Boston College Football's Imaginary Christmas Present Haul: What Did the Eagles Get?

Here is a list of hypothetical additions to BC football's roster and coaching staff for 2026 from an imaginary Christmas present haul.

Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey throws the ball in the second half of a NCAA football game against Syracuse at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Merry Christmas to all the Eagle’ fans out there — or happy Chanukah, to those who celebrate (admittedly rare for a Catholic institution).

Here’s a fun activity to keep the Christmas spirit alive for the remainder of the week, until the new year arrives in a matter of days.

Picture that you woke up to a blast of notifications from X yesterday. While Santa Claus crossed the night skies, the Boston College football program hired a new defensive coordinator, added a pair of quarterbacks from the transfer portal, and built around those QBs with some additional transfer-portal players.

The Eagles practically got everything that they wished for on their transfer-portal wishlist, but Santa’s elves were quite realistic as well. They didn’t bother looking over requests for Dylan Raiola for a couple million dollars. Fair enough, elves.

With that being said, here is a breakdown of the haul that arrived under an imaginary tree at Fish Fieldhouse from Santa’s sleigh on Thursday morning!

[Reminder: the entirety of this article is completely hypothetical. This is just an activity for the sake of coming up with scenarios for the BC football team's offseason additions.]

The Quarterbacks

The first gift BC unwrapped this holiday season came from its stocking. 

Stocking gifts aren’t always the most elaborate, but they tend to kick off the tradition of opening presents in a pleasurable manner — they are like a miniature teaser for the rest of the haul.

That stocking gift came in the form of former Saginaw Valley State quarterback Mason McKenzie, who received an offer from the program on Dec. 19, according to his personal X account.

The reigning GLIAC (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) Player of the Year and the 2024 GLIAC Freshman of the Year, McKenzie brings experience to Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Even though McKenzie played at the Division-II level for the past two years, he started in every game for the Cardinals — barring injury — amassing 3,028 total yards and 27 touchdowns this past season.

Overall, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound gunslinger totaled 4,301 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns, 1,673 rushing yards, and 18 rushing touchdowns in three years at his former school.

McKenzie will not earn the Eagles’ 2026 starting job without a fight, but his dual-threat nature gives him an extra boost in the competition. In 2025, the Eagles’ signal callers combined for just 29 rushing yards and one touchdown, so there is some work to do in that department.

According to 247 Sports, McKenzie is the No. 34-best quarterback prospect in the 2026 transfer portal.

Moving along, BC's second gift — and the second quarterback in its haul — is former Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey, one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the current transfer cycle.

Minchey was a consensus four-star prospect coming out of high school in the class of 2023, but he narrowly lost the Fighting Irish’s 2025 QB battle to redshirt freshman CJ Carr, who is set on returning next year after throwing for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions in his first campaign as the starter.

Minchey announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on Dec. 8, and there was an immediate buzz that linked the Hendersonville, Tenn., native to BC.

The 6-foot-2, 208-pound QB completed 20-of-26 passes last year for 196 yards, averaging 7.5 yards per throw, mostly in garbage time, but he possesses the pedigree and talent to easily become a starter for a Power-Four conference program next year.

Minchey’s athleticism and mobility helps the offense extend plays, and his quick release and strong arm makes him capable of completing any type of throw. In this hypothetical scenario, Minchey instantly becomes the projected starter for BC in 2026.

The Defensive Coordinator

The firing of former BC defensive coordinator Tim Lewis on Dec. 5 was — quite frankly — long overdue and a necessary measure toward building a better future on the Heights. In 2025, the Eagles’ defense ranked nearly dead-last in all of FBS in most statistical categories.

Unwrapping this gift was a highly-anticipated activity for the Eagles — one that kept the team on the edge of its seat before tearing apart the wrapping paper with maniacal energy.

But boy did it deliver.

That is because it entailed the homecoming of former BC defensive tackle Al Washington, the previous defensive line/defensive run game coordinator for Notre Dame, who coached in South Bend, Ind., since 2022.

Washington played for the Eagles from 2002-05, recording 74 tackles (49 solos), six sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss, and six pass break-ups in 24 starts. After he graduated with a degree in sociology in 2006, Washington quickly jumped into coaching as a defensive line coach at Rensselaer Poly Tech in 2007, followed by a stint at NC State as a graduate assistant in 2008.

Before eventually making it to one of the blue-blood programs in college football, Washington spent time at BC from 2012-16 as a special teams, defensive line, and running backs coach, then at Cincinnati in 2017 (defensive line), Michigan in 2018 (defensive line), and Ohio State from 2019-21 (linebackers).

With the hiring of former BC wide receiver/return specialist Kenyatta Watson as the program’s general manager shortly after the 2025 season came to a conclusion, the addition of Washington keeps the trend going of bringing back former players onto the staff for 2026 and beyond — which O’Brien said he was heavily considering during the season.

When Washington was a player, the Eagles won eight or more games every year and were unbeaten in four bowl games, so he is familiar with the feeling of attaining repetitive success on the Heights from a player standpoint, which aligns with Watson.

The Portal Pick-Ups

The next bunch of gifts were the cherry on top for BC's present haul, as they filled in the depth on the Eagles’ roster that was severely lacking last year.

Here is the list of players which came through in that bundle, including a brief introduction to each.

Offense:

• RB Damari Alston (Auburn): Now that Watson, who was previously the assistant general manager at Auburn, is BC’s GM, there are bound to be some former Tigers who could arrive up north this offseason. A senior in 2025, Alston only carried the ball 32 times for 128 yards and a score, but the 5-foot-9, 214-pound ball carrier could be of use to O’Brien with his multiple scheme on offense.

• RB Cam Edwards (UConn): Edwards has been the heart and sole of the Huskies’ backfield for the past three seasons. In 2025, he racked up 1,132 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 199 carries, averaging 5.7 yards per attempt. Now that former UConn head coach Jim Mora is at Colorado State, Chestnut Hill could appeal to some of the local collegiate talent that is on the prowl for Division-I football opportunities nearby.

• OT Ben Murawski (UConn): Connecticut’s offensive line in 2025 paved the way for a formidable run and pass game, and Murawski was one of the primary reasons. The Eagles have big holes to fill in that room with the losses of OT Jude Bowry and OT/IOL Logan Taylor, among others. Finding a way to bring Murawski, who is one of the top O-line portal prospects in 2026, to BC would do numbers for the program which has produced multiple NFL offensive linemen in the past five years.

• OT Tolu Olajide (New Hampshire): A former Stonehill College (Easton, Mass.) three-year player, the 6-foot-5, 295-pound tackle has one year of eligibility remaining after starting all 13 games for the Wildcats — where he transferred to after his junior season — in 2025. Olajide earned CAA (Coastal Athletic Association) All-Conference First Team honors this past year.

• IOL Nicolas Cruji (Maine): From Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the rising redshirt senior appeared in 23 games for the Black Bears in the last two years.

Defense:

• DE Lamont Lester Jr. (Monmouth): As a redshirt freshman in 2025, Lester totaled 37 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks. Since the departure of former BC defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku to the professional ranks in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Eagles have not been unable to manufacture the same level of pressure on opposing quarterbacks and backfields to a significant degree.

• DL Antonio Coleman (Auburn): While Coleman is not graded as the top DL prospect from Auburn in the 2026 transfer portal — EDGE Amaris Williams is, according 247 — he is a realistic target for BC and somebody that Watson should be in touch with to some extent. Coleman was just a freshman last year and did not see game action, but he generated 153 career tackles, 53 TFLs, 10 sacks, 27 QB hurries, and scored three touchdowns for the top-ranked 6A Saraland Spartans (Saraland, Ala.) before becoming a Tiger.