QB Dylan Lonergan Prepared to Start on Saturday His Entire Life; He Seized the Moment

"I mean, [you’re] always nervous at the start of a game,” Lonergan said. “You know, anytime I play, really. But once you get that first snap, that first hit, it just, you start rolling. You start getting into the rhythm of it."

That sentiment is exactly what Eminem describes in the rest of “Lose Yourself.”

Lonergan’s shot to shine for the first time in his collegiate career appeared, and he owned up to the moment. The Alabama transfer was named the starter this past month, during fall training camp, over a player who had already started five games for the Eagles under head coach Bill O’Brien. 

But O’Brien named Lonergan the starter for a reason, and it wasn’t solely because of the dollars spent on recruiting Lonergan to Chestnut Hill, Mass., however much that turned out to be.

Just one performance into the 2025 season, it is clear that Lonergan has no plans of letting his status as the signal caller of the BC football program go, and he’s nowhere close to that, for that matter.

“It felt awesome, finally getting out there,” Lonergain said. “First experience in [Alumni] Stadium. It was a lot of fun.”

Before the Eagles took the field for official team warmups prior to BC’s matchup with Fordham, Lonergan commanded a huddle with a group of offensive lineman and the rest of BC’s quarterback room. Nothing about his demeanor showed an ounce of doubt, nerves, or faultiness.

Lonergan ran onto the turf at Alumni Stadium with a complimentary pep in his step—the way a galloping race horse jumps out of the gates when the track opens—and skipped right to the first ball in a line of five to begin rehearsing the snap routine with center Dwayne Allick.

It could’ve been the first day of fall camp, or the moment right before his first career start in college—Lonergan is the same person and player, through and through, no matter what situation or dilemma he is facing. 

Right after the Eagles trounced the Rams on Saturday behind Lonergan, who threw for four touchdowns and 268 yards on a 76.5 percent completion rate, at the helm of the offense, O’Brien was first to validate that statement.

"He's the same guy,” O’Brien said. “That's what I really admire about him. And I'd say the same thing about Grayson [James] and Shaker [Reisig]. I think it's one of the best quarterback rooms in the country, I really do."

It is only the day after BC’s first game of the season. The FCS-level Rams were not expected to be a difficult opponent, to say the least, and the Eagles’ Week Two matchup at Michigan State could show their true colors.

But everything that was promised of Lonergan—the pedigree that he was recruited to Alabama with, and that he brought to the Heights as one of the top transfer quarterbacks in the nation during the 2024 offseason—showed up on Saturday in a big way.

The tape speaks for itself. Lonergan is O’Brien’s type in terms of the quarterback position. While James can be more than a serviceable player if he is asked to step in—which he showed in the garbage minutes of Saturday’s triumph with 190 passing yards and a touchdown on five passes, all completions—Lonergan’s traits make him a perfect fit for O’Brien’s scheme.

He delivers the football in a manner that is consistently on schedule and calculates empty quadrants of the field—going through multiple reads—faster than the average college quarterback.

Lonergan does not fester over bad throws or misreads. He gets ready for the next play and executes what is asked of him to the best of his ability, no matter what transpired in the past.

“Dylan's the same guy every day,” O’Brien repeated. “He's the same guy. He's [a] very consistent guy. He doesn't let one bad play affect the next play. He takes hard coaching. He's a very consistent person.”

If one thing is for sure, it is that Lonergan lived up to the moment—not necessarily the hype, just yet, that typically follows a former four-star high school recruit who initially played under a college football mythical figure like Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide’s former head coach who went 292-71-1 with three national championships in his career.

Only time will tell if Lonergan can keep up his performance to the standard that he set on Saturday, but he is most definitely on the right track.