Everything Boston College Offensive Lineman Drew Kendall Said After Week 1 Practice
The Boston College Eagles football team has officially started preparation for its Week 1 road game against the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles on Labor Day Night. The team held its first practice of the week on Tuesday.
After practice, Boston College offensive lineman Drew Kendall spoke to the media about what he’s seen so far and what he’s looking forward to about the upcoming matchup.
Below is a transcript of everything Kendall said.
Q: Well it’s finally here, long offseason. What have you seen out of Florida State and how excited are you for the matchup?
KENDALL: “I’m very excited. They’re a great team, obviously, they just played a tough game down in Dublin. I’ve seen similar things this entire time as last year, they’ve got a great front seven, they’ve got a talented secondary. It’s gonna take all we got but we’re excited for this challenge.”
Q: Do you feel like you’re catching them on a bad week just fresh off an upset?
KENDALL: “I don’t know. They gotta play again, it is what it is. If they won, if they lost, I don’t know how they’re feeling about it but they played them well. Georgia Tech came out and played a really solid game so we’ll see but either way, we’re gonna go down there and we’re gonna give it what we got.”
Q: We’ve talked a lot over the years about continuity up front. Not having Jude and Logan out there right now, how do you feel like the communication and that continuity is coming along with the game in six days?
KENDALL: “Yeah, it’s going well I think. Like you said, we’re down a few guys at the moment, we’ll see who’s gonna be back come game time, but it’s a work in progress at all times. I feel like we’ve got a good group, we did a good job this summer of rotating guys in and out, so we’re all very familiar with each other and we know what kind of environment it’s going to be down there so this week of preparation is going to be huge for us just to be on the same page when we have to go silent, so yeah.”
Q: What are you anticipating in terms of the environment?
KENDALL: “It’s gonna be a fun environment to play in, definitely. It’s gonna be loud, it’s gonna be packed, they’re gonna pack that house down there but we played down there in 2022 so I feel like it’ll be a similar environment.”
Q: Has that fight song become annoying yet?
KENDALL: “A little bit but it’s kind of exciting at the same time.”
Q: Drew, being named one of the team captains, how does that feel getting the respect from your teammates?
KENDALL: “Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s one of the highest honors as a football player and it’s one of the goals I set out when I decided to come to Boston College was to be a team captain so I’m honored that my teammates think that highly of me and it’s now my responsibility to lead for them and to push this team.”
Q: Are there any advantages or disadvantages to facing a team that has already played a game or does it not matter too much?
KENDALL: “I don’t know. There’s some but you never know how they play out, right. You might say ‘oh they might be banged up,’ but at the same time they’re not rusty so there’s give and take so I’m not really sure but all we can do is really focus on what we have to do at this point and put our best foot forward.”
Q: What was the mindset like this offseason? Was this the game that was circled on your calendar from day one? You were looking at that every single step of the way?
KENDALL: “I mean, yeah, it’s a big game to open the season with so that’s definitely been a focal point of the offseason, getting ready for this moment and I think we’ve done everything we can at this point to go down there and give them what we’ve got so we’re excited but yes it was a focal point of the offseason but so were a lot of the other games but this’ll be a big one for us.”
Q: I’ve said this before but the eight wins is still kind of floating out there. Do you guys talk about that at all or do you not really?
KENDALL: “We’re all just trying to be worried about the next game, just win that next game and move on from there. We can’t be thinking too far in the forward, too far in the future, but you just gotta focus on okay, now I have to go correct this film from today and see what I did wrong, see where I can get better, and just move on to the next day and so on so we’re really just trying to take it day-by-day, game-by-game.”
KIM RANKIN