Everything Boston College Head Coach Bill O’Brien Said After Day 18 of Fall Camp

The Boston College Eagles football team entered its final weekend of fall camp before the start of the season.

After practice, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke to the media about what he’s seen so far, what still needs to be worked on, and gave an injury update.

Below is a transcript of everything O’Brien said.

Q: Florida State is actually ten days now, finally it’s getting close. You started preparing for that or not too much?

O’BRIEN: No. They play tomorrow so we’ll watch that game. We’re still in training camp because, like you said, it’s ten days away, so this was practice 18. We’ll go tomorrow and Sunday and then we’ll start getting ready for those guys next week, early next week.

Q: With this being practice 17 or 18 and in the summer, how do you prevent the monotony and the grind from getting the players to not play at their highest level?

O’BRIEN: Yeah it’s a challenge but we try to change it up every day. The practice schedule basically stays the same in the beginning, but then we throw different situations at them every day. It’s a grind though, that’s part of it like there’s the drudgery of football that you have to wrap your brain around, that’s part of building a mentally tough team. It is the same every day so can you approach it in a way that’s going to help you be better every single day because there are so many things that are repetitive, that’s what football is all about. We definitely try to change up situations and keep them thinking but at the end of the day, you’ve gotta embrace that grind every single day.

Q: You were able to find success at Penn State and with the Texans right away in Year 1. Can you describe what you learned from the experience that can carry forward to this one?

O’BRIEN: “It’s all about people. It’s all about the people around you. Penn State, when we got there, was probably the most challenging thing that ever happened to me in my career personally, but we had great people, we had a great staff, and we had awesome players that stuck around, similar to here. We have a really really good staff, we have a bunch of guys that are playing, that are really grinding and trying to get better every day. We kept 98% of the team, we really kept the whole team I think one guy transferred maybe, so we kept 99% of the team from when I got the job to where we are now, so I give a lot of credit to the players and I think that’s what it’s all about. So if you’re gonna embrace the process which is what it is, then hopefully the outcomes result in positive outcomes but the process is what it’s all about and that’s what we’re trying to get thought to these guys every day.”

Q: With Tommy, what he tries to do is to try and run the ball a lot. Can you talk a little bit about during practice what you are looking at with him? Are you trying to keep him in the pocket more, trying to have him work that during practice or are you letting him do what he does naturally?

O’BRIEN: “We have to let him be who he is. We’ve tried to improve his knowledge of our passing game and coverages and our protections and things like that and he’s gotten a lot better at that. He’s doing really well but at the end of the day I’m never gonna tell him ‘hey, you have to stand in the pocket and you have to do this’ like that’s not how you coach a player like Tommy. You’ve gotta teach him your system and then he’s a very very instinctive player so you’ve gotta let his instincts take over and let him be who he is.”

Q: Last year, BC had 13 sacks. Obviously it needs to be higher. How do you get better?

O’BRIEN: “I think we’re on the right road with that. We’ve got a lot of different ways to get it higher whether it’s four-man rush, sometimes a three-man rush, sometimes pressure, simulated pressure, we kind of do it all on defense. It’s very much of a pro-style defense so hopefully that leads to more sacks but the sack stat, just so you know, is very misleading. There’s pressures, there’s coverage, how good is the coverage? Like if the ball can just come out quickly like you’re never gonna get a sack so you might as well just try to bat the ball. If the coverage ties in with the rush and the coverage is tight, then that allows guys to get home like there’s a lot to do with that. So it’s not just the rush, it’s the coverage, it’s the scheme, it’s everybody working together to produce sacks. Pressures are just as good as sacks too like if the guy is forcing it out early, get a batted ball, get a turnover, the guy feels the pressure, maybe he’s not a guy that can the the pressure relative to the quarterback position, so a lot more goes into it than just the sack total.”

Q: Any updates on Logan Taylor right now?

O’BRIEN: “Yeah, he’s doing better. We’re feeling good about where he’s at potentially for the first game. It’s been a long road for him but he’s definitely improving but it’s certainly day-to-day. Today he said he felt really good so we’ll see where it is over the weekend.”

Q: How about Alex Broome. Is there a chance he comes back this year?

O’BRIEN: “I would probably say no based on when he did that. That was an ACL at the end of spring practice, I think it was the last practice or second-to-last practice, so I would say it would be tough for him to come back this year.”