Boston College is treating fall camp like a clean slate.
After a 2-10 season in 2025, the Eagles walked into Fish Field House with a roster that looks very different from the one that stumbled last year. The program brought in 23 signees from the class of 2026 and added 26 new players through the transfer portal, giving this team a major reset before a snap has even been taken.
The coaching staff has changed too. Boston College added six new coaches, including defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who arrived after serving as UCF’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2024. Roof wasn’t part of the struggles last season, but he’s making it clear that dwelling on them won’t help this group.
“I wasn't here last year, so I don't get involved with that,” said Roof. “I just talk about moving forward and building and growing because it's all about this year's team.
We can all use it to motivate [and] whatever. We'll use whatever as coaches [that] we got to use to try and get a motivational stick right there.
But, it's a new season, a new team, and you want to learn from it and use it as a motivator. And again, it's all about moving forward because this is a new team, a new group of guys.
That's what we're worried about, getting this group to go this way, not worrying about what's in the rearview mirror.”
That same mindset is showing up on the offensive side with quarterback Mason McKenzie, one of the biggest additions Boston College made this offseason. McKenzie transferred from Saginaw Valley State in January and, like Roof, he wasn’t around for last year’s team. Still, he’s seen enough in camp to know the returning players are carrying that bad taste with them.
“I wasn't here last year, but it was a tough year for a lot of the guys that were here,” said McKenzie. “And you can see that in the way that they prepare, [and] the way that they practice.
They don't want that to happen again. And I'm going to do everything I can to not let that happen again.
You can see the chip on the guys’ shoulders. I mean, the defensive backs especially, they're flying around there, talking a lot of trash, having a good time.
It's good to see though because I think we got a lot of good players in that secondary, a lot of good players on defense as well. So, that's only going to make us better on offense and I'm excited to kind of see where that takes us.”
In Other News...
Boston College Camp Battle Is Starting To Reveal Early Standouts
Boston Colleges second practice of the weekend on Sunday gave the staff another live look at where the early camp battles stand, and the competitive one-on-one work between the offense and defense produced a steady stream of notable moments. Dawson Pough, Nedrick Boldin Jr., Reed Swanson, Evan Dickens, Nolan Ray, KP Price, Onye Nwosisi, Carter Davis and Bo MacCormack III all showed up on the field in ways that suggested the next few days of camp could start to separate the early contenders from the rest of the group.
The Eagles are set to practice again Monday before getting Tuesday off, which makes this stretch especially important with practices closed to the public. Every rep has a little more weight when the sessions are limited viewing, and Boston College will keep sorting through these early standouts as the camp competition continues to take shape. [Read more 🡒]