What is Behind Bill O'Brien's Loss of Faith in Dylan Lonergan as BC Football's QB

Dylan Lonergan, who was named the Eagles' starter for BC's loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, was taken out of the game after a quarter and a drive.

John Sexton / Boston College Eagles On SI

Before the start of the season, Bill O’Brien made redshirt-sophomore quarterback Dylan Lonergan out to be the next big thing for the Boston College football program, and rightfully so.

Lonergan was formerly recruited to play for Alabama during the Nick Saban era, committing in July of 2022, a year after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

A former four-star recruit who was rated the 16th-best quarterback in the nation in the class of 2023, and the 23rd-best prospect from Georgia as well, Lonergan never made it to the field as a starter. 

But once he opened up his recruitment after the 2024 season by entering the transfer portal, programs came calling, and the list of schools with interest in Lonergan, according to 247Sports, Rivals, and Lonergan’s high school offensive coordinator, P.J. Katz, who spoke with Boston College Eagles On SI prior to the beginning of the season, consisted of big-time programs from the likes of the SEC and the ACC.

Yet O’Brien landed the rising redshirt sophomore because he initially recruited Lonergan to Tuscaloosa, Ala., in the first place, when he was an offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide. Katz said that Lonergan’s trust with O’Brien was the reason he ultimately transferred to a place far away from home in a completely different stratosphere of the college football landscape.

It is almost a year since that point, when Lonergan officially committed to the Eagles on Dec. 17, 2024, and with the way his career on the Heights has shaken out thus far, it is arguably more likely that Lonergan will decide to open up his recruitment once again than stay in Chestnut Hill, Mass., for his redshirt-junior campaign.

The reason for what could eventually become Lonergan’s departure stems from the way he has been treated from a game-to-game standpoint ever since his benching against Clemson, when the Eagles lost, 41-10, on Oct. 11 to fall to 1-4 on the season. 

Nearly a month since that point, BC has still not won a game despite coming close in all three—losses to UConn, then-No. 19 Louisville, and then-No. 12 Notre Dame this past Saturday—and the future looks even murkier for the program, which is nearing the end of what is becoming one of the worst seasons in BC history.

The Eagles’ remaining three games consist of a home matchup against SMU, who just upset then-No. 18 Miami on Saturday, before hosting the Haynes King-led Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, currently ranked 16th in the country, and going on the road for one last hurrah at Syracuse on Nov. 29—the most-winnable game of the three by a significant margin.

The current situation does not bode well for either side, Lonergan and BC—or, more specifically, Lonergan and O’Brien—because while the Eagles are desperate for any wins, O’Brien is still either starting or rotating in senior quarterback Grayson James in a manner that could negatively impact Lonergan’s confidence in the future.

It would not necessarily be a problem if O’Brien was publicly clear about which quarterback he is intending to start week-to-week, which he did in James’ first two starts, against the Huskies and the Cardinals. 

But last week, he gave Lonergan the start, and it took just one quarter and a series for O’Brien to change his decision and sub in an injured James, who he said has been dealing with a hip pointer since he got banged up against Louisville. 

The only mention of Lonergan by O'Brien in the past three weeks during mid-week press conferences was about how he has looked during practice. James, meanwhile, has been hailed for his toughness on a weekly basis by the Eagles’ skipper.

To be fair to O’Brien, Lonergan was only hurting the Eagles more than helping their chances of winning through just a quarter and change of action on Saturday, going 5-for-8 through the air for just 29 yards (3.6 yards per pass) and an interception. 

The pick he threw on the Eagles’ first offensive drive of the second quarter was sort of unlucky, as it landed into Tae Johnson’s lap while sitting down on the turf. But Lonergan threw the ball directly into traffic, and the ball could have easily been intercepted by safety Adon Shuler, the Notre Dame player who initially tipped the ball, before it dropped into the hands of Johnson.

The Irish lead the nation in interceptions ☘️

Irish ball ❎3️⃣

Every angle of Adon Shuler’s and Tae Johnson’s interceptions against Boston College ☘️#GoIrish☘️ | @adon_shuler | @taejohnson1012 pic.twitter.com/XTTIC1Hygc

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 2, 2025

It was the type of decision that Lonergan had been praised for not making by O’Brien at the beginning of the season, and it currently looks as if Lonergan has regressed in his time off the field while James has been receiving the majority of reps.

But the main problem is that Lonergan’s leash has been significantly shorter than James’s, which is certainly a questionable maneuver by O’Brien.

There have been no hints that O’Brien’s job security is unsafe despite BC’s 1-8 start, and assuming that O’Brien’s buyout would be a sum of money that would just cement BC in a worse position moving forward, firing him just two years into his tenure with the program probably would not make a ton of sense. 

Playcalling has been a consistent issue this season, but lack of talent on the field because of injuries has stood out the most, and that is not something O’Brien can solve within a span of just one and a half years.

Nevertheless, it is becoming more and more obvious that O’Brien is losing trust in Lonergan as his starting quarterback, which is a complete turnaround from the way he initially viewed the Snellville, Ga., native during the preseason, when he named Lonergan the initial starter.

It is very clear that a single Lonergan mistake will result in him being taken out of the game entirely, while a mistake by James appears to not have that same type of effect on O’Brien. That is not a recipe for long-term growth within the program, especially given the fact that James will no longer be eligible to play for BC—or for any college football team—once the season concludes.