Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Joe Sullivan
O'Brien's First Recruiting Class Offers Window Into BC Mentality
December 05, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Over two dozen recruits forged their path to become the next "BC man."
Wednesday night began the final stage of the 2024 Massachusetts high school football season. For three days, the Commonwealth's interscholastic Super Bowl championship began an invasion of the fabled Gillette Stadium turf, and eight divisions resolved their all-state tournament's final round by inviting teams to settle differences under the shadow of championship banners won by the greatest dynasty in modern sports history.
Playing on the same turf as the New England Patriots fulfilled dreams for each of the high school athletes on Wednesday and Thursday, but former Patriot offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien wasn't allowed to partake in the festivities. Now the head coach at Boston College, a recruiting dead period imposed by the NCAA prevented him from attending the state's most enduring football celebration.
A noted sports fan, O'Brien understood the parameters of the rule, but a Wednesday afternoon conference call with Boston area media allowed him to voice a half-hearted displeasure. He would've loved to have been there, but what he understood was how the crowd driving down Route 1 to enjoy the throes of Patriot Place would very much witness his presence.
On Thursday night, for example, two players - Xaverian's Micah Amedee and Catholic Memorial's Mekhi Dodd - would play in their respective Super Bowl championships after spending Wednesday in signing ceremonies for the Boston College program. Less than 24 hours before their final high school football game, each signed letters of intent for the Eagles on the first day of National Signing Day's Early Signing Period, and their presence was well enough sure to remind folks of BC's future presence on the local football scene.
"It's a class of what we believe are high character guys, talented guys that understand the mission of Boston College," said O'Brien of his class of 27 incoming players. "We have guys represented all over the country. We have five Massachusetts guys, which I think is really good, and we have guys from the East Coast that can really help us. But we have guys from everywhere. We have guys from Texas, from California, from Florida, from all over, and we're proud of [our recruiting effort]."
Recruiting at Boston College never offered linear windows into the program's ability to ebb and flow with college football's shifting tradewinds, but O'Brien's first class planned the team's future around a mass unveiling of arguably the Eagles' largest effort and a shifting mentality that blended the team's past with its present and future.
Local products like Amedee and Dodd were joined with a growing national reputation of a BC team that captivated the greater college football landscape over the past seven years. Utilizing inroads made by both the BC brand and his own connections in college football, O'Brien's staff was able to build and deepen skill positions with 1,000-yard receivers like tight Stevie Amar Jr. and wide receiver Nedrick Boldin Jr., while other players like Semaj Fleming and Derrick Johnson Jr. offered high-end skill sets and a variety of options for their future.
"We started a little bit late," O'Brien admitted, "and there was some catch-up that had to be done relative to developing relationships with these guys, but that's what recruiting is all about. It's about being honest and upfront about what we are at BC [because] we're a place where a son is going to get a great education, he's going to get developed on the football field, and he's going to give back to the community. That's what we're all about at BC, and to be able to communicate that to the families and parents and people involved with recruiting these guys, we had to work on that. I think our guys did a really good job of that."
The BC brand, by itself, didn't change much from the national reputation of a tough and hard-nosed program built around diamonds in the rough, but the approach shifted the overall understanding to a new perception wrought by how O'Brien blended older staff members with new, up-and-coming coaches and recruiters. An office that once evaluated players for an older regime quickly pivoted to find players suited for the new system while understanding that BC, at its heart, also didn't shift or make some massive move away from its identity.Â
Language and idiosyncratic parts of BC may have differed, but the Eagles built their current class on the ongoing reputation embraced by their head coach over the past calendar year. More than most, O'Brien looked at the recruiting trail as a proving ground for an up-and-coming version of an older northeast brand, and his ability to communicate the link between old and new produced a class reminiscent of those older years when rankings didn't matter as much as results.
"We definitely had some needs," O'Brien admitted, "and we still have needs. In the end, what was important for us to do was to make sure that we had guys that were good football players with high character. If guys fit the bill for Boston College, fit the culture for Boston College, that was the most important thing. A lot of these guys played both ways [in high school], but the most important thing was that they fit what we were looking for."
Dynamics are increasingly changing around college football, but not even the NIL era and the now-embedded standard with the transfer portal altered BC's approach to its future. Player departures were once considered unthinkable, but the often-gruesome reality leaves one-year starters in the lurch if their snap count diminishes over the next year. In many ways, the maturation process is physical and emotional for all of these players, and journeys aren't straightforward.Â
As a result, recruiting cycles are now year-round, but BC and its staff fielded a first-time class that it believes is the next coming of its future success. Players brought to Chestnut Hill might not remain in the same position and may oscillate between units and snapcounts, but for one night, the lantern from the Fish Field House and Alumni Stadium lit a beacon for the rest of the region that the Eagles maybe, just maybe, laid the next stone in their future foundational success.
Â
Playing on the same turf as the New England Patriots fulfilled dreams for each of the high school athletes on Wednesday and Thursday, but former Patriot offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien wasn't allowed to partake in the festivities. Now the head coach at Boston College, a recruiting dead period imposed by the NCAA prevented him from attending the state's most enduring football celebration.
A noted sports fan, O'Brien understood the parameters of the rule, but a Wednesday afternoon conference call with Boston area media allowed him to voice a half-hearted displeasure. He would've loved to have been there, but what he understood was how the crowd driving down Route 1 to enjoy the throes of Patriot Place would very much witness his presence.
On Thursday night, for example, two players - Xaverian's Micah Amedee and Catholic Memorial's Mekhi Dodd - would play in their respective Super Bowl championships after spending Wednesday in signing ceremonies for the Boston College program. Less than 24 hours before their final high school football game, each signed letters of intent for the Eagles on the first day of National Signing Day's Early Signing Period, and their presence was well enough sure to remind folks of BC's future presence on the local football scene.
"It's a class of what we believe are high character guys, talented guys that understand the mission of Boston College," said O'Brien of his class of 27 incoming players. "We have guys represented all over the country. We have five Massachusetts guys, which I think is really good, and we have guys from the East Coast that can really help us. But we have guys from everywhere. We have guys from Texas, from California, from Florida, from all over, and we're proud of [our recruiting effort]."
Recruiting at Boston College never offered linear windows into the program's ability to ebb and flow with college football's shifting tradewinds, but O'Brien's first class planned the team's future around a mass unveiling of arguably the Eagles' largest effort and a shifting mentality that blended the team's past with its present and future.
Local products like Amedee and Dodd were joined with a growing national reputation of a BC team that captivated the greater college football landscape over the past seven years. Utilizing inroads made by both the BC brand and his own connections in college football, O'Brien's staff was able to build and deepen skill positions with 1,000-yard receivers like tight Stevie Amar Jr. and wide receiver Nedrick Boldin Jr., while other players like Semaj Fleming and Derrick Johnson Jr. offered high-end skill sets and a variety of options for their future.
"We started a little bit late," O'Brien admitted, "and there was some catch-up that had to be done relative to developing relationships with these guys, but that's what recruiting is all about. It's about being honest and upfront about what we are at BC [because] we're a place where a son is going to get a great education, he's going to get developed on the football field, and he's going to give back to the community. That's what we're all about at BC, and to be able to communicate that to the families and parents and people involved with recruiting these guys, we had to work on that. I think our guys did a really good job of that."
The BC brand, by itself, didn't change much from the national reputation of a tough and hard-nosed program built around diamonds in the rough, but the approach shifted the overall understanding to a new perception wrought by how O'Brien blended older staff members with new, up-and-coming coaches and recruiters. An office that once evaluated players for an older regime quickly pivoted to find players suited for the new system while understanding that BC, at its heart, also didn't shift or make some massive move away from its identity.Â
Language and idiosyncratic parts of BC may have differed, but the Eagles built their current class on the ongoing reputation embraced by their head coach over the past calendar year. More than most, O'Brien looked at the recruiting trail as a proving ground for an up-and-coming version of an older northeast brand, and his ability to communicate the link between old and new produced a class reminiscent of those older years when rankings didn't matter as much as results.
"We definitely had some needs," O'Brien admitted, "and we still have needs. In the end, what was important for us to do was to make sure that we had guys that were good football players with high character. If guys fit the bill for Boston College, fit the culture for Boston College, that was the most important thing. A lot of these guys played both ways [in high school], but the most important thing was that they fit what we were looking for."
Dynamics are increasingly changing around college football, but not even the NIL era and the now-embedded standard with the transfer portal altered BC's approach to its future. Player departures were once considered unthinkable, but the often-gruesome reality leaves one-year starters in the lurch if their snap count diminishes over the next year. In many ways, the maturation process is physical and emotional for all of these players, and journeys aren't straightforward.Â
As a result, recruiting cycles are now year-round, but BC and its staff fielded a first-time class that it believes is the next coming of its future success. Players brought to Chestnut Hill might not remain in the same position and may oscillate between units and snapcounts, but for one night, the lantern from the Fish Field House and Alumni Stadium lit a beacon for the rest of the region that the Eagles maybe, just maybe, laid the next stone in their future foundational success.
Â
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