Everything Boston College Football Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said Ahead of Virginia Tech
The Boston College Eagles (4-2, 1-1 ACC) football team returns to action on Thursday night with a road game against the Virginia Tech Hokies (3-3, 1-1 ACC) in Blacksburg, Va.
On Monday, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke about what the team did during the bye week and the upcoming game.
Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said.
Q: Lane Stadium, I know it's like the fifth loudest in college football, especially in that end zone. What were you doing with silent cadences or just to prepare them for that noise they're gonna hear?
O’BRIEN: How do they measure that?
Q: With decibels. Kansas City Chiefs has the loudest ever.
O’BRIEN: No question about that. Yeah, I can vouch for that. I can vouch for all of them. Penn State was pretty loud too. It's all pretty loud.
Q: But you're going in there and it's sold out…
O’BRIEN: You have to deal with it. Yeah, you should embrace it, though. That’s what college football is all about. It's a great atmosphere. They got an awesome fan base. They got a good football team, excellent coaching staff, so we should embrace it. It's a big, big challenge to go down there. We'll have ways to deal with the noise, just like everything that goes in there, but our guys should be very excited about this, and I believe they are.
Q: During the bye week, obviously you gotta self assess, but recruiting-wise, how much were you guys able to get done and did you see any ball yourself?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, we did. We got a lot done. These guys traveled out. They were out for two days on the road recruiting. I went out on Friday, a bunch of Massachusetts school. Like I've always said, for instance, the Catholic conference, to me those are some awesome schools. Obviously, I went to St John's Prep, but you've got Catholic Memorial, BC High, Malden Catholic, those schools have awesome young players. They have players that are going to be great in the future and we covered a lot of that area and then I went to the CM/Xaverian game, which was a great football game. So great crowd, was awesome for Massachusetts high school football, two excellent teams going at it, two great coaches, and Coach DiBiaso and Coach Fornaro. So it was, it was time well spent.
Q: Speaking of Prep, I know you have a big day coming up Saturday, being inducted into their Hall of Fame. Obviously you're preparing for the game, but where does that mean you to have that happen?
O’BRIEN: It's certainly not for my playing ability, but I do appreciate the honor. St John's Prep is, just like I was just saying those other schools, it's a life changing school. That’s a place where my parents thought it was the best place for me relative to being 14 years old and it was. It was a great place, lifelong friends there and it's a great honor, and I'm very appreciative of it.
Q: Let's just talk about Kyron Drones. I was looking at his numbers. The runnings look scary too.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, he's good player. I mean, I don't think we use the word scary, but he's a very, very good player. I mean, we've got to do a good job of making sure that we contain them, do the best we can. He's gonna make plays. He's an excellent, excellent player, and we've got to do a really good job against him. No doubt it's a big challenge for us. He can beat you with his arm and with his speed.
Q: I saw they have five receivers with 15 or more catches. Is that his ability to spread the ball around too and how you have to cover the whole field.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, you have to. They do a really good job. They've got a lot of good skilled players, got a good offensive line, got a good running game. They're a solid team, very, very good football team, good on defense, two really good corners, good up front. Got a couple transfers up front that are very, very good players. So, yeah, like I said, it's just like every game, they're all going to be big time challenges for for us.
Q: Tech has 20 sacks, tops the ACC. What have you seen out of them there?
O’BRIEN: Yeah. I mean, they do a good job. They have a good pressure package. They do a good job of freeing those guys up and you have to do a great job of being ready protection wise. That's why we practice a lot. So hopefully we can not give up the 21st and 22nd sack, but they do a great job. Like I said, it's going to be big challenge.
Q: Saw Kye [Robichaux] out there today. Is he good to go?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, he's good to go. Yep, he's doing a good job. He's been out there. All the backs are good to go.
Q: Anything on Jaylen Blackwell?
O’BRIEN: Jalen Blackwell, I would say right now, would not expect him back this year, but he'll be ready to go in the spring. That's what I'd say right now. Could that change? That could change and I would say the same for Bryce Steele, I would say both those guys would be ready to go in the spring, but not right now.
Q: I don’t know if this is relevant today, but BC followed Virginia Tech into the ACC, they played in the championship game the next year and kind of supplanted Syracuse, really as BC’s rival. So I guess what I'm asking you is this kind of like a rivalry game for you guys?
O’BRIEN: I think that when you look at these regional games and I consider this one of those regional games, Syracuse is definitely a rivalry, they're having a great season. Virginia Tech, definitely. But you look at the Pitt, those are rivalry games and I think that's what's great about college football is what I'm trying to say. I think these games are what it's all about in college football. You got a Thursday night audience, you probably have our game and an NFL game so you got a lot of football on that night, and I think it's great for the fan bases. So it should be a fun night.
Q: [Can] You take us through these 12 days, just how you approach each day going into the game?
O’BRIEN: I won't take you through each day, but yeah we spent a lot of time on ourselves last week. Did a lot of, like Rich was saying, a lot of self scout, looked at ourselves, try to correct some things. Had a lot of tough reps, tough practices, physical practices and then we started on Virginia Tech, kind of later in the week, and on Sunday. And then we recruited, like Kevin was saying, so we tried to get a lot done over the last 12 days.
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