Jeff Hafley may have abruptly left late in the coaching cycle, but he didn’t say goodbye without a few parting gifts. Hafley and his staff, some of whom of course have carried over to the O’Brien administration, were still active in the transfer portal and didn’t leave BC high and dry. O’Brien stepped in and was able to retain this new crop of transfers, many who will make an immediate impact for this Eagles roster.
Offense
Quarterback: Grayson James (FIU)
It’s becoming a bit of a trend with BC, another transfer quarterback. As Castellanos before him, James arrives from a Florida school, this time from the southern tip. While Tommy touchdowns has the starting role, James will continue to push him. The 6-3 junior from Texas is more a pocket passer than Castellanos and much bigger, but can still move well. He showed great poise in the spring game after three seasons with FIU. In his second year, he was given All-Conference USA Honorable Mention honors throwing for nearly 2,000 yards 11 TDs with 11 INTs.
Receivers: WR Jayden McGowan (Vanderbilt); WR Jerand Bradley (Texas Tech); TE Kamari Morales (North Carolina); WR Martin Laham (Lehigh); TE Ryan Boultwood (Mt. San Antonio College)
The stars of the transfer class are the junior receivers McGowan and Bradley come to the team and are expected to make an immediate impact. The smaller McGowan is an explosive play waiting to happen. He was one of SEC’s top return man over two seasons. He was third at Vandy in receiving but had nearly 1000 all purpose yards. Bradley is the go up and get the ball guy standing in at 6-5. He had two seasons at Tech and was a four star prospect coming out. As a freshman, he led his entire team in receiving with 751 yards, and was second on the team the following year. The Tar Heel Morales has had a strong summer and brought with him strong leadership after five years, 67 catches, 761 yards, and 10 touchdowns. He’ll certainly be in the mix at tight end throughout the season. Laham is a grad transfer and a Mass native, while JUCO transfer Boultwood is an interesting prospect. There aren’t a whole lot of junior college guys coming BC’s way, but the sophomore with offers from Utah, Arizona State, and Washington State among others might just have a future here.
Running Backs: Treshaun Ward (Kansas State/Florida State); Jordan McDonald (UCF); Hunter Clark (UConn)
There’s another good mix of running back depth and Ward and McDonald certainly add to it. Ward’s best season with 772 yards from scrimmage came last year in the Big 12, but his first four came with FSU, redshirting his first two seasons. With the Seminoles, he had 12 touchdowns and over 1200 yards after starting out as a walk-on. In 2022, he started six games and led the way in team’s bowl game victory against Oklahoma despite some injuries. He’s quick, fast, and has great vision. We’ll see him catching the ball out of the backfield well too. McDonald joins his old teammate Castellanos. He didn’t play too much in his two seasons with the Knights, but did find the end zone four times. He’s a bigger back similar to Robichaux.
Defense:
Defensive Line: DT Sedarius McConnell (Illinois); DL Holt Fletcher (Cornell)
Sed McConnell is a big, athletic presence who has the ability to play both inside and out on the defensive line. He’ll primarily be on the inside and has a chance to start some games at some points in the season. O’Brien has high hopes for the Georgia native after a great summer. One of two Cornell (ever heard of it) grad transfers, Fletcher made quite the impact in the Ivy making the conference second team.
Defensive Backs: Cameron Martinez & Ryan Turner (Ohio State), Bryquise Brown (Georgia State); Brody Kidwell (Cornell); Zach Kelly (Bryant)
Another big impact transfer room are the defensive backs. First are the Buckeyes Martinez and Turner. Martinez was coached and recruited by Hafley back in the day and was primarily a safety there. He’s on the inside track to start at nickel here. He has experience, the quick feet and change of direction to help him excel at the position. The 5-10 senior might also be thrown in the mix in the return game. Turner didn’t overlap with Hafley, but came along with his teammate. He’s very young and played in a few games last season with two tackles. Georgia State’s Brown on the other hand is quite experienced and figures to compete for one of the starting corner spots. He’s a Massachusetts native who has been starting games for year logging five interceptions. And a fun fact – he’s also the younger brother of former Nugget and NBA champion Bruce Brown, currently with the Raptors.
Special Teams
LS Bryant Worrell (Emory & Henry College/Old Dominion); P Ivan Zivenko (La Salle)
Worrell is the only long snapper on the team with some actual game experience. He’s a grad transfer who was ranked as the #11 long snapper and five-star by Kohl’s snapping. His competition is a BC swimmer-turned-walk-on a few seasons ago and two freshmen . On the punting end the Aussie Sam Candotti has the starting job, but don’t sleep on the Russian Zivenko. He’s a young punter that O’Brien thinks we might see this season.
Transfers have had a sizable impact at BC and college football writ large these past few seasons in particular. Here’s hoping this new crop can follow the likes of Castellanos, Robichaux, Logan Taylor, and Khari Johnson.