Image courtesy of Joe Sullivan/BC Athletics

By Andy Backstrom
NEFJ Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS – Donovan Ezeiruaku recorded a sack in his first game at Boston College. The eloquent defensive end from Williamstown, New Jersey, made his voice known before that, even as a true freshman.

“Right off the bat, I felt like he was a very good leader,” BC defensive tackle Cam Horsley said Wednesday at the NFL Combine. “Some guys might not like that. But that’s all part of being a leader. Being a leader, not everyone’s going to like you.

“He came in his freshman year and made that mark.”

Ezeiruaku piled up 230 defensive snaps in his first year with the Eagles, according to Pro Football Focus, registering two more sacks along the way.

More than three years later, he ranks second all-time in BC history with 30 career sacks, clocking out behind only 2006 first-round pick and two-time Super Bowl champion Mathias Kiwanuka.

He’s also leaving Chestnut Hill as a captain, a leader his teammates undoubtedly embraced and will surely miss.

“After my last game playing at Boston College, it made it special that the younger guys on the team – the freshmen and sophomores – they came up to me, and they were like, ‘Don, I really appreciate you for everything.’

“The type of person I am, I didn’t really understand, like, ‘What are you talking about? I’m just being who I am. If I can talk to you and give you a little wisdom, that’s what I’m supposed to do.’”

Ezeiruaku added: “But that means I had an impact on the guys. And that speaks to who I am as a person. That speaks to why they elected me as captain. It was just a surreal moment in a way to understand that, ‘Like, OK, I actually had an impact here at this school.’”

Ezeiruaku’s impact was felt by the rest of the ACC, too.

A bit undersized at 6-foot-2 and 247 pounds but so lengthy and athletic his tape jumps out to NFL scouts, Ezeiruaku terrorized quarterbacks this season. He played 12 games – in a season that saw national champion Ohio State play 16 – and finished second in the FBS with 16.5 sacks. That kind of pass rushing artistry tied Ezeiruaku with 2018 second-round pick and current Tennessee Titans EDGE Harold Landry for the most sacks in single-season BC history.

Ezeiruaku has an arsenal of quarterback-hunting moves.

He’s got a bull rush, a club move, a swim move, a Euro step move and, perhaps most notably, a “ghost” move, the last of which is akin to a magician’s sleight of hand. It’s a technique that defensive ends use to fake a stiff-arm of sorts before they dip under an offensive tackle’s outside arm. For Ezeiruaku, it’s his “changeup” against taller tackles who struggle to bend.

Ezeiruaku broke out as a sophomore, leading BC with 14.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and three forced fumbles. That explosion landed him on the All-ACC second team.

It did, however, precede an underwhelming third-year campaign that saw him post 34 pressures but only two sacks, per PFF.

Jeff Hafley then left to become the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator, and Bill O’Brien took his spot as BC’s head coach. With O’Brien’s arrival came a slew of new assistants, including DC Tim Lewis.

Ezeiruaku realized he needed a reset as well.

“Just having a lot more fun, playing free within Coach Lewis’ scheme and just not putting a lot of pressure on myself to chase plays,” Ezeiruaku said of his mindset shift entering his senior season, during which he shattered his single-season career high with 60 pressures, per PFF.

“Going back to what got me here in the first place,” Ezeiruaku continued, “and that was having fun, flying to the football and playing free.”

That’s not all: Ezeiruaku attached himself to the hip of longtime coach Doug Marrone, a longtime friend of O’Brien and, in 2024, a senior analyst for football strategy and research at BC.

Ezeiruaku explained Wednesday at the Combine that he saw Marrone watching BC D-Line drills in training camp last summer. Ezeiruaku asked Marrone for his thoughts, what he was watching.

“From there, it kind of grew,” Ezeiruaku said.

Soon enough, every Wednesday, Ezeiruaku was watching film with Marrone and creating a rush plan for each game week. Marrone, now the New England Patriots offensive line coach, has extensive experience coaching O-Line at the college and pro levels, dating all the way back to the early ’90s.

Ezeiruaku recounted how Marrone studied tape with him frame-by-frame, asking if he picked up on nuances like an offensive lineman not being able to take inside power when he drops his foot on a specific play.

It wasn’t long before those meetings with Marrone included Ezeiruaku’s teammates.

“At some point, it started being most of the room, most of the D-Line room,” he said. “And I think that’s important because guys were getting a different perspective on offensive and defensive line play.”

When asked if he started the movement, Ezeiruaku showed off his bright, wide smile.

“I love to take the credit for it,” he said before letting out a confident chuckle.

Ezeiruaku hopes to hear his name called on Day 1 of this year’s NFL Draft, joining wide receiver Zay Flowers and offensive lineman Zion Johnson as recent program alums to walk the stage, hug league commissioner Roger Goodell and hold up a jersey that will make a childhood dream come true.

Even if he doesn’t go that high, though, Ezeiruaku will be remembered for a different kind of Day 1 at BC – the one that happened in 2021, when he arrived on campus and started his journey as a four-year leader on the Heights.