For the Boston College Eagles football team, the last fall camp weekend before the start of the season began.
After practice, Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien spoke to the media about what he’s seen so far, what still needs to be worked on and gave an injury update.
Below is a transcript of all of O’Brien’s statements.
Q: Florida State actually has ten days now, it’s getting closer. Have you started preparing or not so much?
O’BRIEN: No. They play tomorrow, so we’ll watch that game. We’re still in training camp, because like you said, there’s ten days to go, so training was 18. We’ll go tomorrow and Sunday and then start preparing for the boys next week, early next week.
Q: Since this is the 17th or 18th practice of the summer, how do you keep players from not playing at their highest level due to the monotony and drudgery?
O’BRIEN: Yeah, it’s challenging but we try to change it up every day. The training schedule stays basically the same in the beginning but then we confront them with different situations every day. It is a grind though, that’s part of it, like the grind of football you have to deal with, that’s part of building a mentally strong team. It’s the same thing every day so you can approach it in a way that helps you get better every day because there are so many things that are repetitive, that’s what football is all about. We definitely try to change the situations and make them think but at the end of the day you have to take that grind on every day.
Q: You had success in your first year at Penn State and with the Texans. Can you describe what you learned from that experience and what you can take from it for the upcoming season?
O’BRIEN: “It’s about people. It’s about the people around you. When we got to Penn State, that was probably the most challenging thing that’s ever happened to me in my career, but we had great people, we had a great team and we had great players that stayed, similar to here. We have a really, really good team, we have a lot of guys that play that work really hard and try to get better every day. We’ve kept 98% of the team, we really kept the whole team, I think one player may have transferred, so we’ve kept 99% of the team from when I got the job to where we are now, so I give the players a lot of credit and I think that’s what it’s about. So if you buy into the process, and that’s what it is, then hopefully the results will lead to positive results, but the process is what it’s about and that’s what we’re trying to instill in these guys every day.”
Q: Tommy tries to run the ball a lot. Can you talk about what you look for in practice? Do you try to keep him in the pocket more, have him practice that in practice or do you let him do what he naturally does?
O’BRIEN: “We have to let him be who he is. We’ve tried to improve his knowledge of our passing game and our coverages and our protections and things like that, and he’s gotten a lot better at that. He does that really well, but at the end of the day, I’m never going to tell him, ‘Hey, you have to stand in the pocket and do this,’ because that’s not how you train a player like Tommy. You have to teach him his system, and then he’s a very, very instinctive player, so you have to let his instincts run wild and let him be who he is.”
Q: Last year BC had 13 sacks. Obviously they need to do more. How do you get better?
O’BRIEN: “I think we’re on the right track with that. We have a lot of different ways to get higher, whether it’s a four-man rush, sometimes a three-man rush, sometimes pressure, simulated pressure, we do all that on defense. It’s very much a professional defense, so hopefully that leads to more sacks, but the sack stats, just so you know, are very misleading. There’s pressure, there’s coverage, how good is the coverage? If the ball just comes out quick, you can never get a sack, so you might as well try to punch the ball. If the coverage matches up with the rush and the coverage is tight, then guys can get home, that has a lot to do with it. So it’s not just about the rush, it’s about the coverage, it’s about the scheme, it’s about everybody working together to get sacks. Pressure is just as good as sacks. For example, if the guy wants to get out early, gets a batted ball, forces a turnover, the guy feels the pressure. Maybe he’s not the guy that can handle the pressure relative to the quarterback position. So it’s a lot more than just the total number of sacks.”
Q: Is there any news on Logan Taylor at the moment?
O’BRIEN: “Yes, he’s feeling better. We’re confident he’ll be ready for the first game. It’s been a long road for him, but he’s definitely making progress. It’s a day-to-day question. Today he said he’s feeling really good. So we’ll see how it goes at the weekend.”
Q: What about Alex Broome? Is there any chance he’ll come back this year?
O’BRIEN: “I would probably say no, considering when he did it. That was a torn ACL at the end of spring training, I think it was the last or second to last practice. So I would say it would be difficult for him to come back this year.”
