Bill O’Brien discusses decision to name Dylan Lonergan as Boston College’s starting QB

Boston College football head coach Bill O’Brien finally settled on a starting quarterback on Tuesday morning. Before the start of practice, Alabama transfer Dylan Lonergan was named the starter. After Tuesday’s practice where Lonergan got all the first team reps, O’Brien spoke about his decision. Pete Thamel was the first to report the news.

“After careful consideration throughout the winter, spring and summer, and now into training camp, we decided to go with Dylan Lonergan as the starter,” O’Brien said. “Look, it was a true competition give a lot of credit to Grayson James.” This seemingly ends an eight month battle in which the incumbent James, tried to hold off the new quarterback. James, also a transfer who originally committed to Jeff Hafley earned a lot of respect last year after he took over for Tommy Castellanos, winning three out of the final four regular season games for the Eagles and helping them become bowl eligible. 

O’Brien has carefully watched the two quarterbacks at practice, and there were a few factors that came into his decision. “Dylan’s got a great feel for the game and he’s got a really good arm,” the head coach said after Tuesday’s practice. “He’s got good anticipation, good accuracy. He’s very calm, very poised. I just think at the end of the day, in the passing game. You know, Dylan was a little bit ahead of Grayson.”

Lonergan has deep roots with Bill O’Brien, who originally recruited him to Alabama to play under Nick Saban. He was part of a quarterback room that was flooded with talent including Ty Simpson (Alabama), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), Eli Holstein (Pitt) and others. This offseason, Lonergan jumped into the portal and re-united with his former offensive coordinator in Chestnut Hill. 

On Tuesday, both quarterbacks were on the field, Lonergan zipping passes to Lewis Bond and Ty Lockwood and commanding the offense. But James also worked hard on Tuesday too, as he will give Boston College a veteran behind Lonergan in case the need arises. Boston College has had more than quarterback play meaningful snaps in every season for almost a decade due to injuries and other factors. 

“[James] was obviously disappointed, but, was just like, ‘Coach, I’m gonna be a great teammate.'” O’Brien said about the former starter. “That’s what you’re looking for at Boston College. I can’t say enough about the guy. I think he’s got a future in football, he’ll be ready to play if called upon.”

Boston College will return to practice on Wednesday morning. 

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