there's excitement about Thomas castalanos going into the season but there were some concerns as well and if what we heard about today at the ACC kickoff is true we should be in for a big season from QB number [Music] one you are locked on Boston College your daily podcast on the Boston College Eagles part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome this is locked on Boston College your team everyday I am your host AJ black to all you everyday as out there how's it going and if you are checking this out we are a free podcast available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast make sure to hit that like And subscribe button now on today's show we are going to look at the ACC kickoff we're going to talk about Thomas castalano's comments and everything else going on with him Bill O'Brien had some big moments and I'm going to give you some predictions about the preseason poll and where Boston College will fall on that but today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply so Wednesday Boston College's turn at the podium we had been waiting to hear what was going to happen you know if there's going to be anything worth talking about because sometimes I got to be honest with you folks when you listen to some of these press conferences it's a lot of boilerplate comment there's a lot of the same things we're trying really hard we're working really hard we have a great group you know it's the same things every year but you get those nuggets and you know the Nuggets that you get that are just exciting and for me watching this press conference and and all the action that happened on Wednesday which was a lot of feature on Boston College one player specifically had a lot to talk about and was talked about quite a bit that really stole the show and that was quarterback Thomas castalanos now Thomas castalanos last year opened a lot of eyes he ran for over 1100 yards he had 13 touchdowns rushing 2100 yards in the air and I think he had TW uh 15 touchdown passes but you know there were concerns he threw 14 interceptions um and he kind of you know tailed away a little bit in his passing as the season went on there was so much to talk about with what he brought up in this game in in these press conferences so let's dive into some of the big juicy nuggets that were brought up by Thomas castalanos the first thing I want to bring up is his relationship with new head coach Bill O'Brien now Bill O'Brien is a quarterback's coach he's worked with Bryce young and deshun Watson and Tom Brady we've gone over that you know even Matt McGloin to he made Matt McGloin into a big 10 player of the year now that Jeff Halley is gone and you have a coach that is much more offensive oriented is that going to significantly impact positively hopefully the the play of Thomas castalanos because we all saw the tantalizing potential of this quarterback who came in last year from UCF but there was still areas that have been that kept him down and help that caused BC to lose game I mean you know his his inability to throw at times was was was tough to watch so castalanos and O'Brien both talked about each other and what I thought they said were very telling now castalanos he said to H to uh a reporter that Bill O'Brien uh is the best thing that has happened to me in my career I don't know how else you could you could take that as a positive he's been around some great quarterbacks I am so grateful he said and then what I O'Brien you know the head coach that he is gets into some details I thought were really key we've heard about potential Improvement in castalanos but what O'Brien said gives you idea of how detailed oriented it's going to be and some of the bigger picture things that he's teaching Thomas castalano that you would teach an NFL coach I mean NFL quarterback and that good coaches do and they just didn't have it last year he said when it comes to Tommy he is one of the most improved players on our team he's done a really good job of learning our system what we've been trying to do offensively directing things changing plays changing protection mic Point type things he's done a great job with all of that he's done a good job of standing in there and delivering the ball and making those off schedule plays that I think are a big part of his game so what does that all mean it's that now castalanos says moved past the basics into what makes a a a fe I want to say a field General out there someone who understands the Nuance of the quarterback position and can put his team in position to win you know the the being able to change protections and pointing out the mic those are big things those are big things that good offens coaches teach quarterbacks because it helps everyone around them the mic Point mic pointing is going to help with how you slide your protections you know where to look for for um gaps in in zones and things like that he's done a lot of that so first of all how cool how big of a deal is it that he says he's one of the most improved players on the team now if he improved from last year in a lot of these things and and I'm assuming that you know accuracy and and decision- making are going to be part of this too then man Boston College is gonna be in some good shape this year I know I know some of this can be coach speak I know I know that but the fact that he's pointing out specific things it's not just a general yeah he's improved he's saying he's you know improving on changing plays at the line changing protections trying to understand our new doing a great job of improving offensively with our new scheme those are all specific things that going to make Thomas castalanos that much more of a factor and a uh dangerous um entity in the ACC this upcoming season so that was a big thing now castalanos now if you were listening there was the press conference but there was also before and after types of things and there were a few nuggets that came out about castalanos that I thought were also very interesting um I believe it was an after the uh press conference interview I saw someone tweeted out that castalano said that last year he uh had a AC joint injury in his non-throwing arm uh suffered against Connecticut uh and that that impacted the way he played for the rest of the season which if you've been listening to this podcast I have been saying for a while now right like there was something physically wrong with him and it was that game against Connecticut if you remember that was the game he went out um and EMT Morehead showed back up for what like a couple week uh couple sets of plays and then castan came back in and he was just not the same and he really wasn't the same the rest of the year but castalanos wanted to get that out which was really interesting because it's it's such a different thing than what Jeff Halley had done I mean God for four years with Jeff Halley it was like Fort Knox with any injury news you wouldn't tell he would he he would never lie to your face but he would never really tell you the truth and so now he leaves and caston's like yeah I hurt my AC last year uh so that was an interesting little point and then in terms of Bill O'Brien too castalanos when he was talking to the ACC panel uh with like Eddie Royal and Mar um and that crew he talked about how um one thing that Bill O'Brien has helped him with was he connected him with Bryce young now Bryce young almost won the Heisman under Bill O'Brien and Alabama don't don't tell that to a crimson side fan because they thought O'Brien was the worst but he did help Bryce young get there and so O'Brien got him in connection connected with him and so what castalano said was that he had a long conversation with with young about you know what did you do during the offseason to get yourself ready to have those types of seasons and he honestly I love this question at this point too he also said you know how did you work with Bill how did you co work with Coach O'Brien and got feedback from a quarterback who' work with Bill O'Brien on how to like best work with him so I thought that was really cool because Bryce young is a quarter back that has a lot in common with Thomas castalanos the size the mobility he he you can see that he could be that similar type of quarterback and so that obrien connected you know castalanos to a quarterback that has experience and has done all this stuff and helped him you know find out some nuggets get pick his brain that's only GNA be a good thing like getting those those little pointers could be huge I mean Donovan aaru later in the show talked about how O'Brien bringing in guys like Maas Kiwanuka and other guys like that has helped too because those guys come in and say hey did you see this this is something I would have done this is some things that you could try doing and this is all helpful stuff so that NFL connection that Bill O'Brien has is already starting to pay dividends already now in our second segment I want to talk about what Bill O'Brien had to say because this is his first ACC kickoff event and I want to look at some of the comments he made and my thoughts about some of the you know the big things that happen there in just a moment game time is the place to go if you are trying to get yourself major league baseball tickets Red Sox are playing well they're almost going to sign Alex core it sounds like if you want to get to Fenway Park you need to get to game time with killer last minute deals all in prices view for your seats which as I say all the time is crucial at Fenway Park in their lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying major league baseball tickets so I've used it before I went to the UVA game last year with my family it was a rainy day I wanted to make sure my kids didn't get wet so I wanted to see some underneath an overhang I found them on game time I got a view from my seat so I knew I was be underneath one of the um sideline the end zones but far enough back I got there got sa dry my kids were happy we made it through the whole game and I thank game time for that so you need to check out game time as well download the game time app create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code l c k d o n c o l l e g for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest prices guaranteed locked on Boston College AJ black here I'm the editor and publisher of Eagle Insider part of the 247 Network make sure you get over there to get some more Boston College news if you want another episode of Locked on BC go back to yesterday's episode too when you're done with this one I talked about why BC could be the dark horse in the ACC make sure you listen to that it's a nice 20-minute episode right after this one go check that out as well now Bill O'Brien this is his first ACC media day as a head coach this is his return of the ACC I always I keep forgetting until he brought it up that he was in the ACC for a while he worked under uh Ralph friggen at um at Maryland and he worked at Georgia Tech um with I think it was Paul Johnson uh for you know early on so he's been in the ACC before but this is his first as a head coach now he brought up uh they they asked him a lot like they were talking as I mentioned they talked to him about castalanos they talked to him about his um the the nil and the changes that he's seen since he's been in and I thought it was a funny question because he kind of shot it down with I've been part of college football I was just at Alabama but he was he he he answered it um you know he talked about the transfer portal for instance right since O'Brien has taken over he has not landed a single transfer portal player now that that that being said half leue LED what like 12 before he got there and I believe there was a scholarship numbers crunch in um in at BC so they couldn't add anymore after O'Brien but to be fair that's the answer right like he hasn't landed any but he he he shot back with a really interesting thought like yeah I haven't been a head coach in this new transfer portal world but I dealt with the transfer portal he basically said remember when he took over at Penn State that was at the heights of all of the sanctions against the nitty Lions after the Joe pno H Fiasco there were a lot of transfers and he had to manage all of that and I believe he got guys in as well to help his team be successful so he understands all of that and he he has been part of it so he's going to utilize that now he talked about recruiting which I thought was an interesting conversation um and and I'm curious to see what how this is going to change because what he said B versus what we've seen so far in the class of 20125 it it doesn't line up as much now he said the majority of BC players need to be from within a 400 mile range of Chesnut Hill and he mentioned that that's a a big reason is that lots of families want to see their kids play and that'll help bring kids here now we've seen BC even under O'Brien still struggling with some of the Massachusetts kids there's a bunch that did not even end up here but 400 miles when he was talking about it includes New York Northern New Jersey New England parts of Pennsylvania seems like a fair fair thought but if you look at what BC has landed so far I mean you got a quarterback from Oklahoma his teammate from Oklahoma bunch of kids from Texas you've got kids from Florida a whole bunch from Georgia uh eight from Georgia I believe it or six or seven from Georgia you got a kid from California potentially you've got kids from all over the country so it's not lining up exactly with what he said now he said that they want to make some changes in terms of how things are moving forward so yeah I'm curious how this is going to change because as we've talked about on the show there are certain Massachusetts schools that are just not interested in Boston College like high schools they're you know look at Belmont Hills for instance they're just sending anyone and everyone to Duke I know that there's a recruiting barbecue I don't believe any of the B Hills kids are going there so you're gonna get your local kids but I don't you know building the mass of your team from this area I I still am curious to see if that is a possibility even with the coach with the with the reputation that Bill O'Brien has and it's a positive one especially given his work with the Patriots like local kids know him so that's going to have to be a drastic change because when you look at this year's class the majority aren't within that 400 mile range I don't think they're mostly outside of that um and if that's going to change it's gonna have to start looking for next year now I would say I can understand it because I know some of the names that they're going after for the class of 2026 and there's a lot of really good ones that are gonna they're going to be on campus this go to Eagle inside or give you all the names that are going to be here that could make a majority of that class but we'll have to wait to see what that's going to look like he also talked about nio really briefly though he didn't really talk a ton about it uh and answered um you know that BC is gonna be part of that landscape that's what he expects that to Bea the case and I've heard reports recently that the nil pool is growing rapidly at BC which is great that that's going to make a healthier program here one last final thought about his comments I thought I didn't listen to every other coach I believe me I can't listen to all of these guys he didn't have an opening statement Jeff Halley I swore every year had an opening statement they just went right to the questions with him um I don't know if that was his choice or that's just how they changed the system this year um but it was an interesting comment you know he talked again you go outside of the press conference about how the toughness and the attention to details in critical situations is what's going to make BC a good team I think every BC fan for the last 15 years has been waiting for a head coach that has said that can that not only says they can do that but can actually follow follow through on that from watching Steve adio you know messing up end of the the half drives constantly to falling apart in the second half to Jeff Halley seemingly not knowing some how to handle certain situations having a strong x's and o's coach that knows what to do and has that bill B Bill bichan mindset to know if something happens this is what we do if this happens this is what we do that is going to be a huge asset for a team like Boston College when you don't have the skills players that a Miami Clemson or Florida State have you need to do the little things right all the time that's what makes you a scrappy team that you hear about Boston College all the time you that will make you a scra scy team but a te Scrappy team that can beat teams too so I'm really curious to see how that all plays out and uh I imagine that that's gonna happen but we'll have to we have to wait to see what happens there now in our final segment let's look at some predictions what are going with with the media poll coming out the all ACC team what players are going to get their names called and who I think is going to get snubbed we'll get into all that in just a moment this is locked on Boston College your team every day I'm AJ black and I want to tell you guys are you tired of listening to screaming on ESPN and all those other sports shows maybe Boston radio make the switch to lock on sports today a free 247 sports streaming channel for you to bring the biggest news without all the screaming lock on sports today brings you C Miss anal an options and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon TV channels app part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day I got to tell you guys side note about this I have not listened to Boston sports radio in 10 15 years I went to SiriusXM for a while now I'm on to locked on I I gotta tell you getting John corales talking Celtics or locked on Red Sox talking the socks is incredibly you learn so much more and it's a much more enjoyable experience than what you get on those other shows so check those shows out wherever you get your podcast now wrapping things up here the ACC media days usually WAP they always wrap up with their their polls and they're all ACC teams now I don't expect any BC Player to be sniffing ACC player of the year maybe there'll be a Boston writer um who will vote for Thomas castalanos but cam Ward's gonna win it cam Ward and dju probably be wanted to you'll have a few others during there now I'm looking at the all preseason polls who will be amongst those names that will be on there the the positions I think that BC has the best chance to get in is on the offensive line I don't think I have drew Kendall up there unfortunately I don't think Drew Kendall will be a first team all ACC guard uh Center he'll probably be second or third team but aie trpo he will be I believe First Team I think I unfortunately think he could be the only First Team all AC player for BC now players you could see coming up on second or 13 because I believe they do second third and honorable mention I think you're gonna probably see Drew Kendall as I mentioned I bet you will see Logan Taylor mentioned as well I think those will be your three offensive linemen they'll be smattered cam horley I bet you he'll be second team I think he'll be a second team defensive tackle um he's such an underrated player and that's someone I don't talk enough about but horley is is a very good defensive tackle uh that deserves a lot more credit than he gets um and I think he's in for a big season this year in terms of the secondary don't think they're going to get anyone there linebackers you may see cam Arnold at 13 were honorable mention it just that's only because they're just names that people know wide receiver Lewis Bond probably will be 13 or honorable mention even though I think he's gonna have a bigger year than people giving him credit for and I think that'll probably be it it's they're not going to get a ton of respect uh kir robish show may get on there uh but I don't know it's going to be interesting to see uh this is a team that I don't feel like is going to get a lot of attention until they actually start playing games which fair enough they that that's all that really matters right now in terms of their record I'm guessing they're going to be probably 12th to 14th in the ACC in this um that's around where where they're usually at and what I expect them to be and honestly again until they start playing the game until Bill O'Brien shows that maybe their a team better than what they are on paper that's probably what they're going to be so that would wrap up the ACC media day now we're waiting I think it's another week week and a half until we kick off um we kick off summer practices and I cannot wait to get there and start talking about it with all you now if you have not done so already find locked on BC wherever you get your podcast or YouTube hit that subscribe button right now so you know when we have a new episode out because I want you guys here every single day my everyday out there I love each and every one of you there there's more room in this bus so I want to make sure that you if you're a BC fan you're coming back here and listening to me I'm gonna have Mitch on hopefully soon to talk Mitch wolf about uh from SI not Si from 247 to talk about everything BC related we've got a lot going on this fall and I want you guys here every single day at lockon Boston College your team every day