Everything Boston College Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said After Day 13 of Fall Camp
Boston College continued its fall camp on Saturday afternoon at Chamberlin Field where the defense showed out.
After practice, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke to the media about what he’s seen from the team and where he still thinks the group needs to improve.
Below is a transcript of every O’Brien said.
Q: Feel like defense had a helluva day. 14 days in now, are you where you thought you would be or not yet?
O’BRIEN: I think for 14 days, yeah I’m definitely happy with where we are. What I talked to the team about today was [that] I think we’re definitely physically getting to where we want to get to from a contact standpoint but mentally we have to deal with adversity better. That’s what football is. Football is about how do you deal with adversity. When you get knocked down, if there’s 170 total plays in a game- offense, defense, special teams- are every one of those plays gonna be perfect for you? No. So, when there’s a bad play, how do you deal with that? Do you learn from it and then move on to the next play or do you dwell on it and then let it go downhill and I think we’ve gotta do a better job of that as a team. Defensively, they did a good job of that today and offensively we gotta get better at that.
Q: Max Tucker had a couple of interceptions today. What does he like as a cornerback? What do you think of his play so far?
O’BRIEN: I really like Max. I like how he approaches the game. This is the type of guy we want to recruit at Boston College for every year I’m here. This is what we’re looking for. He’s a Boston guy, he’s a tough guy, he’s a competitive guy, he’s a very smart guy, he’s never on any lists, he does everything the right way. List by meaning he never misses class, on time all the time, really what it’s all about at BC and he’s a really good player and is getting better and better every day. He had a good day today.
Q: Another kid who put on a show today Neto. What have you seen from him since you’ve been here?
O’BRIEN: Neto’s done good the last couple days. He’s tough to block, he’s a good rusher, he’s learning how to set the edge better in the running game, he’s a disruptive guy, he’s a strong player. He’s not the biggest guy but he’s built, he’s power packed the way he’s built so really happy with the way Neto’s playing.
Q: Treshaun Ward looks like he has a competitive toughness edge to him. Can you talk a little about that?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, absolutely. He’s not the biggest guy in the world but again he’s a physically strong guy. He runs low to the ground, he’s very smart, very instinctive, has good pad level, almost built-in pad level so he can get underneath tacklers and he does a great job in the passing game. We’re really happy to have him.
Q: Any injury updates?
O’BRIEN: Nothing major, definitely precautionary. Just a lot of bumps and bruises for this time of the training camp. Nothing that I would say is life-threatening or requires surgery or anything like that. Just typical soft tissue, ankles, couple things like that. I think we’ll get better.
Q: Seen some plays recently from Sed McConnell, you know he’s new to this school. Can you talk a little about him?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, transfer from University of Illinois. When we first got here, I’ll be honest with you, he was doing okay and we sat down, we talked for awhile and a good talk, spoke to his mom. This is a guy that takes a lot of pride in playing good football. He’s bought into what we’re talking about and he’s really turned it around over the last three/four months. He had a great summer and he’s had a really good training camp so we’re expecting good things out of him this year, no doubt.
Q: High school ball obviously started around here today. Relationship building for the coaching staffs, how important is that and how is it going so far?
O’BRIEN: There’s nothing better than Massachusetts high school football. We love it. I grew up here, I played high school football here. I think most of the teams started on Monday and I wished them luck on Instachat there. I think the world of Massachusetts high school football, the coaches, the players. Like I’ve said from day one, we want the bulk of this roster eventually to come from the local area. They won’t all come from Massachusetts, we understand that, but we’ve gotta do a great job of recruiting the area but also that 400-mile radius around Massachusetts like where their parents can come drive and watch them play. That’s gonna be the bulk of the roster hopefully.
Q: Kind of local, over the summer your son played for the Worcester Bravehearts. How was that?
O’BRIEN: It was good. He played for the Worcester Bravehearts and then in some ways he got traded to the Inner City League to the Lexington Blue Sox and yeah, he loves it. He’s playing, there’s like three tough teammates on that team with him and he loves it. Good coach, good team. They play at like 8:00 at night so I haven’t been able to see him because we have our walkthroughs and stuff but my wife Colleen has driven up to see him pitch a couple times, but yeah he’s loving it.
KIM RANKIN