Boston College QB Thomas Castellanos believes he should be part of the Heisman conversation

Thomas Castellanos isn’t short on confidence entering the 2024 college football campaign, as the Boston College quarterback wholeheartedly believes he’s a Heisman candidate.

That’s what he told the media at ACC Media Days, as he prepares for a new season. With Bill O’Brien as his new coach, perhaps it isn’t as far fetched as the idea seems.

“I believe so,” Castellanos said, asked if he should be part of the Heisman conversation. “Last year kind of was thrown in the fire as a young guy. It was kind of a blur. I was out there just playing ball.

“I feel like this year I’ll have to say so on that. This year, I’ll be more mature, the game will be more slower. I think I’ll do more things.”

Last season, Castellanos showed up big time for Boston College at certain moments, but it was still all too inconsistent. All in all, Castellanos amassed 15 passing touchdowns to 14 interceptions, while throwing for 2,248 yards, as well.

What Castellanos also brings to the table is his legs though. The Eagles quarterback rushed for 1,113 yards on 215 carries, scoring 13 touchdowns in the process. When you examine his numbers as 28 total touchdowns from 2023, that makes his Heisman hopes feel a little more real.

Regardless, Thomas Castellanos and the Boston College Eagles will have to make some real, surprise noise in the ACC if he’s to win the Heisman. With their new coach, perhaps he can get it done, but he’ll have to turn a ton of doubters into believers throughout the process.

Bill O’Brien defines success at Boston College

Moreover, Boston College made some waves this offseason, as they hired former NFL head coach and New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien to be its new head coach, replacing the departed Jeff Hafley.

Now that he has taken over and is beginning to get re-established in the college ranks, O’Brien is wasting little time making sure everyone around him knows exactly what the expectations are.

“Yeah look, I think we have to go out there and do our very best to win every single game,” O’Brien told ESPN’s Pete Thamel, via the College GameDay Podcast. “Losing will never be accepted here. But to think we’re going to go out there and be in the Final Four every year, that’s probably not realistic. But you do a great job recruiting, you get the right guys, you get a great quarterback and you catch lightning in a bottle, anything happen.”

It’s been a while since Boston College has won anything of consequence. The program’s last division title came in 2008, when the team won the ACC Atlantic. The last conference title came back in 2004, when Boston College was still in the Big East.

With the ACC expanding, too, the competition figures to be as fierce as ever for a conference crown.

Coming off a 7-6 campaign, the Eagles actually do have a little bit of momentum to build on going into the O’Brien era. He’ll have to supply the rest of the momentum for the full rebuild into what he wants the program to be.

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this article.