Image courtesy of BC Athletics
CHESTNUT HILL – You’ve all seen the video by now.
Last week, BC put out a video of head coach Bill O’Brien rewarding captain Joe Marinaro will a full scholarship during a team meeting. As if being voted a captain and earning that kind of respect in the locker room as a non-scholarship guy wasn’t already meaningful, being given the full scholarship status meant the world to the Eagles’ graduate linebacker.
“Yeah, it was awesome,” he said after practice on Tuesday. “I’ve been here for a long time and it really meant a lot that Coach O’Brien did that for me. It kind of validates all the work over the years and means a lot to my family. It means a lot to me. I think it meant a lot to the team and it was a really special moment for me.
Marinaro has mostly been a special teams guy throughout his career, but has been living the dream he’s had since his father Mike Marinaro played for BC from 1989-1992. Marinaro has always wanted to be an Eagle and now, being a captain is just sort of the cherry on top of his experience here, which began in 2020.
“Yeah, I grew up coming to BC games. I always wanted to come play here,” he added. “I’m grateful to have the opportunity to come here. My whole family’s really happy that I came here, especially my dad. To be selected as a leader of this team is a great honor and I couldn’t be more honored to lead this group of guys.
“Everyone’s awesome and we’re really like a family. It means a lot to me, it means a lot to my family and I’m very appreciative of that.”
Marinaro will be participating in his fifth Red Bandanna Game on Saturday night and isn’t taking that opportunity for granted either.
“Yeah, this will be my fifth Red Bandanna Game. Red Bandanna Games are always awesome. Obviously, it means more because of Welles. He sacrificed so much for his country, for people he didn’t even know, for his coworkers. Being able to get all the fans there…everyone kind of understands that sacrifice and understands what it stands for. I think it’s a special moment for the BC community as a whole and the fact that we get to go out there and play a game that honors him makes it even more special for us, especially when we have the entire BC community having our backs.”
As a leader of the team now, Marinaro will be making sure guys know how to manage the emotions of the moment while also being ready to go when the ball is kicked off.
After an emotional week for him personally last week, he might be the perfect guy to help lead the charge on Saturday night.
“I think that’s really important,” he added. “I think it’s kind of…you’ve got to funnel it into that focus. You’ve got to funnel that focus into just playing hard and disciplined and everything that comes with a normal game. If you do it the right way, you have all this emotion from the fans, from yourself, you can kind of amplify yourself a little bit.
“You have that much more playing not only for your team, not only for BC, not only for your family, but there’s one other thing you’re playing for that can really add to it if you do it correctly.”