Boston College Football Selects 2026 Captains: What to Make of the New Leadership Core

Since spring ball, Bill O’Brien has said repeatedly that his Boston College football team circa 2026 is full of leaders.

On Sunday, the most prestigious among those leaders were revealed, as the Eagles officially announced their captains for the upcoming season, which starts this upcoming Saturday on the road against Cincinnati.

A total of five players, three on offense and two on defense, were named captains, consisting of redshirt-junior quarterback Mason McKenzie, redshirt-junior center Michael Crounse, senior tight end Zeke Moore, senior defensive back KP Price, and redshirt-sophomore linebacker Anthony Palano.

Your 2026 Captains! pic.twitter.com/3BBfLJaSPb
— Boston College Football (@BCFootball) August 30, 2026

Of the five, two are transfers (McKenzie and Palano), so there is a healthy mix of new faces to the program this season and returners with multiple years of experience as members of O’Brien’s side.

Here is what to make out of the leadership core that was voted on by the players.

Boston College Football 2026 Captains Assessment:

The one captain that comes as no surprise would be Price, who served as a team captain in 2025 for the first time in his career.

Price has led the Eagles in tackling for the past two seasons, and he carries a toughness inside of him that is simply unteachable, on top of a loyalty to the school which many in today’s college-sports era cannot speak to.

The expectation for Price at the end of the season is that he will be selected in the 2027 National Football League (NFL) Draft, and he will certainly use this final year to improve his draft stock in the eyes of NFL scouts, coaches, and general managers by leaning even more into what makes him such a dependable player — his grit and tenacity.

The second player who shouldn’t be much of a surprise as well is Crounse, who started last year as a backup before transitioning into the starting center role just three games into the year.

Every play starts with the snap at the line of scrimmage, so it’s important to have somebody who exudes command of the field at the center position, and Crounse is just that.

While he isn’t the most vocal, he said he has worked on his communications skills this offseason as he enters a year in which he will be the only returning starter on the Eagles’ O-line, maybe with the exception of guard Robert Smith IV.

Aside from starting every play, his job, inherently, is also to protect the QB, and getting that message across to his mates along the line of scrimmage is just as essential.

Speaking of the QB, McKenzie was also a player expected to land this honor based on the way his teammates and coaches spoke of him.

Coming from a Division-II program to the ACC, the way McKenzie has embraced his opportunity with BC is commendable, and his peers have recognized that. He shows up with the same attitude everyday, according to O’Brien, which entails being ready to work without hesitation and do his job of mastering the offense.

“We ask a lot more out of the quarterback position than he was asked to [do] at Saginaw and he's completely run with it,” quarterbacks coach Jonathan DiBiaso said at the end of fall training camp. “He puts in a lot of time and effort. He prepares like a pro.”

Whether he chooses to embrace it or not, the coaching staff makes it abundantly clear that McKenzie is the one running the show.

“I think he's just got to prove, and we echo to him, he's the leader of this team,” DiBiaso said. “Every single time he steps in the huddle all eyes are on him. He's got to be the driving force behind the offense."

A similar sentiment applies to Palano, who transferred to BC after a productive year at Washington State, where he totaled 65 tackles, four quarterback hurries, and two pass breakups across 12 appearances with seven starts.

Defensive coordinator Ted Roof attested to the fact that it’s imperative for any successful football team to have a player like Palano, who naturally commands respect, in that middle portion of the field on the defensive side, and it appears his teammates have really seen that come from him.

That also rings true for Moore, who defines what it means to be a workhorse.

No matter what is asked of him, Moore accepts the job like it means everything to him, and like Price, he will fight through just about anything to stay on the field and push himself to the limits for the sake of the team.

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