Boston College Head Coach Bill O'Brien Provides Injury Update on QB Dylan Lonergan

The second-year Eagles head coach gave an update on the team's starting quarterback after the game on Saturday.

Nov 29, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Boston College Eagles quarterback Dylan Lonergan (9) warms up prior to the game against the Syracuse Orange at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Boston College football head coach Bill O’Brien provided an injury update on quarterback Dylan Lonergan after the team’s 34-12 win over Syracuse on Saturday night. 

“Yeah, he hit his thumb on that first third down,” said O’Brien in his post-game press conference. “He hit his thumb on a helmet and he couldn't grip the ball. They X-rayed it. I'm not sure what the X-ray showed, but he couldn't grip the ball. He tried, he tried to grip the ball, but he wasn't gonna be able to throw the football.” 

Lonergan exited the contest early in the first quarter after making a handoff to running back Turbo Richard. O’Brien called a timeout with 11:24 to go in the quarter to check on Lonergan. 

Coming out of the timeout, Grayson James entered the game at quarterback and played the rest of the way. 

Shortly after, Lonergan was seen walking into the locker room with his thumb in an ice cup. 

Later in the game, Lonergan returned to the sideline with his helmet on, but never re-entered the game. The CW broadcast said that his status was questionable with a finger injury in the second quarter. 

On the first third down of the game, Lonergan threw a five-yard completion to wide receiver Lewis Bond on 3rd-and-4 to move the chains. After getting the first down, Lonergan handed the ball off three consecutive times to Richard before the timeout was called. 

Lonergan completed his only two pass attempts for eight yards before leaving the game. 

As for James, the redshirt senior went 16-of-24 for 288 yards in the victory. 

After an up-and-down year in his first season at Boston College, Lonergan was named this week’s starting quarterback by O’Brien after practice on Tuesday. 

"Dylan had a good game against Georgia Tech,” said O’Brien on Tuesday. “He made a lot of great throws. He anticipated well, he scrambled, he took off a couple times, which helped us a lot, because he can do that. We just focused on Syracuse, the game plan for Syracuse, making sure that we understand what they're trying to do, be ready for some new stuff that they may do, and just keep trying to get better every single day with Dylan. He works very hard."

Prior to the Syracuse game, the Snellville, Ga., native appeared in nine of Boston College’s 11 games this year and completed 188 of his 282 pass attempts for 2,017 yards, threw 12 touchdowns, and was intercepted five times. 

Lonergan did not speak to the media after the game.