Beantown Pig Hunting
Jahmyr Gibbs offers the proof of concept for what Turbo Richard could be. As it happens, Bill O'Brien's coached both.
How do you like them apples?
- Will, Good Will Hunting (1997)
(Overheard in a bar somewhere in Boston)
“Of course that's your contention. You're a first-year CFF player — you just got done reading some Reddit thread on system vs. talent, ‘volume pig RBs win leagues’ probably. You're gonna be convinced of that 'til next month when you discover advanced metrics and start talking about ‘how the best players earn the touches’.
That'll last until you watch some spring game tape, and suddenly you’re screaming about camp buzz and how some BC sophomore is this year’s Jahmyr Gibbs.
Then you're gonna be in here regurgitating BoB’s history, acting like it's some kind of market inefficiency that no one's ever thought of. You’ll be citing Arian Foster’s 2014 season and how many passes Gibbs caught at Alabama, when really you just skimmed a piece on VolumePigs last week.
And don’t get me started on wide receivers — you’re still stuck debating whether to take the WR1 on Ball State or the WR3 on Toledo, like that’s some deep philosophical question and not just you dodging the fact you haven’t watched a single snap of Tuesday night MACtion in your life.
And the kicker? You’re gonna act like you discovered fire when you realize receiving backs are cheat codes in PPR formats. Yeah — no kidding. We’ve all known that since Mike Leach had Max Borghi at Wazzou. Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or were you just gonna parrot that for the rest of the night?”
Now I’m sure some people will say that this was a made up conversation, a mere figment of my imagination, or simply article fodder. However, I can assure the readers of this fine publication that the good people of Boston aren’t just a bunch of bean counters from MIT or Harvard. No, there is a real contingency of football heads in this city and they love their Eagles.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been a lot to love lately. Thomas Castellanos’s second year starting in 2024 didn’t exactly go as planned (he’s now at FSU). That tends to happen when the current head coach, Bill O’Brien, was a last second hire to cover for Jeff Hafley’s punk ass dipping to be the DC at Green Bay.
And who could forget the Steve Addazio days? That was power football baby. Not necessarily winning football—but you always knew you were in for a physical altercation when you strapped up against Addazio’s Eagles.
In fact, you have to go back all the way to the mid-2000s to find the last head coach with a winning record over multiple seasons at this school. That’s not great, Bob.
But speaking of BoB, he did actually finish with a winning record himself in his one and only season so far as head coach of BC. Indeed, a 7-6 record is nothing to scoff at, especially considering neither of the previous two coaches ever finished a season with more than seven wins themselves. Perhaps that is the ceiling for this program—that’s for wiser minds than I to debate.
Something that will excite the Eagles’ faithful this offseason is the considerable buzz true rising sophomore Turbo Richard is garnering in spring camp. We’ve already seen quotes such as this come out of Boston:
Sophomore running back #27 Turbo Richard was far and away the most impressive running back of the day, showcasing elusive spin moves and cuts during drills.
Turbo is everything an everydown back should be, he's big, physical and explosive. BC nation only saw a glimpse of what he could be capable of, but if he stays healthy he could develop into a real weapon for the Eagles.
Early projections on the depth chart according to BC beat writers have Turbo as the starting tailback next season as well. Of course, it’s still early. Here is a writer from ‘Locked on Boston College’ talking about Richard for two minutes straight:
The signs pointing towards Turbo Richard buzz are seemingly everywhere in this town. In fact, my independent sources have confirmed that even within the dormitories of Harvard there have been found special formulas on the windows forecasting Richard for a fat statistical output in 2025. Apparently from some mysterious figure named ‘Mark’ and his accomplice ‘Eduardo’. I don’t pretend to know what’s going on beyond that.
Nonetheless, the camp buzz has caught my eye, so let’s take a closer look at this profile, shall we?
Coaching & System
RB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 16.8 — OC: 11.61 (half ppr)
Head coach Bill O’Brien doesn’t have a lot of college play calling experience to draw from. Most of his time over the past 15 years plus has been spent in the NFL. Nonetheless, he has two intriguing seasons at Alabama (2021-22) as OC.
Understandably, there are a few differences between these two programs, but the relevant information is the tendency in play calling patterns.
As can be seen from Table 1. above, the 2021 and 2022 seasons under BoB were pretty peachy. Brian Robinson finished the 2021 campaign averaging nearly 20 PPG (in half PPR scoring no less) with 270 carries.
Gibbs was a different type of CFF asset in 2022. He was not a consistent producer every week, which was in part due to Alabama not utilizing him when they didn’t need to. Against weaker teams, Gibbs’ touches would decrease, and his production suffered accordingly.
However, on the whole Gibbs had a good, but not great CFF season in 2022. The key component offsetting his low carry volume was the receiving work. In fact, both Robinson and Gibbs saw significant receiving volume in their two seasons as starters (see Table 2. below)
At 5’8, 200 pounds, I don’t think Turbo is going to get the Brian Robinson 270+ carry treatment in 2025. More likely, on the optimistic side of this argument he’ll be used the way Gibbs was used in 2022.
In the only season BoB’s been at BC, there was a fairly even split in carries between Kye Robichaux and Treshaun Ward. Both of those players move on this offseason, taking over 240 carries with them.
BoB’s brief time at BC also saw a departure in his play calling tendency split. At Alabama, his offences (likely under the direction of Saban) were pretty balanced around 50/50 run to pass. At BC in 2024, the Eagles averaged 63.5% run plays to only 36.5% pass. His BC offence was also slower (66 plays per game) than his Tide offences, which averaged 74 and 69 plays per game.
I don’t put too much stock in the departure of BoB’s tendencies during his first season with BC; the QB situation was in flux, and the starter himself was more of a run-first commodity. With a more traditional pocket passer like Grayson James, the split in plays will likely trend closer to a 50/50 balance in 2025.
On the surface that might not read as a good thing for the RB position but a re-balance to BoB’s typical play calling split likely won’t result in a decrease in carries for the RB1, especially given the vast amount of carries that are vacating from last year’s RB1 and RB2; not to mention a traditional pocket passer will potentially bring an increase in receiving volume for the 2025 RB1.
Turbo Richard (5’8, 200)
2024 RUSHING STATS: 55 - 278 - 2 (5.88 PPG)2
First of all, the name is great, right? Turbo Richard completed what I would categorize as a successful true freshman season behind Robicheaux and Ward. The former three star from Hickory, SC had season-highs of 15 and 10 carries vs. Duquesne and Michigan State, respectively.
On the surface, comparisons to Jahmyr Gibbs (5’9, 200)—specifically his receiving ability—look suspect when inspecting Richard’s season receiving total.
However, it was in BC’s bowl game vs. Nebraska where Richard showed us a glimpse of what could be. He caught two passes on three targets for 62 yards, including a 50 yard reception.
We can also look to Richard’s high school career for more clarity on the matter. He was a three year starter at Northwestern High in South Carolina, rushing for over 4200 yards over that span, which includes a 2045 yard season on 244 carries in 2022 as a junior.
During these three seasons, he caught 16 passes for 183 yards (sophomore), 23 passes for 193 yards (junior), and 20 receptions for 281 yards (senior). He also scored five times in the air. Bear in mind that receiving work for RBs is not as common in high school as it is in CFB, the NFL etc.
The only two P4 offers Richard had in high school were from Wake Forest, and, of course, BC. Other offers included UAB, Marshall and James Madison, among others.
In 2025, the BC backfield also includes fourth year player Jordan McDonald, who began his career at UCF. Ball State’s Vaughn Pemberton also transferred into the program this offseason but recent reports have him repping at linebacker.
However, I think that if Richard can stay healthy, a season like Gibbs’ 2022 campaign is within his range of outcomes, especially considering that BC won’t have the same inclination to hold Richard back the way Alabama did with Gibbs. Though it doesn’t take a Harvard grad to theorize that this may be somewhat offset by the fact that BC’s offence (probably) won’t be as efficient as that 2022 Alabama team. ◾
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Sample from 2018 to 2024 excluding 2020.
Full PPR