Boston College opens the Bill O’Brien era’s third season with a roster that barely resembles the one that stumbled to a 2-10 finish in 2025. That’s the backdrop for Saturday’s trip to Cincinnati, a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Nippert Stadium that gives the Eagles a fresh start - and an early test of how much all that turnover really changed.
The makeover has been massive. O’Brien added 26 transfers and 25 freshmen, leaving essentially half the team new.
The headliner is quarterback Mason McKenzie, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound transfer from Division 2 Saginaw Valley State who was told during recruitment that he would be the starter. O’Brien has kept backing that up with public praise.
“I think Mason has had a really good week of preparation, and he’s had a great six months,” O’Brien said. “He’s really worked hard to learn our offense, and we’re fired up about his opportunity that he has.”
McKenzie understands the size of the leap to the Atlantic Coast Conference, but he’s not trying to make the moment bigger than it already is.
“You have to have a gunslinger mentality,” McKenzie said. “That’s how I’ve looked at it my whole life. If you make a bad throw, it’s the next one.”
He’s not the only newcomer expected to matter. On offense, Boston College brought in Liberty running back Evan Dickens, Colgate wide receiver Reed Swanson, North Carolina wide receiver Javarius Green, and Michigan State offensive lineman Kristian Phillips, among others. On the other side of the ball, Georgia defensive end Kris Jones, Florida State defensive end KJ Sampson, Washington State linebacker Anthony Palano, and Notre Dame linebacker Bodie Kahoun are all positioned to be important pieces.
The staff has undergone its own overhaul, too. Defensive coordinator Ted Roof is part of the new group, and his connection to O’Brien goes back a long way. Palano sounded eager to see what Roof can do once the real bullets start flying.
“He’s motivated,” Palano said of Roof. “I’m excited to go out there and show everybody what he’s got.”
O’Brien is also taking on a larger role on game day. For the first time at Boston College, he’ll call the offensive plays himself. It’s a job he’s done before with the Patriots and at Alabama, among other stops, and he says he’s comfortable with the responsibility.
“I love doing it,” O’Brien said. “I’m comfortable doing it.
I have a hands-on role. I have a great offense staff that really helps me a lot, from scripting to game planning to all that.
My job is to do a good job of directing it on game day.”
There’s plenty Boston College wants to leave behind, especially on the road. The Eagles have gone 1-4 away from home in each of the past two seasons, and O’Brien is looking to stop that slide. He also knows this opener won’t hand them anything.
“It hasn’t been like we’ve played terribly, but we haven’t played good enough overall,” O’Brien said.
Cincinnati presents a difficult first assignment. The Bearcats started last season 7-1 before dropping their final five games, and they turned over plenty of their own roster with 22 transfers.
Their new quarterback is 22-year-old Georgia Southern transfer JC French. Up front, offensive linemen Joe Cotton and Evan Tengesdahl earned preseason all-Big 12 honors, which means Boston College’s rebuilt defensive line gets thrown right into the fire.
Cincinnati also has a new defensive coordinator in Nate Woody, who arrives after a successful run at Army.
“There’s a lot of unknowns,” O’Brien said. “We have to be really good fundamentally.
The coaches have to be really good situationally. We have to know our assignments and then be ready to adapt to what Cincinnati is doing.”
For Boston College, the lesson from last season is simple: the wasted chances had a way of snowballing. The Eagles were outdone in the turnover battle, with BC quarterbacks throwing 12 interceptions to six by opponents, and the team losing nine fumbles while opponents lost six. The sack numbers were even more glaring: 17 for Boston College, 35 for its opponents.
That’s why the conversation around ball security keeps coming back to the same place.
“Ball security is huge,” McKenzie said. “It’s the hopes and dreams of Boston College, as Coach O’Brien says.”
Safety KP Price pointed to the same issue from the defensive side, saying the Eagles need the kind of plays that swing momentum before games slip away.
“In every single game, interceptions and turnovers, giving the offense another opportunity to score, is a huge thing,” Price said. “It can change the momentum, change the tide.”
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