We are in the middle of key recruiting month. Preseason camp is just around the corner. It’s time to talk ACC football. Let’s get to your questions.

Besides Pat Narduzzi, are there any other ACC head coaches Deion Sanders isn’t familiar with? — John H.

I have to admit, John, you made me laugh out loud with this question. For fun, let’s just identify the ones he might know.

  1. Dabo Swinney: Dabo’s won a few national titles, so Deion had to have seen him at least once before conducting an interview.
  2. Mack Brown: He led Texas to a national title and Deion lived in Texas. So, odds are good.
  3. Mike Norvell: He coaches at Florida State. Deion went to Florida State. So, he’s got to know who the guy coaching his alma mater is, right?
  4. Mario Cristobal: This one seems like a lock because when Cristobal played at Miami and Deion played at FSU, they had to have at least run into each other on the field.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Deion Sanders: ‘I don’t know who’ Pat Narduzzi is

But the interesting dynamic here isn’t how many ACC coaches Sanders could name if you only flashed a headshot in front of him (although my guess is most non-college football fans across the country would probably only be able to identify Swinney). The interesting thing here is that Sanders is getting away with something other college coaches wish they could: dumping bad players they inherit and not having to really pay for it in the public eye. First, the rules allowing this all to happen are relatively new, and Sanders is making himself the biggest beneficiary of it by running off players from a 1-11 team and replacing them through the portal with ease.

Narduzzi obviously wasn’t allowed the same freedom when he arrived at Pitt in 2015. The portal didn’t exist, and neither did the current rules. But when you’re as brash as Sanders has been about it, it’s going to rub some people the wrong way. And the thing is he’s got thick skin — and a gold jacket — to withstand it all. What I’m interested in seeing is two-fold. One, how much better will Colorado actually be? And two, who is going to be the next head coach to follow in Sanders’ footsteps and dump his entire roster in a similar fashion? — Navarro

What’s up with the good run of recruiting the Hokies have had lately? Is it a sign that Brent Pry and company are going to be good recruiters or is it just an outlier? — Matt A.

For those of you who haven’t followed Virginia Tech recruiting as of late, a quick primer: June has been a productive month for the Hokies on the heels of official visits, with Pry and his staff picking up five of their now 11 total commitments. Two of those five commits — linebacker Gabriel Williams and cornerback Marcellus Barnes Jr. — are blue-chippers. Williams, the No. 213 prospect in the 247Sports Composite, would become the program’s highest-ranked signee since offensive lineman Doug Nester in the Class of 2019. Nester has since transferred to West Virginia.

Given the way Virginia Tech struggled in Pry’s opening season, going 3-8 overall and 1-6 in the ACC, I’m inclined to give the Hokies staff their flowers here and answer your question by saying this should be a sign that they are strong recruiters who had typical first-year bumps and are starting to find their footing ahead of Year 2. How else could we explain convincing two top-325 players from out of state to commit to the program? Williams, from Maryland, had offers from Tennessee, USC, Penn State, Notre Dame and others. Barnes, from Tennessee, fielded other offers from Georgia, Baylor, Florida State, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and more.

We’ll see where the Hokies go from here, but don’t forget that Pry was the primary recruiter at Penn State for five-star linebacker Micah Parsons (now with the Dallas Cowboys), five-star linebacker Brandon Smith (now with the Carolina Panthers) and four-star tight end Zack Kuntz (now with the New York Jets). The wins need to follow in order for Virginia Tech to stay relevant, but this is a promising offseason so far. — Raynor

If you could make a preseason All-ACC team but use only two players from each school, how would that squad look? — Grzegorz K.

Thanks for an extremely challenging assignment Grzegorz. Picking a preseason team is never easy, but this takes the cake. I’ll preface this by saying Clemson and Florida State probably deserve five to six players each on this year’s team at the very least.

My thought process for this exercise: Begin by giving all of the returning All-ACC first-team selections from last season a spot no matter what, and then try to find a spot for second-teamers and major transfer additions. After that, it got complicated. I put an asterisk next to returning first-team selections.

OFFENSE

The toughest decisions on offense involved leaving some significant Florida State players off the team, including quarterback Jordan Travis, who has the second-best odds to win the Heisman. In the end, I dropped running back Trey Benson for receiver Johnny Wilson. Both were All-ACC second-team selections last season and deserving, but wide receiver felt like a bigger need to fill. I went with former Old Dominion standout Ali Jennings (now at Virginia Tech) as Wilson’s playmaking partner ahead of other worthy options, including UNC’s Nate McCollum (formerly of Georgia Tech) and Wake Forest’s Jahmal Banks.

Florida State offensive tackle Robert Scott probably would’ve made the team ahead of Matt Goncalves from Pitt, but again I was limited because Seminoles edge rusher Jared Verse was definitely making the team on defense. In the end, I kept Duke receiver Jalon Calhoun off the team because his teammate, defensive tackle DeWayne Carter, was more deserving of a spot on defense after earning second-team honors last season. Calhoun was a third-teamer.

DEFENSE

SPECIALISTS

Again, making sure every ACC team had at least one player wasn’t easy, and limiting it to a maximum of two selections made it nearly impossible when going with 11 on offense, 11 on defense and three special teamers. Clemson has a lot to complain about. Edge rusher Ruke Orhorhoro is a projected top-10 NFL Draft pick, linebackers Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. are probably going to be first-team selections this season, and safety Andrew Mukuba was the ACC’s Defensive Rookie of the Year two years ago. — Navarro

Which two or three teams benefit from the ACC eliminating divisions and which two or three teams will be worse off? — Gerry S.

That’s a good and complicated question to answer, Gerry.

First, from a league perspective, we’re going to miss the unpredictability of knowing who is going to win the Coastal and play in the ACC title game. That race often went down to the wire, and it made every game interesting along the way. The elimination of the weaker Coastal Division could also hurt the conference as a whole because upper-echelon teams like Florida State and Clemson might have to face each other twice in one season. A second or third loss in the conference title game could potentially knock the loser of that game out of contention for the 12-team playoff. That’s not good for the overall health of the league.

From a school and rivalry perspective, I thought Miami and Virginia Tech lost something when their annual meeting was put to an end. But some things had to go when you went to the 3-5-5 scheduling format.

As it stands, Clemson and Florida State are the two best programs in the league, and assuming things remain that way over the next couple of years, the teams that have to face them every year are at a disadvantage. So, Georgia Tech and NC State, good luck against the Tigers. And Miami and Syracuse, good luck against the Seminoles. Does that mean former Atlantic Division teams like Boston College, Louisville and Wake Forest are benefitting? I guess they do, once every two years. — Navarro

How long of a leash does Tony Elliott have at UVA? — Charles W.

Virginia isn’t one of those programs that can reasonably demand ACC championships with regularity, and athletic director Carla Williams knows as much. That said, Bronco Mendenhall increased expectations for the Cavaliers when he led Virginia to an ACC Championship Game berth in 2019 and a 9-5 record for the season. He recruited and developed quarterback Brennan Armstrong into a star in 2021, before Armstrong struggled under the new staff in 2022 and transferred to NC State ahead of the 2023 season to reunite with former offensive coordinator Robert Anae.

Elliott’s seat isn’t hot at the moment, but to keep supporters from feeling antsy, he’ll need to show noticeable progress in 2023 after the Cavaliers went 3-7 last season and 1-6 in ACC play. Specifically, Virginia will need to improve on offense after taking a significant step back in 2022. A lot of issues in Year 1 of a new regime can be explained away, but it’s hard to hide from an offense that regressed from 34.6 points per game and 6.95 yards per play in 2021 to 17.0 and 5.13 last season. — Raynor

Last year Drake Maye was viewed, preseason, as no better than the sixth-best quarterback in the conference. Who are the most likely candidates to make a similar giant leap this year to become first- or second-team all-conference? — Tom W.

The ACC seems to have a clear one-two punch in Maye and Florida State’s Jordan Travis, who threw for 3,000-plus yards and 24 touchdowns a season ago. It starts to get fun behind those two, which is why I love this question.

Duke’s Riley Leonard is the first name that comes to mind after the Alabama native threw for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore, leading Duke to a stunning 9-4 record in Mike Elko’s debut season. If the ACC hadn’t been so stacked at quarterback last year — with Maye, Travis and Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman — Leonard would have earned all-conference honors.

I also think Armstrong at NC State and Jack Plummer at Louisville could be sleepers to watch. Armstrong is reuniting with Anae, and if 2023 is anything like 2021, he’d finish the season as one of the best quarterbacks in the country. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound Plummer threw for 3,095 yards and 21 touchdowns as the starter at Cal last season. Before that, he played at Purdue for four seasons under Jeff Brohm, who he’ll now reunite with at Louisville. Last but not least, I’d keep an eye on Mitch Griffis at Wake Forest. Griffis has huge shoes to fill, but Wake Forest has proven it has a way of developing under-the-radar, undersized prospects. — Raynor

Boston College thoughts? Can it make a bowl game? — Mark S.

Boston College had won at least six games in six straight seasons … until last year. In 2022, the Eagles went 3-9 overall and 1-5 on the road.

This year’s nonconference schedule should be forgiving enough, though, for BC and Jeff Hafley to get back on track. The Eagles play Northern Illinois and Holy Cross at home to open the season then travel to Army in October — which, to be fair, will be tricky — before hosting UConn in October. Wins in each of those four games would have the Eagles 66 percent of the way toward bowl eligibility and would require that Haffley’s team win just two of eight conference games. The Eagles have to play Florida State in September but get the Seminoles at home. And they don’t have to play Clemson.

Emmett Moorehead, the redshirt sophomore quarterback, played in just six games last year but still threw for more than 1,100 yards and nearly 200 yards per game. It’s a time of transition for the Eagles with Phil Jurkovec off to Pitt after three seasons at Boston College, but the combination of Moorehead’s return and a navigable schedule should help. — Raynor

(Top photo of Mike Norvell: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)





Source link

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here