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Bill O'Brien 'Could Not Guarantee' QB Dylan Lonergan as BC Football's 2026 Starter: The Rundown

After just one season on the Heights, former BC football quarterback Dylan Lonergan decided to enter the transfer portal.
Graham Dietz|
Sep 13, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Boston College Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien (left) congratulates quarterback Dylan Lonergan (right) during the second quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Sep 13, 2025; Stanford, California, USA; Boston College Eagles head coach Bill O'Brien (left) congratulates quarterback Dylan Lonergan (right) during the second quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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Boston College Eagles

It has now been almost a week since former Boston College football quarterback Dylan Lonergan announced his decision to enter the transfer portal, which does not officially open until Jan. 2, 2026.

Lonergan, who was a redshirt sophomore in 2025 and transferred to BC from Alabama after spending his first two years in college with the Crimson Tide, totaled 2,025 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions this season, leading the Eagles in all passing categories despite appearing in only 10 games.

The 6-foot-2, 211-pound signal caller was benched after BC’s 41-10 loss to Clemson on Oct. 11, paving the way for redshirt senior Grayson James to start under center against UConn the following week. 

But Lonergan eventually stepped back in for the majority of the Eagles’ loss to SMU on Nov. 8, and he started the very next week against Georgia Tech, registering 362 yards on 26-for-40 passing with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Nevertheless, after just one season in Chestnut Hill, Mass., the Snellville, Ga., native decided that it was in his best interest to seek a new home. The decision came just five days after BC defeated Syracuse on the road, 34-12, in its season finale. 

Lonergan threw two passes in the game before injuring his thumb on his throwing hand, which allowed James to play nearly the full game. James went out with a bang, leading the program to its second victory of the year—including BC’s only FBS and Atlantic-Coast-Conference win in 2025—with 288 passing yards.

Since that point, the program has seen seven total players declare their intention of entering the portal, and some are obviously more noteworthy than others, such as Lonergan and linebacker Daveon “Bam” Crouch—who was selected as a 2025 team captain for the Eagles.

Lonergan’s departure, however, is the most significant because of what remains in BC’s quarterback room. For the time being, Shaker Reisig, who was a true freshman in 2025, is the only quarterback on the roster that has logged snaps in a real game.

On the Dec. 9 edition of his podcast with Jon Meterparel, the play-by-play voice of Boston College football, O’Brien was questioned about Lonergan’s parting ways with the program, to which O’Brien responded in somewhat of a blunt, but thankful, manner.

“You know, look, I think at the end of the day, these guys at that position, they make the best decisions for themselves,” said O’Brien. “You know, they wanna be, they see themselves in a certain way, and they want to be in the best position to be able to start and play.”

O’Brien continued: “I couldn’t guarantee him the starting job. I guaranteed him, certainly, an opportunity. I liked Dylan. I think he’s a really good player, and, you know, he’s doing what’s best for him. [I] wish him the best, wish him and his family the best, and we just move forward.”

The split between the program and Lonergan, who O’Brien originally recruited out of high school when he was an offensive coordinator at Alabama under former head coach Nick Saban, is not what most Eagles’ fans would have anticipated before the season began.

But if O’Brien’s comments about Lonergan’s decision to leave has validity to it, then it would seem possible that the Eagles’ skipper—along with the program’s new general manager in Kenyatta Watson—are on the prowl for a bigger fish in the transfer portal's quarterback market to ultimately steer BC back to relevancy in the ACC next year.

Welcome to The Rundown, your go-to stop for BC Athletics' news, for Thursday, Dec. 11.

Thursday's Schedule:

There are no games scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 11.

Wednesday's Results:

Men's Basketball: UMass 76, Boston College 74. | Game Story | Box

Did You Notice?

  • BC football wide receiver Ismael Zamor was a recipient of the Dr. Pepper Go Teach Scholarship, presented to student-athletes aspiring to be teachers. The program partners with the College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation to provide tuition assistance, offering awards from $2,500 up to $20,000+.
  • The BC women's lacrosse team filmed a media-day vlog from the perspective of its student-athletes. Check it out:
  • Tuesday marked six years since the loss of former BC baseball player Pete Frates, who was the driving force behind the ALS Ice Bucket challenge and a hero in the Boston College athletics community and beyond.

Boston College Eagles Quote of the Day:

“We haven't won squat, but we act like we've won something.”

- Bill Guerin

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Graham Dietz
GRAHAM DIETZ

Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.

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