of a drop off. Alex Broome is another option that will get his chunk of carries after missing all of ’24 due to a preseason injury. The 5’6” Redshirt Junior had 110 carries and 512 yards (4.7) in his first two college seasons. He’s also got the most receiving chops of the three with 33 rec for 224 yds. Local true freshman Bo MacCormack just finished as Massachusetts’s all-time leading rusher for high school.
Continuity in the receiver room is a plus as the top 3 WRs are back in Lewis Bond, Reed Harris and Jaedn Skeete. Bond is the go-to guy of the group coming off 67 rec, 690 yds and 3 TD on 94 targets; his second straight season with 50+ rec and 600+ yards. Skeete and the 6’5” Harris both took big jumps in their sophomore seasons and their continued progression would make this area a strength. In a run-first offense that plays a lot of 12 personnel, there’s not a ton of depth needed or used but Campbell transfer VJ Wilkins (’23 FCS Fr All-American) should be able to crack the rotation.
Speaking of 12 personnel, the Eagles do lose half of their underrated TE tandem, but sure-handed Jeremiah Franklin is back for his senior season after a career year of 26 rec, 307 yds and 3 TD. He’ll be a sneaky All-Conference selection this year. That 2nd TE spot will be a battle between Alabama transfer Ty Lockwood (former 4-star, big athletic target) and FAU starter Zeke Moore (primarily used as a blocker), or could be a platoon based on formation/play type.
Gone to the NFL is the entire right side of their offensive line starting at C. The left side of the line remains intact though with Logan Taylor (All-ACC HM last two years) and Jude Bowry, both of whom will likely be the next two OL pros to come out of Chestnut Hill. Princeton captain and 2nd Team All-Ivy guard Tommy Matheson figures to take over at C where he played 388 snaps and made 4 starts in ’22. Look for Dwayne Allick to potentially slide back into the starting lineup at the other G position where he started the first 2 games last year and played double digit snaps in all 13 gms (full-time starter at RG in ’22). 6th year senior Kevin Cline started the bowl game and performed well, but he could be pushed by Merrimack transfer Amir Johnson who has good mobility at the tackle position. There is an assumed drop off here with three NFL bodies gone but it should be a solid unit.
Defense:
The defensive line will get a major makeover after losing their starting group, including ACC DPOY Donovan Ezeiruaku and 3rd Tm NT Cam Horsely. Ezeiruaku had a special season leading the nation with 16.5 sacks which was over half of BCs overall production as a team. Quintayvious Hutchins is the top returner at the DE/OLB hybrid position where he started the final 7 games; he’ll be counted on heavily to make a jump after recording 31 tkl, 6 TFL and 3.5 sk. On the interior Sedarious McConnell, Kwan Williams and Owen Stoudemire all got extensive action last year with the latter two each starting multiple games. Similar to the O-Line, BC brought in a trio of FCS starters to plug holes and build competitive depth. Favor Bate has surprisingly gotten a ton of buzz after only playing 125 snaps at Merrimack as a true freshman.
Bam Crouch was the 3rd leading tackler on the defense last year with 77 and returns in their 4-2-5 scheme. The spot next to him is up for grabs; senior Owen McGowan finished the year starting the final 2 games and had 28 tkl in his first year getting real run. The two wild cards though are transfers Jason Hewlett and Vaughn Pemberton. Hewlett comes from Michigan as a former 4-star recruit with size and athleticism that could allow him to get a look at a couple different spots. If he hits that could really help this BC defense become dynamic. Pemberton transferred in from Ball State where he was a bowling ball RB at 5’11”, but he played primarily with the LBs in the spring and apparently was a huge camp star. Additionally, Bryce Steele returns for one last go round after battling injuries and beating cancer during his college career. The once heralded 4-star recruit had his best season in ’22 when he appeared in 12 games totaling 51 tkl, 6 TFL and 2 sk.
Secondary should be the biggest strength of this team with all of their starters back. Top corner Amari Jackson was out for the season after 6 games but was likely going to make a bid for All-ACC votes. With a fully healthy group they were allowing just 216.5 pass ypg before their numbers took a hit; facing Shough-Jennings-McCord in consecutive weeks without their top CB didn’t help. Even without Jackson for half the year they still ranked 14th in pass explosiveness. Leading tackler KP Price anchors the back end at SS and there are a total of 67 starts in this unit.
Special Teams:
To continue last year’s theme of not doing the little things well, special teams was a major problem for the Eagles. They used 3 different punters who combined to finish 128th with a 35.04 net average, while there was zero trust in the field goal kickers only attempting 5 total FGs all season. Both kickers return but Liam Connor should be the primary guy again as he was 11-14 on FGs in ’23. There have been reports from fall camp of some ugly live FG sessions which you don’t love to hear. The hope is Yale transfer Shamus Florio can stabilize the punting game. Nobody was much of a threat in the return game either. Wilkins handled kick returns at Campbell the last 2 years so it’s possible he could carve out the same role here.
Schedule:
There is a very real chance that Boston College could start 4-0 and be fighting for bowl eligibility in mid-November. It’s a tough schedule that’s extremely back loaded. Alumni Stadium used to be a pesky place for ranked teams to come play and the fanbase will have plenty of chances to stir that reputation back up. Home games against Clemson, Notre Dame and SMU all in a month’s span offer marquee win opportunities and a chance to step back into the national spotlight. That’s also a brutal stretch that could have them beaten up needing to beat Georgia Tech or win at Syracuse in their final 2 games to make a bowl.
Overall Outlook:
In the world of finding fun new toys in the transfer portal, continuity still reigns supreme for consistent success. It’s part of the reason why Boston College has made a bowl game in 8 of 9 seasons and why they’re going to be competitive week in and week out this year. They were much closer to 9 wins than you’d think as they led in the 2nd half of 3 of their losses.
The pass catchers and pass defenders are both reliable groups with seasoned veterans (in THIS program). RB and LB both have returners who can elevate their position groups by taking another step. There’s questions elsewhere, namely losing legit NFL talent in the trenches, but also reason for optimism. Dylan Lonergan winning the job and being a breakout player would go a long way towards offsetting some of those losses and would give Bill O’Brien a formidable squad in year 2.
But man, that schedule is tough. They HAVE to come out of the gates hot, which I’m optimistic about with so many returners. Michigan State in week 2 is a huge game. Although it’s on the road it’s winnable and could catapult them to 4-0 heading to Pitt (another winnable road game). Another 4-1 start or better would have them playing with confidence for the back half of their schedule to potentially trip up a ranked team at home. Drop a couple games before October and they’re likely sitting at home for bowl season.
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