Everything Boston College Defensive End Donovan Ezeiruaku Said at 2024 ACC Football Kickoff
Boston College football defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku is on pace to have the best season of his career.
The Williamstown, N.J., native had a breakout junior campaign in 2023 as he tallied 53 total tackles (28 solo and 25 assisted), 6.5 tackles for loss for 23 yards, two sacks for seven yards, two forced fumbles, and one pass defended.
Ezeiruaku, who was one of three student-athletes to be in attendance, spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon at the 2024 ACC Football Kickoff and shared his thoughts on the upcoming season. Below is a transcript of what the senior said.
Q: BC lost a lot of the defensive line coming in last year. What have you done this off-season to raise your game?
DONOVAN EZEIRUAKU: “Yeah, I would say a lot of extra work obviously. We all say that we get a lot of extra work in. Really, like, fine-tuning the small things that we kind of got away from last year. That being, just getting off the ball, being explosive, things of that nature. Things that defensive linemen do. I think that's been a really big emphasis for this D-line coming up this year, as well as myself.”
Q: When I think of Boston College, people exemplify BC culture, you automatically come to my mind.
DONOVAN EZEIRUAKU: “Appreciate you.”
Q: This off-season was stressful with a lot of new changes. Talk to me and us, the media, about how the culture has shifted at BC over the last nine months.
DONOVAN EZEIRUAKU: I would say it added a new spark to this team, a new hunger. Like I said, guys decided to stay instead of leaving. That just goes to show that guys are believing in what we have here, wanting to buy into what Coach Bill O'Brien has brought to the team, has brought to the new program, the new mentality, the new culture.
Just that fire, honestly, that hunger that we've been training with this past winter, this past summer, these past couple months since the change happened.”
Q: We know the history of Boston College as far as being in the trenches and defensively there's a lot of positive history. Being a part of that, do you feel what came before you? Do you feel that on your shoulders? If you do, what does that mean to be a part of that defensively?
DONOVAN EZEIRUAKU: “It means a lot. I don't think it's, like, added pressure or anything like that. It kind of hit home when you're on the sideline, you see a guy like Mathias Kiwanuka. He tapped me on the shoulder last year during one of the home games and was just like, Did you see this, that in the third on the field? Just being able to be around guys like that, who were in the same seats in the meeting room as myself, and who played at such a high level, him being such a great player like that. It means a lot.
It's great to have those guys come back around, Coach O'Brien, those guys are coming back around campus. We're able to pick their brains now. We're able to get some tips and some tricks.
To be a part of that legacy, I want to submit myself as being one of those players as well.”
Q: Describe your technique. How do you get into the backfield so quickly so often?
DONOVAN EZEIRUAKU: “I would say just my God-given ability, speed, elusiveness, just having an instinct to get to the ball. Some things can't always be coached. Sometimes you just got to go play football, do what you were doing since you were seven, eight years old. I started playing at seven. Getting back to those days. Tackle the man with the ball, that's pretty much it.”
Q: Tell us how good Drew is.
DONOVAN EZEIRUAKU: “Drew Kendall, he's one of those ones. That's how we would say it. Definitely someone's name who is going to be called by the commissioner very soon, if not after this next season for sure. It's great to go against a guy like that every single day in practice, so… It's a nice little segue to bring my guy up here.”
KIM RANKIN