Mahogany, O'Keefe Give BC Early Christmas

After a tumultuous 3-9 season, the BC fan base and frankly media pundits everywhere immediately went into this offseason thinking that Boston College was going to need a miracle in the winter to be able to compete in the ACC.

Well, they may have already gotten a few.

Christian Mahogany announced he’s returning in a pretty funny video on social media. Then, maybe an hour or so later, the Eagles got a massive commitment from speedy UCF receiver Ryan O’Keefe from the transfer portal. Both of those moves, along with the commitment from offensive lineman Kyle Hergel from Texas State earlier in the week, in a matter of a day or two this offense suddenly feels like it’s very, very capable of having a big season.

Hergel adds another veteran presence in the still very young offensive line room, but it’s going to be Mahogany’s veteran presence that means the most. The big man stayed around and participated in meetings and was around at practice all year long. On numerous occasions, guys like Drew Kendall and Ozzy Trapilo talked about how much his leadership meant. With Mahogany sort of stabilizing things up front, Emmett Morehead may just have a chance to do some real damage this year.

That damage may have a lot to do with O’Keefe too. The electric wide receiver has over 2,000 yards receiving in his career and at times has been clocked with sub 4.4 speed. The old saying goes that you can’t teach speed, and he could serve as an immediate replacement for Zay Flowers too.

It’ll obviously be tough to replace Flowers’ record-setting production, but with guys like Joe Griffin, O’Keefe and most likely a number of new guys coming on board during signing day next week, the holes on offense seem to be thinning by the hour.

Flowers even quote tweeted O’Keefe’s announcement with his nod of approval, saying “turn that 4 up” in reference to the newest Eagle also wearing No. 4. I can’t imagine the team will be giving that number out anytime soon (unless Zay says otherwise) and it probably should be retired, but it’ll still be an interesting nugget to follow in the offseason.

Mahogany’s return announcement was the “main event” of sorts on Wednesday though, as he took BC fans on quite a journey in the one minute video.

First, Mahogany sat down in a chair inside Fish Field House and appeared to be saying goodbye.

“What’s going on Boston College fans, friends and family,” he said. “I just want to say I appreciate all the support though my injury, through all the highs and lows of being at BC. I really appreciate all the time I spent here, all the coaches, all my teammates, all my friends, all my professors, everyone here. They made my time at Boston College really special. This is really tough for me, I just want to say thank you overall to everybody. With that being said, I want to let you all know that I’m entering…”Suddenly, the video cut to the famous clip of UFC fighter Connor McGregor saying “I apologize to absolutely nobody!” before Mahogany reappeared.

“I’m not going anywhere guys,” he proclaimed. “I appreciate everything you guys have done, said, the words, kindness and love. The fans, everyone here, my teammates, coaches and I would never leave this place. I really appreciate it and thank you.”

And with that, BC fans suddenly had dreams of an ACC championship run dancing in their heads again.