Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Ethan Roy
August 18, 2024 | Football, #ForBoston Files
Thomas Castellanos and the BC quarterbacks are adding new layers to BC's offense.
Thomas Castellanos checked off his would-be target and looked downfield as the Eagles' offensive line enabled him to remain near the pocket. Finding Kamari Morales in stride along the left sideline, he twisted his body and stepped into a rainbow strike that led the North Carolina graduate transfer tight end into a full sprint. Morales had a step on a defender, and extending arms to maximize his six-foot, three-inch frame hauled the tight spiral into his body as he rumbled forward at full speed. Catching it in front of his teammates allowed the Boston College football roster to dream about the possibilities of a second explosive touchdown, and getting knocked out of bounds by a tackling member of the secondary did nothing to diminish the reaction from the offense.
It was part of a late-scrimmage, two-minute drill, but the pass sent a vibration through the family, scouts and media amassed in the Alumni Stadium bleachers because it illustrated the exact potential facing down this version of the Boston College offense. Long overlooked by pundits and experts, the explosiveness against a strong-armed defense injected well-earned energy into the reputation of a playmaking offense now entering the next phase of its season readiness.
"[Castellanos] is that type of player," said head coach Bill O'Brien. "He's a very dangerous player. He's hard to defend because he can throw the ball, [and] he's really improving in the passing game. Obviously he can run the ball, has great quickness, good speed and really good instincts for the game. A lot of times in a scrimmage it's not real because we blow the whistle, and whether or not he got tackled is very much in question. There could probably be more yards on those runs, [and] he's an electric player."
Castellanos' lethal skill set is a big reason why BC has a chance to compete in an expanded Atlantic Coast Conference's pecking order. He wasn't the incumbent entering last season, but grabbed the starter's role following shared duties in the season opener against Northern Illinois, and he overcame an on-the-fly adjustment to lead the team to a memorable run through an undefeated October. The first BC quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards while rushing for 1,000 yards in a single season eventually earned Offensive Most Valuable Player honors after leading a come-from-behind rally in a rain-swept Fenway Bowl victory, and his jump from an unknown and unheralded status ended with arguably the best rushing season by a bowl subdivision quarterback.
He entered his first full offseason cycle as the team's undisputed starter, but improving upon last year's more-limited numbers required a refinement process that kicked into high gear with O'Brien's hire. A noted quarterbacks coach, the former collegiate and professional head coach immediately built a rapport with a details-oriented approach echoed by Jonathan DiBiaso, a Massachusetts product hired as a first-time position coach.
"Dibs does a great job," O'Brien said during the first week of training camp. "He's one of the better younger coaches that I've ever been around. He does a really good job. He's very smart. He's a good teacher. He knows the game. He played the game at that level, he studies hard, and he works hard. He's a really good recruiter, and I think it's really good that we have him here at BC."
DiBiaso is widely recognized by his record-setting high school career at Everett High School, but his career arc after matriculating to Dartmouth and Tufts navigated him through a graduate position with the Eagles ahead of single-season stints with Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh. A return to BC last year continued his stints as an offensive analyst before O'Brien promoted him to his first position coaching role this year, but the collaboration deepened the bench on Castellanos and a group that added junior transfer Grayson James from Florida International.
"[Grayson has] definitely improved, but Tommy is the starter overall," added O'Brien. "Both guys have gotten better. There's no doubt about it. They made some players out there [during the scrimmage]. They can make plays with their feet. They both have command in the huddle. They have leadership qualities."
Possessing those intangibles offers transformative qualities to a room that's significantly different from previous seasons more primarily built on skill or scheme. Like last year, the idiosyncrasies between Castellanos to James tweaks the offense according to calls or signals that each player personally enjoys, but having each player develop within a system designed around similarities - and having the entrenched No. 1 starter - is a marked change from the stylistic conversions built into Castellanos' overall development during last season.
Castellanos' explosive pass to Morales offered a prime example while James threaded a needle on a crossing route over the middle to Jayden McGowan after opening the speedy receiver for an explosive, 70-yard touchdown. Castellanos later converted first downs by running to the sticks before hitting Reed Harris with a first down pass, and James continued harnessing freshman tight end Danny Edgehille in the intermediate passing game.
"We've put a lot of time in," said James. "There are a lot of reps. We do routes every day, and coaches are very critical about that. It's all about details, details, details with this staff, which I love because it only makes us better. We've put in a lot of time, and all of us throw with each other. All summer we've been working, the reps are building that chemistry consistently."
Finding those receivers in those moments wasn't a problem during last season, but mixing Castellanos' vision and judgment into the scheme turned the scheme into a point of emphasis upon O'Brien's arrival. He'd always been able to throw the ball downfield or run past a defender for a 30-yard gain, but the head coach and his charges are in the process of refining the player's overall and raw abilities into more sustained success - all while ensuring and insuring his and James' explosiveness within the greater fold of the team-based game.
"The install is pretty much done," O'Brien said. "There are a couple of things that we need to get done, but the bulk of it is done. We're headed towards the season now and beginning to get ready for games. We need a lot of refinement."
It was part of a late-scrimmage, two-minute drill, but the pass sent a vibration through the family, scouts and media amassed in the Alumni Stadium bleachers because it illustrated the exact potential facing down this version of the Boston College offense. Long overlooked by pundits and experts, the explosiveness against a strong-armed defense injected well-earned energy into the reputation of a playmaking offense now entering the next phase of its season readiness.
"[Castellanos] is that type of player," said head coach Bill O'Brien. "He's a very dangerous player. He's hard to defend because he can throw the ball, [and] he's really improving in the passing game. Obviously he can run the ball, has great quickness, good speed and really good instincts for the game. A lot of times in a scrimmage it's not real because we blow the whistle, and whether or not he got tackled is very much in question. There could probably be more yards on those runs, [and] he's an electric player."
Castellanos' lethal skill set is a big reason why BC has a chance to compete in an expanded Atlantic Coast Conference's pecking order. He wasn't the incumbent entering last season, but grabbed the starter's role following shared duties in the season opener against Northern Illinois, and he overcame an on-the-fly adjustment to lead the team to a memorable run through an undefeated October. The first BC quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards while rushing for 1,000 yards in a single season eventually earned Offensive Most Valuable Player honors after leading a come-from-behind rally in a rain-swept Fenway Bowl victory, and his jump from an unknown and unheralded status ended with arguably the best rushing season by a bowl subdivision quarterback.
He entered his first full offseason cycle as the team's undisputed starter, but improving upon last year's more-limited numbers required a refinement process that kicked into high gear with O'Brien's hire. A noted quarterbacks coach, the former collegiate and professional head coach immediately built a rapport with a details-oriented approach echoed by Jonathan DiBiaso, a Massachusetts product hired as a first-time position coach.
"Dibs does a great job," O'Brien said during the first week of training camp. "He's one of the better younger coaches that I've ever been around. He does a really good job. He's very smart. He's a good teacher. He knows the game. He played the game at that level, he studies hard, and he works hard. He's a really good recruiter, and I think it's really good that we have him here at BC."
DiBiaso is widely recognized by his record-setting high school career at Everett High School, but his career arc after matriculating to Dartmouth and Tufts navigated him through a graduate position with the Eagles ahead of single-season stints with Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh. A return to BC last year continued his stints as an offensive analyst before O'Brien promoted him to his first position coaching role this year, but the collaboration deepened the bench on Castellanos and a group that added junior transfer Grayson James from Florida International.
"[Grayson has] definitely improved, but Tommy is the starter overall," added O'Brien. "Both guys have gotten better. There's no doubt about it. They made some players out there [during the scrimmage]. They can make plays with their feet. They both have command in the huddle. They have leadership qualities."
Possessing those intangibles offers transformative qualities to a room that's significantly different from previous seasons more primarily built on skill or scheme. Like last year, the idiosyncrasies between Castellanos to James tweaks the offense according to calls or signals that each player personally enjoys, but having each player develop within a system designed around similarities - and having the entrenched No. 1 starter - is a marked change from the stylistic conversions built into Castellanos' overall development during last season.
Castellanos' explosive pass to Morales offered a prime example while James threaded a needle on a crossing route over the middle to Jayden McGowan after opening the speedy receiver for an explosive, 70-yard touchdown. Castellanos later converted first downs by running to the sticks before hitting Reed Harris with a first down pass, and James continued harnessing freshman tight end Danny Edgehille in the intermediate passing game.
"We've put a lot of time in," said James. "There are a lot of reps. We do routes every day, and coaches are very critical about that. It's all about details, details, details with this staff, which I love because it only makes us better. We've put in a lot of time, and all of us throw with each other. All summer we've been working, the reps are building that chemistry consistently."
Finding those receivers in those moments wasn't a problem during last season, but mixing Castellanos' vision and judgment into the scheme turned the scheme into a point of emphasis upon O'Brien's arrival. He'd always been able to throw the ball downfield or run past a defender for a 30-yard gain, but the head coach and his charges are in the process of refining the player's overall and raw abilities into more sustained success - all while ensuring and insuring his and James' explosiveness within the greater fold of the team-based game.
"The install is pretty much done," O'Brien said. "There are a couple of things that we need to get done, but the bulk of it is done. We're headed towards the season now and beginning to get ready for games. We need a lot of refinement."
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