Boston College Athletics
Photo by: John Quackenbos
Boston College Media Day Transcripts: Student-Athletes
August 07, 2018 | Football
Comments from Zach Allen, Anthony Brown and AJ Dillon
Boston College senior defensive end Zach Allen
Q. In the process of thinking to return, did you think about your draft stock at all?
ZACH ALLEN: Yeah, you hear a lot of different things like that. At the end of the day you have to do what's best for your personally. You have to come with your values and priorities. For me, it was kind of the relationships here. You only really have them once in your life. The NFL will still be there next year.
Also we have a really exciting team come back. You want to be a part of that.
Q. Did you consult with anyone else or Harold Landry?
ZACH ALLEN: Harold was very helpful with the decision just because he went through it. Seeing how he did it, also talking to him about it. Then also the coaches here. My family were huge also. My teammates, too. I had a lot of good people in my corner that helped me make the best decision.
Q. From a team perspective, you know the expectations for this year are greater. As those expectations continue to grow, how does it help to focus the intensity and understanding between players and coaches it's time to take the next step?
ZACH ALLEN: I think camp hits you you're in the fire now. I think the thing we've done a really good job of this off-season, even though we've had all these, for the first time in a while, positive press and expectations, we've done a really good job of staying true to we're a team that's a blue-collar team that's going to come in and work. We have a certain criteria that we have to accomplish before we can even expect anything. I think we've done a really good job blocking out the noise, just focusing on what we can control.
I think we're continuing that in camp. First couple days we've had some really successful days. We're just looking to keep building on it throughout the next 20 practices or so.
Q. Who are some defensive ends you look up to? Who is the favorite quarterback you've ever sacked?
ZACH ALLEN: Obviously J.J. Watt is at the top of it. This off-season I've definitely been watching a lot of NFL tape to try to learn from things like that. Definitely Calais Campbell, Von Miller are two studs. Inside, Aaron Donald, Adrian Clayborn. A lot of great players.
The favorite quarterback I've ever sacked? Trying to remember which the quarterbacks were. You forget. Honestly I think the cooler ones are the dual-threat quarterbacks because they're harder to catch, they run well. I'd probably say Virginia Tech's quarterback.
Q. Sometimes you get nuances of the guys you face. Not taking them to the ground most of the time. What are you seeing from your offensive line, Anthony, AJ?
ZACH ALLEN: I mean, start with the offensive line. Just going against them, you're not going to face a better offensive line. They help us tremendously from a physicality and speed of the game, really don't face anything like it. They're absolutely tremendous. They also have so much depth, you can rotate in seven, eight different guys.
With AJ, there's not a bigger back, more explosive back in the country. Dealing with that, you really have to be on point every play or he's going to make you look silly.
Across all three levels of the defense, he helps us all. Then finally with QB1 (Anthony Brown), he can throw it, run it, do it all, too. Having all these weapons on offense only helps us. I think that really showed at the end of the season last year when they kind of hit their stride. Our practices became tougher than the games. That's when we realized success.
Q. After your breakout performance last year, could Wyatt Ray have the same type of season?
ZACH ALLEN: Wyatt, a heck of a player. When Harold went down last year for the last five games, whatever it was, nothing really changed on our defense. He really can do everything that Harold can do. It's really exciting to see what he can do this year. He's already making crazy plays in camp. Really excited to see what he can do. I really don't think anything too much will change. Everybody will be able to produce.
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Boston College sophomore quarterback Anthony Brown
Q. When you did come back, you were ready to hit the ground running?
ANTHONY BROWN: It helps you mentally developing a lot of knowledge of the game, looking at everything from a coach's perspective. I wasn't able to physically whip out any of the plays. Gaining that mental practice helped me to manage and develop for the season.
I feel like it's only going to get better.
Q. What about the physical limitations, maybe not the right word, married how your handling it mentally, but there's going to be the point of contact, what do you know about that? What do you anticipate as that moment comes?
ANTHONY BROWN: I can't really worry about it right now because just getting back to the speed of everything is more important to me right now. When that point comes, it will just happen. I'm not really focused on it right now because when it happens, it's going to happen. It's going to be the least of my worries at that time, so...
Q. Talk about this guy a little bit. How much of a security blanket is he for you?
ANTHONY BROWN: AJ Dillon, he's a great kid. He's a great back. He's a very huge catalyst in our offense. It's amazing having him because it takes a lot of pressure off a lot of people.
When I know I can hand the ball off, we can easily get from 5 to 70 or 80 yards, takes a lot of pressure off of me, takes a lot of pressure off the coaches. If I throw game, it helps us 10 times more. If I fake a handoff to him, everybody is coming down.
He's a huge part to this team. He's actually growing as a leader. It's nice to see him grow up and mature for this team because that's what we need. We need more than one leader, three leaders. It's nice to see that he's so young and taking it on and developing.
Q. We saw Tom Brady had been at the facility. Share with us what type of insight a guy like that can provide for you, how helpful that can be.
ANTHONY BROWN: He can provide anything I need because he's been through it all, he's been in the next level for 16, 17 years. It's just so much that he's been through already that I have yet to experience.
He can provide so much information for me and insight. So basically he just gave me some words of advice and motivation for this upcoming pre-season and for the season. I'm just still working through it.
Q. Did he tell you anything about coming back from the injury?
ANTHONY BROWN: Yeah, basically it was more of a worry about the things you can control because if you can't control, like, anything that's going on inside of your knee, why worry about it. The more you worry about that, the less focus you are having of helping your team get better. That was really, really motivational.
Q. What is it like when you can get into a rhythm like against Virginia and maybe this season?
ANTHONY BROWN: It's fun getting in a rhythm like that. Very exciting to play fast and efficient. Just getting into the rhythm, it will take more preparation, more time, more practice. Everything I need for myself to be more consistent, more efficient, to help my team.
Q. (Question about throwing deeper passes.)
ANTHONY BROWN: We all hope to continue to do different things, more things. It's going to be an expanding season, so yeah.
Q. I read that this is your first time missing any games since five. How did that affect your recovery process?
ANTHONY BROWN: I was just very, very eager to do anything I could, from working out to running to throwing a football. I never stopped throwing a football because I can't lose that touch.
It was kind of hard because it's different, not being able to contribute on the field. When I didn't have that, it was just more of maturing mentally. It was kind of difficult at first. But just being eager to know there's a timetable on everything, I can get back to certain points as I build and grow, it was fun, a great process. Now I'm back in camp, so I'm happy.
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Boston College sophomore running back AJ Dillon
THE MODERATOR: Questions for AJ.
Q. General comment on the goals coming into this season.
AJ DILLON: I'd say my biggest goal is to definitely be an all-purpose back that my coaches and my teammates can count on in any situation. Something like Coach Addazio was talking about at one of our individual team meetings, he brought up with Michael Jordan quote: they practice so hard that the game is never easy.
Now being thrust into more of a leadership role, being my second year playing, having some experience under my belt, I see what is expected of just anybody that's on the field at any point in time. It's where I want to be. There's a lot of points last year I can point to myself where I wasn't satisfied with my play. I'm really trying to work out going 100% all camp so I can be leader by action to the younger freshmen we have, older guys, whoever needs the motivation during camp.
Essentially just kind of expecting the most out of myself, kind of motivating everybody else to reach their fullest potential.
Q. (Question about Anthony being back.)
AJ DILLON: It's going to be tremendous. Anthony is my roommate this year, during camp. He's probably my first friend besides guys that I went to high school with, my first friend on the team, during the recruiting process. It's going to be great. I'm excited for him. He's healthy. He's a leader. He's been a leader since he first got here.
There's a lot I'm taking from him, just learning the offense. He has so much knowledge of the game already. I'm just trying to take a lot of that from him.
Q. Can you share with us what it was like to have to help Anthony Brown through the recovery process.
AJ DILLON: I mean, a lot of it was him. He's a really strong guy. But when I could, I just kind of give him words of encouragement. During the games, I could definitely it was hard for him being on the sideline.
Not just me, the entire team, that's our quarterback, that's one of our leaders. We all just really hoping for a speedy recovery. He's back now, and we're anxious to get him back on the field.
Q. What about the relationship between you and the offensive line? They have confidence because you're back there. I imagine you have confidence because they're in front of you.
AJ DILLON: Yeah, I've always had an appreciation for my offensive line ever since I first started to run a ball. When I first started to play, I actually played tackle because I just weighed so much. Then I was a tight end, back in the Pop Warner days. Maybe it started there.
I've always had a great relationship with my line. The line here, they're great guys, great individuals. We joke around a lot. I always go over there, see them after practice. They call me the horse. Actually before the spring game, I didn't play, but they brought me sugar cubes and carrots. We have a bunch of little jokes like that. When I have extra donuts, I'd bring them over and feed them.
We have a great relationship. That definitely I feel like shows up during game time, just knowing I know I want to do well for them, they want to do well for me, then we have unbelievable trust. I can speak to that 100%. I trust all those guys out on the field without a doubt.
Q. You said there were times last year you weren't happy with your performance on the field. Can you tell us what you might have done differently, what you didn't do right?
AJ DILLON: Definitely a big, big factor for me, probably number one overall, was definitely stamina. Coming from high school, going to college, I always say one carry in high school is the equivalent of two and a half in college. You have to work so hard for each yard. There's definitely a lot more that goes into it.
There are certain times where I'd be tired in the backfield, just kind of -- you can see it on the film where I definitely could have made another move, another cut, pushed for a couple extra yards. Those add up.
Like this year I'm going to be someone -- not that I'm never going to get tired, but I'm going to give 100% each play I'm out there, 100% effort. That's what I expect of myself. That's what I'm trying to do now in camp as I'm getting those reps.
Then just catching in the backfield, a lot of things I didn't get to display last year. I worked on my speed, my agility over the winter, spring, especially with Anthony, doing whatever he could. We worked together a lot. I'm excited to kind of put everything I've been working on display.
Q. (Question about expectations.)
AJ DILLON: I'd be lying if I said it didn't -- obviously I guess my assumed status didn't change. I don't really pay much attention to that. Obviously I'm honored to have any accolades or anything thrust upon me. It's definitely a tremendous honor. I'm appreciative of it.
When it comes down to this game, I don't really try to focus much on individual things. So I guess the biggest piece that I could take away from life changing was definitely the fact that I'm called on to be a leader now. We have freshmen that just came in. We have two freshmen backs right now. They're in the spot I was last year. Head spinning around in camp after each play is called. I'm trying to be proactive and teach them.
Like Anthony just said, it's great we don't just have one leader on this team. We have three, four, five. Look to your left or right, find somebody to lead. Now being one of those people, I guess that's the biggest expectation. I really want to lead by example with my play, with how I carry myself, my demeanor. That's the biggest thing that's changed for me.
Q. Was there something where a switch went on, a confidence level you hit during the season?
AJ DILLON: Yeah, I definitely would say that Louisville probably was when I first started to kind of realize that I started to trust myself. As the year progresses week by week, I'm not sure, you can always tell as a player how you're running. I can definitely tell as we progress week by week kind of where I was. I know from the beginning of the year I didn't really trust myself. You can see me kind of thinking through cuts, trying to figure out.
Now as we've progressed, I've started to think more loosely, more fluid, just kind of understand, Okay, these are all scholarship guys, these are scholarship guys, I deserve to be here, too. That's probably the biggest thing as a freshman or anybody that started playing, getting that confidence and realizing you're just as good as a guy across the line.
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Q. In the process of thinking to return, did you think about your draft stock at all?
ZACH ALLEN: Yeah, you hear a lot of different things like that. At the end of the day you have to do what's best for your personally. You have to come with your values and priorities. For me, it was kind of the relationships here. You only really have them once in your life. The NFL will still be there next year.
Also we have a really exciting team come back. You want to be a part of that.
Q. Did you consult with anyone else or Harold Landry?
ZACH ALLEN: Harold was very helpful with the decision just because he went through it. Seeing how he did it, also talking to him about it. Then also the coaches here. My family were huge also. My teammates, too. I had a lot of good people in my corner that helped me make the best decision.
Q. From a team perspective, you know the expectations for this year are greater. As those expectations continue to grow, how does it help to focus the intensity and understanding between players and coaches it's time to take the next step?
ZACH ALLEN: I think camp hits you you're in the fire now. I think the thing we've done a really good job of this off-season, even though we've had all these, for the first time in a while, positive press and expectations, we've done a really good job of staying true to we're a team that's a blue-collar team that's going to come in and work. We have a certain criteria that we have to accomplish before we can even expect anything. I think we've done a really good job blocking out the noise, just focusing on what we can control.
I think we're continuing that in camp. First couple days we've had some really successful days. We're just looking to keep building on it throughout the next 20 practices or so.
Q. Who are some defensive ends you look up to? Who is the favorite quarterback you've ever sacked?
ZACH ALLEN: Obviously J.J. Watt is at the top of it. This off-season I've definitely been watching a lot of NFL tape to try to learn from things like that. Definitely Calais Campbell, Von Miller are two studs. Inside, Aaron Donald, Adrian Clayborn. A lot of great players.
The favorite quarterback I've ever sacked? Trying to remember which the quarterbacks were. You forget. Honestly I think the cooler ones are the dual-threat quarterbacks because they're harder to catch, they run well. I'd probably say Virginia Tech's quarterback.
Q. Sometimes you get nuances of the guys you face. Not taking them to the ground most of the time. What are you seeing from your offensive line, Anthony, AJ?
ZACH ALLEN: I mean, start with the offensive line. Just going against them, you're not going to face a better offensive line. They help us tremendously from a physicality and speed of the game, really don't face anything like it. They're absolutely tremendous. They also have so much depth, you can rotate in seven, eight different guys.
With AJ, there's not a bigger back, more explosive back in the country. Dealing with that, you really have to be on point every play or he's going to make you look silly.
Across all three levels of the defense, he helps us all. Then finally with QB1 (Anthony Brown), he can throw it, run it, do it all, too. Having all these weapons on offense only helps us. I think that really showed at the end of the season last year when they kind of hit their stride. Our practices became tougher than the games. That's when we realized success.
Q. After your breakout performance last year, could Wyatt Ray have the same type of season?
ZACH ALLEN: Wyatt, a heck of a player. When Harold went down last year for the last five games, whatever it was, nothing really changed on our defense. He really can do everything that Harold can do. It's really exciting to see what he can do this year. He's already making crazy plays in camp. Really excited to see what he can do. I really don't think anything too much will change. Everybody will be able to produce.
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Boston College sophomore quarterback Anthony Brown
Q. When you did come back, you were ready to hit the ground running?
ANTHONY BROWN: It helps you mentally developing a lot of knowledge of the game, looking at everything from a coach's perspective. I wasn't able to physically whip out any of the plays. Gaining that mental practice helped me to manage and develop for the season.
I feel like it's only going to get better.
Q. What about the physical limitations, maybe not the right word, married how your handling it mentally, but there's going to be the point of contact, what do you know about that? What do you anticipate as that moment comes?
ANTHONY BROWN: I can't really worry about it right now because just getting back to the speed of everything is more important to me right now. When that point comes, it will just happen. I'm not really focused on it right now because when it happens, it's going to happen. It's going to be the least of my worries at that time, so...
Q. Talk about this guy a little bit. How much of a security blanket is he for you?
ANTHONY BROWN: AJ Dillon, he's a great kid. He's a great back. He's a very huge catalyst in our offense. It's amazing having him because it takes a lot of pressure off a lot of people.
When I know I can hand the ball off, we can easily get from 5 to 70 or 80 yards, takes a lot of pressure off of me, takes a lot of pressure off the coaches. If I throw game, it helps us 10 times more. If I fake a handoff to him, everybody is coming down.
He's a huge part to this team. He's actually growing as a leader. It's nice to see him grow up and mature for this team because that's what we need. We need more than one leader, three leaders. It's nice to see that he's so young and taking it on and developing.
Q. We saw Tom Brady had been at the facility. Share with us what type of insight a guy like that can provide for you, how helpful that can be.
ANTHONY BROWN: He can provide anything I need because he's been through it all, he's been in the next level for 16, 17 years. It's just so much that he's been through already that I have yet to experience.
He can provide so much information for me and insight. So basically he just gave me some words of advice and motivation for this upcoming pre-season and for the season. I'm just still working through it.
Q. Did he tell you anything about coming back from the injury?
ANTHONY BROWN: Yeah, basically it was more of a worry about the things you can control because if you can't control, like, anything that's going on inside of your knee, why worry about it. The more you worry about that, the less focus you are having of helping your team get better. That was really, really motivational.
Q. What is it like when you can get into a rhythm like against Virginia and maybe this season?
ANTHONY BROWN: It's fun getting in a rhythm like that. Very exciting to play fast and efficient. Just getting into the rhythm, it will take more preparation, more time, more practice. Everything I need for myself to be more consistent, more efficient, to help my team.
Q. (Question about throwing deeper passes.)
ANTHONY BROWN: We all hope to continue to do different things, more things. It's going to be an expanding season, so yeah.
Q. I read that this is your first time missing any games since five. How did that affect your recovery process?
ANTHONY BROWN: I was just very, very eager to do anything I could, from working out to running to throwing a football. I never stopped throwing a football because I can't lose that touch.
It was kind of hard because it's different, not being able to contribute on the field. When I didn't have that, it was just more of maturing mentally. It was kind of difficult at first. But just being eager to know there's a timetable on everything, I can get back to certain points as I build and grow, it was fun, a great process. Now I'm back in camp, so I'm happy.
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Boston College sophomore running back AJ Dillon
THE MODERATOR: Questions for AJ.
Q. General comment on the goals coming into this season.
AJ DILLON: I'd say my biggest goal is to definitely be an all-purpose back that my coaches and my teammates can count on in any situation. Something like Coach Addazio was talking about at one of our individual team meetings, he brought up with Michael Jordan quote: they practice so hard that the game is never easy.
Now being thrust into more of a leadership role, being my second year playing, having some experience under my belt, I see what is expected of just anybody that's on the field at any point in time. It's where I want to be. There's a lot of points last year I can point to myself where I wasn't satisfied with my play. I'm really trying to work out going 100% all camp so I can be leader by action to the younger freshmen we have, older guys, whoever needs the motivation during camp.
Essentially just kind of expecting the most out of myself, kind of motivating everybody else to reach their fullest potential.
Q. (Question about Anthony being back.)
AJ DILLON: It's going to be tremendous. Anthony is my roommate this year, during camp. He's probably my first friend besides guys that I went to high school with, my first friend on the team, during the recruiting process. It's going to be great. I'm excited for him. He's healthy. He's a leader. He's been a leader since he first got here.
There's a lot I'm taking from him, just learning the offense. He has so much knowledge of the game already. I'm just trying to take a lot of that from him.
Q. Can you share with us what it was like to have to help Anthony Brown through the recovery process.
AJ DILLON: I mean, a lot of it was him. He's a really strong guy. But when I could, I just kind of give him words of encouragement. During the games, I could definitely it was hard for him being on the sideline.
Not just me, the entire team, that's our quarterback, that's one of our leaders. We all just really hoping for a speedy recovery. He's back now, and we're anxious to get him back on the field.
Q. What about the relationship between you and the offensive line? They have confidence because you're back there. I imagine you have confidence because they're in front of you.
AJ DILLON: Yeah, I've always had an appreciation for my offensive line ever since I first started to run a ball. When I first started to play, I actually played tackle because I just weighed so much. Then I was a tight end, back in the Pop Warner days. Maybe it started there.
I've always had a great relationship with my line. The line here, they're great guys, great individuals. We joke around a lot. I always go over there, see them after practice. They call me the horse. Actually before the spring game, I didn't play, but they brought me sugar cubes and carrots. We have a bunch of little jokes like that. When I have extra donuts, I'd bring them over and feed them.
We have a great relationship. That definitely I feel like shows up during game time, just knowing I know I want to do well for them, they want to do well for me, then we have unbelievable trust. I can speak to that 100%. I trust all those guys out on the field without a doubt.
Q. You said there were times last year you weren't happy with your performance on the field. Can you tell us what you might have done differently, what you didn't do right?
AJ DILLON: Definitely a big, big factor for me, probably number one overall, was definitely stamina. Coming from high school, going to college, I always say one carry in high school is the equivalent of two and a half in college. You have to work so hard for each yard. There's definitely a lot more that goes into it.
There are certain times where I'd be tired in the backfield, just kind of -- you can see it on the film where I definitely could have made another move, another cut, pushed for a couple extra yards. Those add up.
Like this year I'm going to be someone -- not that I'm never going to get tired, but I'm going to give 100% each play I'm out there, 100% effort. That's what I expect of myself. That's what I'm trying to do now in camp as I'm getting those reps.
Then just catching in the backfield, a lot of things I didn't get to display last year. I worked on my speed, my agility over the winter, spring, especially with Anthony, doing whatever he could. We worked together a lot. I'm excited to kind of put everything I've been working on display.
Q. (Question about expectations.)
AJ DILLON: I'd be lying if I said it didn't -- obviously I guess my assumed status didn't change. I don't really pay much attention to that. Obviously I'm honored to have any accolades or anything thrust upon me. It's definitely a tremendous honor. I'm appreciative of it.
When it comes down to this game, I don't really try to focus much on individual things. So I guess the biggest piece that I could take away from life changing was definitely the fact that I'm called on to be a leader now. We have freshmen that just came in. We have two freshmen backs right now. They're in the spot I was last year. Head spinning around in camp after each play is called. I'm trying to be proactive and teach them.
Like Anthony just said, it's great we don't just have one leader on this team. We have three, four, five. Look to your left or right, find somebody to lead. Now being one of those people, I guess that's the biggest expectation. I really want to lead by example with my play, with how I carry myself, my demeanor. That's the biggest thing that's changed for me.
Q. Was there something where a switch went on, a confidence level you hit during the season?
AJ DILLON: Yeah, I definitely would say that Louisville probably was when I first started to kind of realize that I started to trust myself. As the year progresses week by week, I'm not sure, you can always tell as a player how you're running. I can definitely tell as we progress week by week kind of where I was. I know from the beginning of the year I didn't really trust myself. You can see me kind of thinking through cuts, trying to figure out.
Now as we've progressed, I've started to think more loosely, more fluid, just kind of understand, Okay, these are all scholarship guys, these are scholarship guys, I deserve to be here, too. That's probably the biggest thing as a freshman or anybody that started playing, getting that confidence and realizing you're just as good as a guy across the line.
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