Eagle Action Offseason Q&A

Round 2 of this little Q&A. Appreciate those that answered back.

Fair warning, there’s a few of these I simply can’t get to yet until A. O’Brien talks on Tuesday and B. they finalize the roster. Like, the depth chart thing is just WAY too early. Not ‘guessing’ like some here have accused me of recently…

Anyways, away we go!

This is truly a roster BOB owns-your impressions about next year and what the staff can do with it-a bowl? What about the improvements to Alumni? What about the rest of the stadium? Can you get a sit down with our AD or new President and get some straight answers about FB/MBB/WBB and our other programs that are non competitive in the ACC and the danger of that for our future in the league? What does BOB think he still needs on his support staff and the ability to spend $$$$ to fly out to games a day early on the West Coast/Dallas/the deep South ? Thanks!

1. Personally, I like the approach they took in the portal. Regardless of that (lame) statement, they were never going to start spending like Bama or Georgia. It’s a balance of guys that either have plenty of football experience (FCS or D2) or guys that were heavily recruited to big programs, but were just down the depth chart. Could all of them be terrible? Sure, but I’m a big believer in a full roster of guys with something to prove.

2. Have heard nothing about Alumni. The sit down with AD or president is a ‘no shot’ type of thing. They are harder to access than any pro or college organization I’ve covered in 17 years. I’ve asked for Blake several times over my six+ years covering the team.

3. Will absolutely try to ask Bill that last part on Tuesday. The hotel fiasco with Stanford last year (as I was told it) is embarrassing and if Bill ever wanted to leave this offseason I would have said he has the right to based solely off of what happened there.

Can you please do a breakdown of the quarterbacks now on the roster? Where they’re from, what they’ve done either in high school or previous college, what kind of QB they are, etc? With so much turnover, I’m not sure who we actually have in the quarterback room right now. Also, was BOB using the portal to get in certain types of guys to fit a specific O or D he wants to run, or were we taking best available (to us)?

I’m going to do a more in-depth breakdown of the QBS in their own piece this week (most likely tomorrow). I do believe in O’Brien’s ability to identify guys who can play, but I’m less confident in his ability to pick the right one to start. I thought Dylan was just handed the job last season and didn’t really earn it. As far as the portal approach, I believe it was a little bit of both. Once we get to meet/chat with the new DC we’ll know more about how certain players fit in his scheme, but between price and fit, I believe it was both. I do wish we were talking to Kenyatta tomorrow too because I think the mindset from his perspective would be pretty interesting.

Deep dive into the new front 7 please!

“Deep dives” take time, so I’ll do this in a separate piece as well. I do like the fact that there’s a balance of new and old right now though. I’ll probably do QBs tomorrow and the front seven on Friday. Trying to balance AFC Championship coverage and BC stuff this week, heading out to Denver at 6 a.m. on Friday so will have plenty of time for that deep dive.

I’d love a comprehensive breakdown of the transfers we’re losing and who’s coming in. Some of these articles don’t even list where a player is from or if they even played.

Will do my best over the next week or so. This isn’t my full time job, so balancing the ‘in depth’ stuff is a bit harder and time consuming. But, like you, I’m curious about many of these guys too, particularly the FCS players since I’ve been covering that level for about 5 years now. It’s very underrated ball.

Does BOB believe that next year’s reconstituted roster (high school and portal recruits included) will be superior to this past year’s roster?

We’ll find out when he talks tomorrow. I have to believe he’s fully in on everyone he brought in, considering if he doesn’t win at least 7 or 8 games I believe he’s out. It’s also a low bar when it comes to last year’s portal class. Frankly, if I’m a fan, I’m more encouraged by the freshman class that contributed fairly significantly last year than most portal guys.

With four players headed to the senior bowl plus others (Reed) who got signed to big offers at other schools, what exactly explains the plummet in 2025? Lack of talent?

Snowball effect and injuries. Poor excuse on the injury front? Sure, but there were key injuries to major positions early and often. I also genuinely believe if they win the Michigan State game the season looks completely different. Once they blew that game and then the Stanford one, moral was shot. Sure, they played hard (sort of in most games) and kept showing up every day, but I think the way the QB situation was handled early had some guys’ confidence shaken. Then, the losing started to mount.

Of the 25 Transfers and however many high school recruits we have, how many are currently on campus and will be participating in spring football? Critical to get some feel for the quality of play during the spring. Before spring ball how much contact with the players and coaches? Assume QBs and WRs will get a lot of work together before spring ball? With all of the injuries last year have any changes been made to strength and conditioning program? Thank you! Appreciate all of your efforts!

First part I assume will be one of the first things addressed tomorrow. I have to think they’re all (or mostly all) here and will be fully engaged for spring ball. I know they’ve started winter workouts as a team, so as far as contact with coaches and teammates before spring ball they’re already together as a group. Fantastic question on the injuries too, will definitely ask about Fitzgerald’s approach tomorrow as well.

No one except a few from The Heights has remotely had the guts to ever ask a question like this but here goes. “BOB-it seems to me in college football today, your record can be broken down into NIL resources, administration resources, recruit evaluation, player development, game planning, and in game coaching. I am sure you evaluate everything but how would you rank those as issues when it comes to a 2-10 record?”

Telling me I don’t ‘have the guts’ to ask a question is laughable and frankly insulting considering I’m there literally every day we have the opportunity. As far as the actual question one of us will certainly ask it because I think it’s well put.