CHESTNUT HILL - Bill O'Brien held a press conference to open BC's local Media Day on Monday.

Assistant coaches and then players sat at tables for 30 minutes each after. I spoke with mostly offensive guys and will have more up tomorrow. Had a few really good 1-on-1 chats with Bradley and Bond as well as Applebaum, Lawing and DiBiaso.

Anyway, for now, here's everything from BOB's presser:

Q: How have the Eagles improved since spring ball?
A: "We get better obviously by meeting and talking about what we want to do and then we get better by walkthroughs and then obviously, we get better by practice repetitions. These guys have done that. They work hard. I think we're a better football team than we were at the beginning of spring and now, it's going to be a lot of fine tuning and making sure we try to stay as healthy as possible. Eventually, here pretty soon we'll start getting ready for Florida State."

Q: When or how will captains be determined this year?
A: "What we'll do this year is we'll go game captains and then at the end of the season we'll elect captains."

Q: How do you balance the mindset of (FSU) being 'any other game' as opposed to the obvious stakes of the game?
A: "Look, I think it's a big game. Like you said, it's Monday night, I think it's the only college game that night. So, we're excited for it. We know it's a big game and we've prepared for it that way through the offseason. We're excited about going down there into a tough road environment. So, yeah, we're excited about it. I don't get into any of that 'it's just another...' I really believe every game is a big game. Every game is a big game. You only get so many opportunities. You only get 12 opportunities in football. It's not like baseball you get 162 games, basketball you get 80-something games, football you only get 12 opportunities. Every game is a big game this year."

Q: What do you think of your QB play so far?
A: "It's been good. It's been good. I think Tommy - and I've said this in the past - he's one of the most improved players on our team. He's really bought in to what we want to do, how we want to do it...extra meeting time. He comes over here (Fish) every morning on the days we practice at 6 in the morning 6:30 in the morning, walks through the script with Coach Dibs and it's been really good. Grayson and Jacobe...they've all improved. They get a ton of reps and if you put the time in and you work the way you work, you're bound to improve and they definitely have."

Q: Who are some guys that have made a big jump since the start of camp?
A: "I think that some of the guys...you know, there's a lot of guys that have made jumps. I think there's a ton of guys that have improved. When I think about guys that have made big jumps I'd say Dwayne Allick on the offensive line has had a really good camp. Carter Davis - who is a guy who plays corner and safety - has had a really good camp. You've seen guys like Khari Johnson make jumps. Max Tucker...and there's several others. It'd be remise of me to keep naming these guys because I'll miss some. I just think at the end of the day a lot of guys have made improvements."

Q: Are most of the starting jobs set in stone?
A: "No. There's competition every day. I don't...certainly, there's...you know, will Ozzy start at right tackle and Jude at left tackle? Yeah. Will Drew Kendall start at center? No doubt about it. Will Tommy be the starting quarterback? Yes, but there's other positions where we compete every day and where we evaluate every day and try to make the best decision for the team."

Q: Where specifically have you seen Tommy improve?
A: "I think he's gotten better when it comes to the mechanics of throwing the football. Which means footwork, his throwing mechanics, understanding of coverage, his understanding of what we're trying to do protection wise. I think he's made a ton of improvements in all those areas. He's a great runner. You guys saw that last year. He's an electric player. He's a dangerous player. He can do a lot with the ball in his hand, but I think he's made a lot of strides in the passing game."

Q: How important is it in football to still have a veteran QB with experience?
A: "I think it is important. Look, you can only control what you can control. When a guy has experience it's definitely a good thing. There's no substitute for experience. Tommy having played at Central Florida and last year here, he's played in big games. He's played in different environments. These games are not going to be too big for him. I think he's a guy you point to and say 'yeah, we're really glad we have him because he has some good experience."

Q: How beneficial has the relationship with Will Lawing been?
A: "Will's been with me for I think 13 years. He was a graduate assistant at Penn State, came to Houston and then Alabama. Then, the Patriots last year. 13 years, Will would probably tell you that's the equivalent of 30 years, it's like dog years working for me. He's been awesome. He's very diligent, very detailed, he cares about the players, he's passionate about how he coaches. He's a perfectionist. He wants these guys to get it right right off the bat. He's a good teacher, good communicator. He's very honest, he's very loyal. He's got all the traits you're looking for in a good assistant."

Q: Where do you feel Reed Harris is most developed and where does he fit in to a pretty stacked WR room?
A: "We've moved Reed around a lot. He's played tight end. He's played receiver. I think he's refined his rout running. I think he's a better blocker. I think he's a guy that catches the ball more consistently. He's worked very, very hard. He's one of the fastest guys on the team. He's a guy that's got size, you can use him in a lot of different ways. We think very highly of Reed."

Q: On game days, have you decided or leave it up to the coaches whether they're upstairs or on the sideline?
A: "Yeah, we've worked that. We have decided that. I'm not going to really talk about that here, but we've definitely decided. We worked that in the scrimmage last week and we'll work it in the scrimmage (Wednesday)...the scrimmage (Wednesday) will be more situational than last week's scrimmage, but it'll still have the communication as it would be on game day."

Q: What have you seen from Ozzy and Drew?
A: "I mean, first of all, they're really good players. They're excellent workers. They work very hard, they love BC. They're two guys who's dad played at BC and were great players here. They take a lot of pride wearing that uniform. They took a lot of pride in representing Boston College. It's just great to coach those guys. They show up to work every day. They're lunch pail type of guys. They're BC guys. Moving forward, these are the type of guys that we want to recruit here every single year."