What if Bill O’Brien was the problem with Thomas Castellanos after all?

Last year Castellanos was benched or quit...or something happened at Boston College that ran him out the door. He has had to deal with the stigma of being called a quitter.

And Boston College coach Bill O'Brien didn't hesitate to take a few cheap shots at Castellanos during ACC Media Day. All the while, Castellanos basically bit his tongue on the matter, and you can only imagine how hard that was for him.

But look at Tommy C now. He's a hero in Tallahassee and O'Brien looks like a clown.

Some people are made for each other

When Castellanos was searching for a new home, he went to a name that was familiar - Gus Malzahn. Malzahn recruited Castellanos out of high school and signed him at UCF in the class of 2022. Castellanos left after his freshman year in search of a starting opportunity and found one at Boston College. But even though the two sides split, they never forgot about each other.

And they found each other at a time when both player and coach needed someone to believe in them.

“He’s already familiar with the big picture stuff we did,”Malzahn said earlier this month. “Obviously, being with me a couple years ago. There’s some unconventional things with the things that we do, which makes it really tough with IDing things. So, when you’re installing, sometimes you’ve got to take that into account with everything. But he’s done a really, really good job up to this point.”

It's been three years in the making, but on Saturday it was finally time for Malzahn to unleash Castellanos to the college football nation. The senior looked so comfortable and at home in Malzahn's scheme. When Malzahn asked Castellanos to make the throws, he made the throws.

And when he needed Castellanos to make the big plays on the ground, he delivered. His ball handling was beautiful, and it was the key to both of Micahi Danzy's big runs on reverses, and a 64-yard completion to Jaylin Lucas that led to the Seminoles' third touchdown and a 24-7 lead.

"I relied on my teammates today, I relied on my coaches, and they put us in position to go out and execute and win. We heard everything everybody said and we [saw] everything everybody said," Castellanos said. "We just added that fuel to the fire, and we went out there and just played ball together."

And then it was a subtle, but direct shot at Bill O'Brien. 

"That's one of the reasons I came here. For moments like these and days like these."