Now that Boston College football’s 2026 fall training camp is officially underway, it’s time to dive into each position group and predict who the starters will be, how the group compares to last year’s, and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each one.
Let’s start with the quarterbacks, a position that BC head coach Bill O’Brien has specifically coached at multiple stops before the start of his tenure in Chestnut Hill, Mass., including for the GOAT himself — Tom Brady.
At a Glance
This season has brought a ton of change for the Eagles’ roster overall, but most of all the quarterback room.
BC’s quarterback room this year is entirely different from how it looked in 2025, as Dylan Lonergan, who started nine games for the Eagles as a redshirt sophomore last season, transferred to Rutgers, while Grayson James ran out of eligibility.
O’Brien needed to pick out a new signal caller from the transfer portal as a result, and he landed dual-threat Mason McKenzie from Saginaw Valley State of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), considered one of the best conferences in NCAA Division II.
McKenzie, a former three-star prospect, is coming off a season in which he garnered GLIAC Player of the Year honors, passing for over 2,000 yards with 17 touchdowns while rushing for another 942 and 10 scores. In 2024, he was named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year.
O’Brien also picked up transfer Grayson Wilson, a former four-star recruit, from Arkansas, and Wilson will likely serve as McKenzie’s backup, at least for the beginning of the season.
That is because true freshman Femi Babalola, a top-25 quarterback nationally in the class of 2026, per ESPN, joined the program this winter after tossing over 2,100 yards with 26 touchdowns (15 passing,11 rushing) as a senior at Ravenwood High School, leading to First-Team All-Region honors.
Babalola has already progressed quite a bit from spring ball to now with his command of the playbook and decision-making, and the coaching staff has given him more opportunities directly behind McKenzie as a result.
“They’ve really improved,” O’Brien said after the first day of fall camp. “They really have. They put a lot of work in, Grayson too. Grayson’s really improved. Mason’s gotten a lot better just in his knowledge of our system, obviously, but also kind of some of the things that we asked him to do that maybe was different than what he was asked before.”
“Femi, for being a freshman, has got good poise, smart, and has definitely improved. That has to keep going, though. They have to keep getting better because, you know, defensively, we’re seeing a lot, even on day one. We got pressures today that usually are reserved for day five. But because we’ve been here all summer, we can kind of get going on those things, and so they have to keep getting better at those things.”
Unlike last fall camp, there is technically no quarterback competition for the starting role, which Lonergan and James competed for up until two weeks before the Eagles’ 2025 season opener.
McKenzie has already been named the starter and even served as a representative for BC at 2026 ACC Football Kickoff, so the coaching staff is all in on his ability to lead the offense.
Nevertheless, O’Brien said that competition is still very much incorporated on an everyday basis, and that McKenzie knows he must show up each practice and prove why he’s earned the right to be QB1.
“That’s an interesting deal,” O’Brien said. “Obviously, when I was at the Patriots, we didn’t have any quarterback competitions. Alabama, we didn’t have any quarterback competitions. But there was always competition. There’s always competition. So for someone like Mason, he knows he’s got to come out here every day and perform. Nothing’s just going to be given to him, you know what I mean?”
“If he comes out here and has five poor days in a row, which I don’t believe he will. If he does, then we got to… I’m just saying, like, you got to earn it every day. So the whole thing about not having this or not, it’s all about competition, and you have to earn it every single day, whether you’re a coach or a player. And I think these guys, they really understand that because we preach that in a positive way every day.”
Projected Early-Season Depth Chart
1. Mason McKenzie
2. Grayson Wilson
3. Femi Babalola
4. Enzo Arjona
5. Anthony Coellner
2026 Boston College Quarterbacks
Mason McKenzie – Redshirt Junior, 6-1, 200
McKenzie threw for over 4,300 yards and 31 touchdowns in 25 career games at SVSU, adding over 1,600 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. A two-time All-State and All-Region selection, he led Caledonia High School to the Michigan State Championship as a senior against Bryce Underwood’s Belleville in 2023.
Grayson Wilson – Redshirt Freshman, 6-3, 210
Wilson did not see any game action as a true freshman for the Razorbacks in 2025. He was ranked the No. 2 overall prospect from the state of Arkansas, per 247Sports, and was invited to participate in the 2024 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He passed for over 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior at Conway High School, leading the team to a 7A State Semifinal appearance.
Femi Babalola – Freshman, 6-4, 230
Babalola came in as a mid-year enrollee this offseason after serving as Ravenwood High School’s starter the past three years, where he totaled over 4,800 yards and 35 touchdowns with his arm. He is viewed highly by O’Brien and could potentially see the field this year in special packages or during garbage time.
Enzo Arjona – Redshirt Senior, 5-10, 200
The former Northern Highlands product, who totaled 5,298 career passing yards with 51 touchdown passes and 16 rushing scores, transferred to BC last year from Marist, where he made three starts before suffering a season-ending injury. Prior to Marist, he spent two seasons at Monmouth.
Anthony Coellner – Freshman, 6-2, 205
Like Babalola, Coellner joined the Eagles this winter after becoming Carmel High School’s all-time leading passer, totaling over 4,500 yards through the air and 900 on the ground with 56 total touchdowns during his career. He was ranked the No. 2 quarterback from the state of Indiana by 247Sports in the 2026 class.
Jake Coniglio – Redshirt Freshman, 6-1, 210
Coniglio is a product of IMG Academy who joined the program in summer 2025.
This is the first story of Boston College Eagles On SI’s summer position previews series. We’re providing an in-depth look at every position group through the rest of August.
Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram for the latest Boston College news.
