Boston College’s defensive line has been the clearest upgrade on that side of the ball, and it didn’t take long for that to show up once fall camp opened.
That’s a pretty sharp turn from last season, when the Eagles had a hard time getting consistent disruption up front. BC finished with 17.0 sacks, which ranked 116th out of 134 FBS teams, and 46.0 tackles for loss, good for 128th. On the ground, the defense gave up 177.6 rushing yards per game, a number that landed 104th nationally.
The gap from 2024 was obvious. That group had Donovan Ezeiruaku, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, crashing off the edge every week.
Ezeiruaku accounted for 16.5 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss on his own. Yikes.
This year, the combination of transfer additions and summer development from returners has changed the look of the front. Through a few weeks of fall training camp, the new faces at defensive tackle and end have made a noticeable impact.
First-year defensive coordinator Ted Roof has made it clear what he wants from the group: more bodies, more rotation, and more pressure across the season. Roof coached Oklahoma’s defense in 2023 to seventh in the nation in tackles for loss per game at 7.5, and in 2022 the Sooners ranked eighth nationally with 104.0 tackles for loss.
“We just got to build, because the thing that we want there is, man, we need depth,” Roof said. “You know, we need to have some quality depth so we can rotate guys so that we’re not down to three or four bodies at the end of the season. So part of that is putting pressure on some of the guys that aren’t starters right now to elevate their game, and that’s just going to push the guys in front of them.”
Inside, several players have stood out: redshirt juniors Chris Marable Jr. and KJ Sampson, the Florida State transfer; junior E’LIa Boykin; and sophomores Micah Amedee and Christian Hudson, the Colorado transfer.
That interior push has shown up in team periods, where BC’s quarterbacks are often feeling heat right up the middle. The pressure is forcing them to scramble to either side, which has been disrupting their downfield reads.
The edge group looks deeper, too. Georgia transfer Kris Jones, redshirt senior Onye Nwosisi, redshirt junior Josiah Griffin, junior Favor Bate, redshirt sophomore Demetrius Ballard from Buffalo, and sophomore Israel Oladipupo have all made a case to be part of the rotation outside.
Jones said the group is trending the right way.
“I think we’re in a really good spot,” Jones said on Thursday. “You know, there's always stuff that we can get better at, but right now I think we're in a great spot. We're progressing each and every day at practice, and yeah, I just really think this is a great spot to be in right now.”
Jones has also been asked to spend time at inside linebacker in addition to defensive end, and he said that fits with the variety Roof likes to build into the defense.
“It’s multiple, [so] we run a lot of things,” Jones said. “I feel like my role, I mean, I'm a versatile player, you know? … There's a whole bunch of things that coach Roof likes to do with the defense.”
In Other News...
Jaedn Skeete Has A Huge BC Opportunity At Last
Boston College is heading into the new football season with the wide receiver room drawing plenty of attention, and Jaedn Skeete is right at the center of it. The Eagles have reason to be optimistic about what he can bring if he stays on the field, especially after a stretch of injuries has interrupted his progress and kept him from being a steady presence for the offense.
The Eagles also fortified the position through the transfer portal, adding Reed Swanson, JaVaris Green, Jackson Wade and Landon Wright to give the group more depth and competition. On the other side of the ball, the program got another sign of respect when defensive backs KP Price and Max Tucker landed on the Senior Bowl Top 300 Watch List, with Price also earning All-ACC preseason recognition. [Read more 🡒]
Former BC Quarterback Suddenly Has One More Twist In His Career
Thomas Castellanos college career has taken another unexpected turn, and the latest development gives the former Boston College quarterback a chance to keep playing this fall. A court injunction now allows him to enter the transfer portal and pursue a fifth season, the kind of eligibility wrinkle that has become more common as athletes challenge NCAA rules in court.
For Boston College fans, it is another reminder of how quickly the quarterback carousel can keep spinning after a player moves on. Castellanos is expected to end up at Texas Tech, where the path to playing time looks crowded and his likely role would be as a backup, but the legal fight that opened this door is part of a larger trend that could keep reshaping rosters well beyond one player. [Read more 🡒]
Boston College Passing Game Hinges On A Very Different Receiver Room
Boston Colleges passing game is entering the season with a noticeably different look, and the changes start at wide receiver. At a media-accessible practice, wide receivers coach Joe Dailey joined EDGE rusher Kris Jones and tight end Zeke Moore to discuss a room that has been reshaped after losing key players Reed Harris and Lewis Bond. Even with those departures, Dailey framed the unit as stronger in the ways that matter most for a modern offense, with more speed, size and flexibility to work with.
What stands out is how the coaching staff has tried to make the group less dependent on any one body type or role. The idea is to create a more diverse and interchangeable set of receivers, which should give Boston College more options when it comes to throwing the ball. If the passing game is going to take a step forward, it may be because this room can do a lot more things than the one that came before it. [Read more 🡒]