How Boston College QB Mason McKenzie Has Continued to Develop Under Bill O'Brien
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When Mason McKenzie came to Boston College during the winter transfer period from Saginaw Valley State to be the Eagles’ new QB1, he was adamant about one thing regarding his lack of prior FBS experience.
“There’s no substitute for playing football,” McKenzie said. “At the end of the day, there’s no substitute for actually going out there and doing it, no matter the level that you’re at.”
Five games into his career on the Heights, McKenzie has done more than enough to prove that he was right.
It hasn’t come without hurdles, which is natural for just about any player transitioning to the highest tier of the college game.
But even with those hiccups, his progression since BC’s first game, in which the Eagles got pummeled by Cincinnati on the road, 35-14, to now has been one of major growth, especially in the passing arena.
When asked about his quarterback’s development from the early days of McKenzie’s reign in Chestnut Hill up to this current point in time, with a Week 6 contest against Pittsburgh looming, BC head coach Bill O’Brien positively agreed with that sentiment.
“I think the knowledge of our offense [has grown],” O’Brien said after Tuesday’s practice. “I think he’s really improved with that. I think that has helped him with the passing game. I think he got better in the SMU game. I mean, he still had some throws that he can improve on, but I thought that was better.”
Rushing-wise, McKenzie is truly in a category of his own in comparison to most quarterbacks not just in the ACC, but all throughout the country.
Even after a bye week, McKenzie ranks 45th in the nation in total rushing yards, running backs included, with 437 on 95 attempts, which accounts for yards lost from sacks.
The second-best quarterback in the conference in terms of rushing is currently Florida State’s Ashton Daniels, who has accumulated just 323 yards, over 100 less than McKenzie, in six games played.
Daniels has scored 10 times on the ground while McKenzie has only ran for three touchdowns, but that is more so a result of poor red-zone execution by the Eagles as opposed to McKenzie struggling to find the endzone — BC is tied with Utah State for 135th in FBS in red-zone success rate (.600) out of 138 teams.
Although the passing side has not been stellar by any means, McKenzie has made noticeable strides in every game he has played, and his improvement resembles a clear upward trajectory.
In his last game, during the Eagles’ 25-16 loss to the Mustangs on the road, the junior completed 21-of-30 attempts for 208 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions, the second week in a row he has not turned the ball over through the air. In his first three games alone, he tossed a total of five interceptions.
He is still only averaging 7.0 yards per pass, which ranks 93rd out of 100 eligible quarterbacks in FBS, but a major part of that falls on the responsibility of his weapons, primarily BC’s receivers.
“I think they’ve all flashed at times,” O’Brien said of the Eagles’ wideout room. “I think [Javarius] Green’s done a good job. I think some injuries have happened there. … I don’t think it’s all on them. I think they need to continue to run good routes, do the things that we’re asking them to do, but we got to protect better. There’s a lot that goes into it. It’s not just them.”
One of the bigger letdowns of the year in this department has been the lack of production from junior wide receiver Jaedn Skeete, who showed flashes of high potential across his junior and sophomore campaigns behind the likes of Lewis Bond and Reed Harris in the wide-receiver pecking order.
This year, Skeete has only caught eight passes for 84 yards, and his play has been limited due to what appears to be an issue with his work ethic during the week.
“I don’t know,” O’Brien said in regards to if Skeete will play more. “I think Skeete has to do his job. We all have to do our jobs, but I think there’s a lot of guys there at that position that are good football players, and we’re going to play the guys that practice the best and play the best.”
But going back to McKenzie, if he continues to do what is asked of him and gain more trust in his targets, the Eagles’ passing attack really has nowhere to go but up, and it has, relatively speaking, played out that way so far.
“I think when his footwork is right, and he understands where he’s going with the ball, and he’s read the coverage right, that he throws the ball well,” O’Brien said. “Sometimes it’s tough. You see a lot of different defenses, a lot of different looks from each defense, and so you have to be ready post-snap. And I think that that’s something that we’ve worked hard on with him, and I think he’s improved on that.”
If one thing is still true about McKenzie from the moment he first walked through the doors to meet with O’Brien as a free agent, it is that his demeanor has not changed a bit.
“I just think ultimately, he’s one of the best competitors I’ve ever been around,” O’Brien said. “I mean, he’s a tough, tough guy. He really wants to win. He’s a great guy to coach. He shows up, he’s the same guy every day. You know what you’re going to get every single day. [He’s] a very consistent person, and I think that’s what I enjoy the most about him.”
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Graham Dietz is a 2025 graduate of Boston College and subsequently joined Boston College On SI. He previously served as an editor for The Heights, the independent student newspaper, from fall 2021, including as Sports Editor from 2022-23. Graham works for The Boston Globe as a sports correspondent, covering high school football, girls' basketball, and baseball. He was also a beat writer for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2023.
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