Boston College running back AJ Dillon declares for NFL Draft
Early projections have Dillon as a third- to fifth-round pick in next spring’s draft.
From the time AJ Dillon made his arrival at Boston College official in 2017 with a stiff-arm at Louisville that sent shock waves through Chestnut Hill, the question was how long he would stay.
Dillon had his eyes on rewriting the Eagles’ record books as a freshman, and as he mapped it out, his timeline had him doing it in just three years. Now that he has stuck to that schedule — becoming BC’s all-time leader in rushing yards and touchdowns this past season — Dillon will make the jump to the next level.
Dillon announced Tuesday his plans to declare for the NFL Draft, content with the career he carved out for himself at BC and ready to embark on the next step in his football journey. He will forgo the Eagles’ trip to the Birmingham Bowl in Alabama Jan. 2 to begin preparations for the NFL Combine.
Early projections have Dillon as a third- to fifth-round pick in next spring’s draft.
“I had a chance to leave my mark,’’ Dillon said, “and I feel like I made a really impactful legacy here.’’
Success came quickly for Dillon. As a freshman, he became the first Eagle to win Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year after racking up 1,589 rushing yards, a record for a BC freshman. While an ankle injury marred his sophomore season, he still churned out 1,108 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. This past season, he was machine-like, rushing for 1,685 yards and 14 touchdowns on 318 carries.
“It’s kind of like a roller coaster,’’ Dillon said. “It started off full speed ahead, last year took a dip, and now I’m back to staying steady. So it’s kind of a learning process. There’s a lot of learning lessons I’ve taken throughout the whole thing.’’
Dillon finished his career with 4,382 yards and 38 touchdowns on 845 carries, shattering previous school records in each category.
“I wanted to be the best running back to play here, and I guess it’s up to people’s opinions,’’ Dillon said. “But as far as statistically, nobody can say they’ve done more than me here.’’
Holding those BC records carries added magnitude for Dillon as a New England native. Being from New London, Conn., one of his goals was to show that New England can be a stage for football stardom.
“I was able to put New England football on the map, garnering that respect,’’ he said. “I feel like I did that.’’
As he weighed his decision, Dillon went down his checklist of accomplishments and realized there was nothing left.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to go to the NFL and play and go on to that next stage,’’ he said. “So I had to think about what I could show next year that would help me out in any way.
“I feel like I’ve done a very productive job on the ground, I feel like I showed I could catch, I showed I could pass protect, and in the fourth quarter be there and be reliable, something I’ve been preaching all year, being reliable in any situation. I feel like I’ve done that.
“So I really couldn’t figure out what more on the field, at least film-wise, I needed to prove. So now it’s just kind of getting better and focusing on the next level.’’
Two voices that have been constants for Dillon are his mother Jessica Campbell and grandfather Thom Gatewood, whose career at Notre Dame and in the NFL was a template for Dillon.
“We decided it was best for me to take this next step,’’ Dillon said. “I’m in a good place with my academics. I plan on getting my degree from here. It’s within striking distance and we’ve got a plan in place. But it’s not every day that you have the opportunity to play at the next level.’’
After his freshman star turn, Dillon traveled to Charlotte, N.C., to accept the award for ACC Freshman of the Year. He met Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, at the time an otherworldly talent at Louisville who had gone through his own meteoric ascent yet faced some skepticism that turned out to be unwarranted.
“He said, ‘Hey, you’re next up,’ ’’ Dillon remembered. “That was big for me.’’
Jackson gave Dillon a nugget of advice that he still carries with him.
“He was going through the process of people trying to say he should play wide receiver because he was fast,’’ Dillon said. “He pulled me aside, he said, ‘You’re a big dude, dada dada da.’ But I saw you play. I saw what you can do. Don’t listen to the doubters. Focus on you. Focus on getting yourself better.’ ’’
Dillon committed to that mind-set when he returned for his sophomore season, almost to a fault. He searched relentlessly for ways to improve and welcomed heavy workloads. Putting so much on himself wasn’t the reason for the injury, but it taught him how much might be too much.
“There’s extremes to things,’’ Dillon said. “I was all like, ‘How can I get better?’ Super focused, only studying film. There has to be a happy balance.’’
Dillon is the first offensive player to leave BC after three seasons since William Green made the jump in 2001 after rushing for 1,559 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior. But Dillon had plenty of bread crumbs to follow from The Heights to the NFL. Over his three seasons, 10 Eagles were drafted.
“It was definitely kind of a boost seeing these guys, playing with them like, ‘Oh, they’re going, they’re making their dreams come true,’ Dillon said. “It re-inspired me that I could do it. Because sometimes you’re playing, you turn on the TV and you see, ‘Oh, so-and-so had 200 yards or popped six touchdowns in a game,’ and you’re like, ‘I thought I was doing good.’ But there’s more to it than stats.’’
As much as the hard-working, do-your-job BC mold may feel cliché, seeing former teammates such as offensive lineman Chris Lindstrom go from being a virtually anonymous recruit to the 14th pick in last year’s draft validates the ethos the Eagles tried to establish.
“That’s essentially been my motto,’’ Dillon said. “I was blessed to have a lot of notoriety and when I got hurt, my sophomore season wasn’t that great and it kind of fizzled away.’’
Dillon was recruited by former Eagles assistant coach Al Washington, one of several names circulating as the Eagles search for a new head coach following the firing of Steve Addazio last week, but Dillon developed a special bond with running backs coach Brian White.
“As far as football, he’s taught me so much,’’ Dillon said. “Especially the mental part of the game.’’
Where Dillon was allergic to adversity early on in his career, White told him to master his emotions and embrace it.
He remembered White telling him, “You wanted to be a big-time baller, you wanted to be this. You’ve got to lock in, you’ve got to be able to handle these situations.’’
Dillon wore each and every carry this season like a badge of honor. There were five games in which his number was called at least 30 times. Not all of those carries were home runs. Some were kamikaze missions where he was essentially a tough-yard-seeking drone, hammering out short yardage to keep drives alive or wring time off the clock.
Undoubtedly that took a toll on his yards per carry, but they kept the Eagles offense — and to an extent their season — afloat.
“I genuinely do love my teammates,’’ Dillon said. “You’re out there, you’re playing for them and that to me matters more. Those are carries that people don’t have to take and that’s fine, but I do that because I know it’s going to benefit the team and that was my mind-set and I had to hammer that in at times when I kind of felt selfish.’’
The Eagles were able to seal a win at Pittsburgh in their final game of the season and secure a bowl bid largely because of Dillon marching out yard after yard on their final drive. As much as that carry against Louisville was a signal of his arrival, that final drive was his lasting signature.
“As far as on the field, there’s nothing else I need to prove,’’ Dillon said. “My goal was to send the seniors out the right way, make sure that we get bowl-eligible, and I feel confident in that Pitt drive and that Pitt game being my last solidifying part of my legacy.’’
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