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SYRACUSE, NY - NOVEMBER 29: Boston College Eagles Offensive Lineman Michael Crounse (77) lines up for a play during the College Football fame between the Boston College Eagles and the Syracuse Orange on November 29, 2025, at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syarcuse, NY. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
For the first two seasons of the Bill O’Brien era, the Boston College offensive line was a marriage between old and new: Hafley‑recruited personnel, a holdover position coach, and just enough continuity to keep the Eagles from fully tearing it down up front. Now, Matt Applebaum has moved on and with Kurt Anderson having taken over the room, 2026 is no longer an inheritance and instead in the name, image, and likeness, if you will, of Bill O’Brien.
The Eagles effectively lose four starters on the offensive line, three to the NFL in Bowry (4th Rd), Taylor (6th Rd), Cline (UDFA) and one to transfer (Daugherty), along with a few other rotational guys. Although the unit did struggle in most facets, this is a lot of experience to replace. That means we have a lot of open questions coming into the season and heavy competition.
New offensive coach Kurt Anderson comes in well-regarded from previous coaching spots most notably at Northwestern. He quickly attacked the portal and brought in six transfer lineman to account for only having one starter returning, center Michael Crounse, and one other returner who logged a start in Robert Smith IV.
Starting in the interior, Crounse (R-Jr) anchored the last eight games of the season. He will look to continue his development and should provide a stable base. Yonkers native DJ Williams played in a game last year, maintaining his redshirt, could be the backup here. Smith ended up starting five games across both guard spots and as a true freshman no less. He’s going to stay in the mix regardless of who has been brought in, and his versatility will help him continue to log snaps. Judah Pruitt is the other main returner who spent last year backing up at guard. He got his feet wet in most games, primarily on the kicking units, but could move more into a rotational role. He’s seen some time this offseason at center too.
Kristian Phillips is the first of our transfers. A senior from Michigan State, he was a solid prospect out of high school and flashed that ceiling collegiately, but had his path was knocked off course by injuries. He still managed four starts at right guard last year, but this season feels like a new start for him in a new room and staring at a depth chart that should give him the inside track on locking down a starting role. Owen Snively’s a super-senior who has made 16 career starts between Eastern Michigan and Colorado State (with Daz). The veteran experience will be apt for a plug and play guy, well-suited at left guard where he has more experience, but could flip as needed. I expect the last starting spot to come down to him or Robert Smith, but both should see plenty of work this season at the very least as the extra lineman coming in. Jani Norwood comes to us via the other Bill at UNC. He adds another layer of upside with a hint of experience as a redshirt sophomore. He appeared in six games and started a bowl game as a freshman.
On the tackle front, we have a couple of intriguing prospects. Starting with key returners, redshirt sophomore Pape Abdoulaye Sy returns after serving as Jude Bowry’s backup at left tackle. The 6-7 NFL Academy prospect came in for a bit against Notre Dame and SMU as well.
Trevon Humphrey is jumping up a level from NC Central, but arrives with a heavy workload of 36 starts under his belt in a high scoring offense. He’s a 6-5 upperclassman as is Reggie Jackson from Jacksonville State. Jackson has a strong athletic profile and made 11 starts at right tackle on a top rushing offense. He’s seen some cross-training at guard. Veguer Jean-Jumeau is a redshirt sophomore from Tennessee State. At 6’9 tackle, he was recruited heavily by some other big programs like Miss State and Vandy, so he might have seen BC as the place where he was most likely to get early minutes with a good track record. My guess is the starters will be two of Jackson, Sy, or Humphrey at first, but fully expect to see a few combinations. Given the style of offense under Mason McKenzie, I could see Jackson’s profile giving him the edge.
Amir Johnson is a name to watch among returning players. He transferred in from Merrimack last year where he played left tackle. He was mostly on special teams last year, but could crack the depth chart after a year in the program as a redshirt junior. Souleye Diawara is young, but has a huge frame at 6-9, 340. He was on the special teams unit and played in ten games. The remainder of the crop are freshman we outlined here, but the main callouts would have to be local four-star product Marc Antunes Jr. and Bruno Werner from the NFL Academy.
It might take a bit for this group to really gel with all the new faces and the new coach, and I have a sneaky feeling we’re in for a season where we won’t see the same combination more than a handful of times. There’s a lot of potential here and seemingly good depth, so it’s more a credit to that than a doomsday theory. Still, this feels like the first deliberate build rather than the holdover patch job, albeit with some pretty dang good players.
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