Football: Bill O'Brien News Conference (Aug. 27, 2024)

hey before I get going here I just want to um you know really uh throw the football team's support behind all BC sports fall Sports so uh just wish everybody coaches and players alike administrators everybody good luck this is such an exciting time on campus the the students are back and you know we're we're thrilled to be back we've been back here for a while but uh you know I know soccer teams and field hockey teams and cross country and all that so we're we're excited for all the teams and uh wish everybody the best of so with that I'll open it up to questions uh first practice a game week would you like and not like and why' you bring it inside well H I'm not going to get into why I brought it inside but I I did like the practice I thought the energy was good and uh yeah I think I think these guys show up every day I mean practice is never perfect so there wasn't much that I didn't like about practice these guys really gave good effort today how much do you feel the energy shift when game week finally has arrived yeah definitely there's a little bit more excitement in the air you know a little bit more of a second wind and uh after 20 practices a train camp and now they're getting ready for an opponent so yeah there's definitely an excitement and we just got to keep this energy throughout the week you know the game's not till Monday so we got ways to go here we're not playing on Saturday so we go to got to do a good job of keeping the energy throughout the week do you feel like you've had enough time to to shape this team as as you want it now entering week one we'll find out I do I feel like I've had enough time yeah no it's been good these guys have worked hard and uh you know we'll see what happens on Monday we'll we'll uh we'll be there we're excited about the opportunity we know Florida State's a very very good team great coaching staff uh great crowd I've I've coached down there a number of times when I was uh you know at Georgia Tech and and so I I uh I know it's a tough place to play and but these guys are excited for the opportunity can't wait to get get down there what did you see from them on Saturday uh you know look I think it was a back and forth game I think that that's two good football teams I think Georgia Tech's very good Florida State's good and uh you know it was a battle it was a good battle and back and forth and you know Georgia Tech came out on top but uh Florida State's very good they they they fought hard and you know we know we know it's going to be a huge challenge for us going down there are there any any advantages or disadvantages ping a team that's already played a game versus you guys haven't played I don't think so there nothing you can do about it right you know they played we didn't you know I don't think we could we try to control the controllables right we can't control the schedule we can't control the weather um there's a lot of things we can't control but there are things we can and that's our own performance our own knowledge of the opponent our own assignments our own coaching roles like those are the things we can control so that's what we'll try to do about Tommy being like letting Tommy be Tommy in the past and you know with the Georgia Tech blueprint that was kind of laid out last week how much is that influenced your game plan this week and then really how are you going to have a short or a long release now after seeing that with Tommy no I don't think we base you know we we look at um you know the opponent's previous games and games from last year last week obviously I don't think we we put all you know all of our game plan in one game you know we try to think about our team and what's best for our team relative to this opponent uh Tommy's had a really good training camp I'm excited for Tommy he's put a lot of work into this and uh he he's a much improved player we're definitely going to you know let Tommy be Tommy that that's that's what he does best is he's a very instinctive player he's gotten better in the passing game so we just want to want him to play a really clean game and and always make good decisions for the team and I think he's he's done that throughout training camp so I'm excited for him you mentioned you know that environment heard the fight song blasting over and over there what are you telling these guys to anticipate when walk in loud loud yeah they got great fans they have awesome fans they got a great band um it'll be loud that's what it's all about that's college football right be I don't know what it holds probably 990,000 maybe more um and uh you know like I said they have a great fight song great tradition um I can remember going down there in 1998 when I was at Georgia Tech and we had an excellent team and Coach Bowen um you know they had an excellent team and it was like 38 to 35 shootout and you know just an awesome college game it's a great environment um they have great Traditions down there so you know our guys should be excited that's what you know that's what you sign up for when you come to a place like BC you know you have great home stadium then you get to go play at places like Florida State Clemson you know North Carolina those places so we're we're excited for it over overwhelmingly you know power programs play more of a I guess for lack of return like a preseason game yeah you know onea team what's the challenge in in opening up the season conference game against a major opponent yeah I mean look I I definitely think it's challenging I I I do think though that it it it it helps your focus in the off season right like so your winter conditioning your spring practice your summer conditioning your training camp is very very focused because you know you're opening up against the top 10 team so on the road so I think that uh you know there there's obviously challenges to opening up against Florida State on the road obviously they're really good football team but but I also think it helps the focus of the team they they they have a purpose every day to try to get better and I think that's uh that's what how this team's approached it this this Labor Day game is you kind of become a stap one opening weekend plus whatever you know decade and a half yeah what kind of showcase do you feel this is for Boston College I think it's awesome I mean I think it's a great opportunity for us to to show uh what our school's about what our what our program is about um you know our players I I tell our players like you know young guys nowadays are very uh a lot of them are very results oriented you know and and I I want them to be you know process driven right like you know just play One play at a time you know play the next play uh you know don't worry about you know hey this two plays ago this didn't go right like something may not go right but you know we need to play the next play and play One play at a time the whole game and try to stack plays on top of each other positive plays and if we do that then you know we'll have a shot if we start worrying about different things the crowd the road you know the noise the this play over here that play over there the result of the game then then it'll be tough tough for us so I want these guys to really focus on one play at a time and and the opportunity that they have to go down there and play good football coach any update on Jude or Logan and do you feel comfortable overall with that or wi unit yeah I feel very comfortable no update on those guys very in helmet communication being new to college football this year have you been able to confirm who's going to be wearing the green dot on defense for you because we know Tommy's going to be obviously communicating on offense yeah the Green Dot on offense could be uh one of several guys so it could be Arnold it could be KP price we haven't totally determined that both guys have been the signal caller during during uh training camp and during spring practice but you know we you know both guys have done a great job at that I think we we'll be fine when it comes to that we have a lot of experience too with with uh coach to player communication so hopefully that shows up that we we we understand how that all works from a coaching standpoint so you know we we've we've done that a lot in the NFL so hopefully it it plays out pretty well in that that regard seem like DJ was throw a lot of quick passes to the outside what do you see from him and how can you defend him I mean he threw about four shots down the field yeah you know he he he threw um yeah that that's part of that's their offense they have a really good offense they have an explosive offense um you know they have guys that I know personally Malik Benson royell Williams uh great players that were at Alabama when I was there um I think they have 17 transfers uh including DJ DJ's you know he's a hell of a player I mean he he's somebody I'm very familiar with from uh you know when he was at Clemson Oregon State um just a you know a great athlete big guy strong arm very smart uh comes from a great family good teammate got all the qualities you're looking for on a quarterback so like I said it'll be it's a very challenging game for us but you know I'm really proud of these guys and how far they've come and we're all looking forward to the you know to to the opportunity in the game and Joe Marino n Captain what can you say about him yeah he's yeah we we named uh or the team voted the team voted and it was it was uh you know pretty distinct vote on who the captains were so like you said Joe marinir will be the Special Teams Captain it's a great guy comes from a BC family um his uh his uh dad Mike marinero played here was a defensive lineman played with my one of my best friends Mike poo so and and I actually grew up with Mike marinero in Andover Massachusetts so I go way back with the marineros um and then we had Drew Kendall and Azie trapillo uh two BC guys you know dads played here great players here and then Tommy castalanos uh our back who's had a really good off season and then on defense donov vanzar Raku who's you know one of our best players and uh and leaders and and cam Arnold same thing really good player really good leader so I really proud of the team the way they voted um they know who the leaders are and those guys you know really deserve the vote and they're they're excellent leaders and great ambassadors for Boston College so hopefully you guys get you know a lot of chances to talk to them throughout the year guys good thank you guys thanks for being here I appreciate it