Bill O'Brien Interview On Zo & Bertrand
Bill O'Brien was on with Zo and Bertrand around noon on Thursday.
Here's are the key talking points from the 13-ish minute interview, which was less about BC and more about quarterbacks in general given the situation the Patriots found themselves in on Thursday night.
Although, there were a couple BC questions towards the end...
On going through the draft process with a QB (Bryce Young) that went No. 1 overall
"That brings back a lot of good memories. Bryce was just a great guy to coach and he meant a lot to me. He was a guy that when I got to Alabama, was probably the highest recruited guy that Alabama had. That says a lot when you're one of the highest recruited guys in the history of Alabama, that says a lot and he was a very, very humble guy. A guy that came from a great family and had an unbelievable two-year run at Alabama when I was coaching him. I was happy to see him go No. 1. Now, last year was a struggle - which it is for a lot of rookies - but I think the world of Bryce and think he has a bright future."
On facing Jayden Daniels while at Alabama
"I was telling someone this morning, we went to LSU my second year...went to overtime, kind of a back-and-forth game and he was unbelievable. His ability to obviously throw the football on time...we had a good defensive line at Alabama that year and Will Anderson coming off the edge...he got the ball out on time and then he could run. He's very, very fast, a very dynamic football player."
On how you can determine whether a rookie QB should start in the NFL
"That's the ultimate question, right? That's a difficult question to ask. I think you have to...once they come into the building as time moves on and you get out on the field and practice, you have to put them in situations that are - on the practice field relative to pressure type situations - where they have to perform in front of their teammates. I think that's one of the ways you can tell. if a guy folds then he's probably not ready for when the lights go on in the stadium. But, if a guy can rise to the occasion in practice, maybe he has a chance to play. The other thing is, how do you teach them? How do you teach him the offense? Do you throw it all at him at once? Or do you teach him in incremental ways where you feel good about his ability to learn? Then, when you put him out there, he has the ability to run the offense and score touchdowns. There's a lot that goes into that, but I think you've got to put him in some tough situations to see if he's ready."
On coaches meeting QB's halfway now when it comes to meshing scheme and talent
"I think when you look back at what we did with Deshaun (Watson), one of the things we did was we went to Clemson, spoke with Clemson's offensive staff and really did a good job of incorporating some of those principles into our offense in Houston. We knew this was a guy who was very familiar with what they did at Clemson. Deshaun was a very smart football player. He understood and could explain what they did at Clemson, so we incorporated a lot of those things."
On how different college football is now compared to when he was at Penn State
"It's changed a lot. When I was at Penn State, there were a lot of things you had to deal with obviously, but there were definitely other things you didn't have to deal with. We had the transfer portal issue at Penn State, but we didn't have NIL and things like that. I think offensively, things have changed a lot in college. When I went to Alabama, that was a really good move for me because I was able to learn how the game had changed. Lane Kiffin and Sark...Brian Daboll, what they had done with the Bama offense as college offenses had evolved, we took it to a pretty good level when I was there and I learned a lot about college offense. What we're trying to do here is incorporate some of the things we did at Alabama with the foundation of what we had in New England from a protection scheme and a run game scheme, things like that. Trying to put both together and create an exciting offense for us at BC. I definitely learned a lot at Alabama and it has changed a lot."
On the No. 1 thing he was evaluating in Houston with college QB's headed for the NFL
"I would say it's hard to say there was a No. 1 thing. I think it was a number of different things. I think No. 1 is, is the guy poised? Is he smart, football smart, can he learn football? Can he articulate what he did in college and tell you what the offense was, give you some play calls, even remember some big plays in his college career. The memory of a QB is very, very important. People don't talk about that enough with Tommy Brady. Tom Brady has one of the best memories of any person I've ever met in my life. He can remember plays we ran eight years before I was with New England. Then, how he was with his teammates, could he lead them? Can he lead the building? That's what you're doing, you're leading a building. You have a head coach, but in the NFL man, the QB is a big, big part of that building. There wasn't one thing, there was probably a lot of different things that all had equal importance."
On his time in New England
"I say this to a lot of people...a lot of us...we were all very fortunate to be a part of the Patriots, work for Bill, coach Tom, be around guys like Dante Scarnecchia and Ivan Fears and all the great players. One of my closest friends is Mike Vrabel. I wouldn't know Mike unless I was at the Patriots. I'm very grateful to the New England Patriots for what they've meant to my life and to my career."
On if former Patriots players and coaches could make appearances at BC
"I hope so. We had Ernie up here. Ernie came to practice. He just walked over, he lives right near here so he walked over...Ernie's the best. I love Ernie. But, hopefully we get some of those guys to stop by and see us."
On Tommy Castellanos and getting the attendance up at BC this season
"Tommy had a good spring. We have to be an offense that people want to come watch. We have to be an offense that throws the ball down the field. We've gotta sling it around the yard. We've gotta be able to run the football. We have a good offensive line. I think at least four of the five I think will have a chance to play in the NFL...we have some talent up front. So, yeah, the key thing for us...in order to get the fans to come tailgate - it's a great tailgate scene - we've got to put a good product on the field. We feel good about where we're headed. But, we need people to come watch us play. It is a pro sports town we all understand that, but we play on Saturdays. So, hopefully everybody can make time for us on Saturdays. We've got a great home schedule and hopefully we can pack the stadium."
On recruiting in the Northeast
"That's the key. The formula for BC has always been - when they've won - it's a really good quarterback with a lot of local guys. There's a lot of local guys in this state and in New England that can play good football. So, we have to do a great job of recruiting this area, no doubt about it."