By
Pete Fiutak
-
2006 ACC Spring Analysis
-
2007 Preseason Lookaheads -
ACC
Atlantic
Boston College
Spring Practice
Begins: March 24 Game: April 28
The early spring buzz ... Welcome to the Jags era. New head
football coach Jeff Jagodzinski has
bigger shoes to fill than you might
think after Tom O'Brien quietly cranked
out winning season after winning season
for so many years.
The Eagles haven't had a losing campaign
since 1998 with seven bowl games
in the last seven years, and they're a
lock to try to make it
eight in a row. If the new coaching
staff is as good as advertised, BC
might be going for the mark in a BCS
game.
The big spring question is ... How's the offense going to be
different under Jagodzinski? Don't
expect radical changes right away, but
look for an improvement from the running
game. The Eagles relied a bit too much
on Matt Ryan and the passing attack last
season as the ground game was
ineffective for long stretches. With the
tandem of L.V. Whitworth and Andre
Callender back, and the way Jagodzinski
got the ground game going with the
Atlantic Falcons before going to Green
Bay last year, expect more balance.
The most important position to watch is ... Placekicker.
Steve Apanovicius was a fantastic story
going from the stands to the
bowl-winning hero, and walk-on to
scholarship, in just a few short weeks,
but the Eagles needed a major upgrade.
Newcomer Billy Bennett is considered the
top kicking recruit in the nation and
needs to be the main man right away when
he arrives on campus. Until then, Apanovicius has to do everything
possible to make it a battle for the
gig.
Spring attitude... ACC favorites? With all the key parts
returning on offense, and nine starters
back on defense, the team that was just
this close to getting to the ACC
title game is loaded. As long as Matt
Ryan is Matt Ryan again, and there's a
little more from the ground game,
there's no reason BC can't be the class
of the Atlantic.
Clemson
Spring Practice
Begins: March 10 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... Spring ball hasn't even started yet and
already the injuries have hit. Projected
starting safety Michael Hamlin an
up-and-coming receiver Rendrick Taylor
will each be on the sidelines for a
while recovering from foot problems.
Hamlin suffered a stress during workouts
while Taylor's injury isn't any big
deal. Both will be ready for the regular
season.
The big spring question is ... What happened over the second
half of last year? Usually, Clemson
closes strong and gets head coach Tommy
Bowden out of how water, but the Tigers
lost four of their final five games to finish with a resounding thud
and get the fan base rumbling again.
Not winning the ACC title is one thing,
but losing to South Carolina is another.
If there's not at least a division
title, Bowden might not be able to afford
another mediocre season unless there's
some big-time potential for a
championship-like 2008 campaign.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback. It's
Cullen Harper's job to lose, but star
freshman Willy Korn might be in the mix
sooner than later. With Florida State to
open the season, the temptation will be
to go with Harper because of his
experience in the system, but Korn, one
of the stars of this year's recruiting
class, is the future. Harper has to show
this spring that the job is his and that
a two-quarterback system isn't
necessary, but Korn enrolled early and
will be there to battle. Whoever's under
center will have a better arm than last
year's starter, Will Proctor.
Spring attitude... Start strong. Even without Gaines Adams
and Duane Coleman, the defense should be
among the ACC's best while the 1-2
rushing punch of James Davis and C.J.
Spiller will get the offense rolling. If
the Tigers can win the Bowden Bowl on
opening day, they'll be 3-0 (UL Monroe
and Furman follow) going into road dates
against NC State and Georgia Tech
followed up by a statement home game
with Virginia Tech. If they get through
the first half of the season unscathed
they'll be a sleeper in the BCS race.
Florida State
Spring Football
Begins: March 16 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... The Jimbo Fisher era begins as the new
offensive coordinator will try to put
some consistency into an attack that's
been shockingly average over the last
several years. He has the tools to work
with, and he has the résumé coming off a
successful stint at LSU, and now it's
time for him to make Florida State,
Florida State. No Seminole
team should ever be 70th in the nation
in total offense.
The big spring question is ... So what's Fisher going to do
to make the offense go? Run. Despite
having talents like Leon Washington and
Lorenzo Booker in the backfield over the
last few years, Florida State abandoned
the ground game and chose to put the
entire offense on the shoulders of Drew
Weatherford before he was fully ready.
To be fair, the offensive line hasn't
quite been up-to-snuff, but ignoring
the ground attack was still inexcusable.
With Washington and Booker long gone,
star prospect Antone Smith will be the
main man after suffering a dislocated
elbow late last season.
The most important position to watch is ... Linebacker. The
quarterback situation between
Weatherford and Xavier Lee will work
itself out and the offense will be
better, but the linebacking corps will
need to fill the biggest holes losing
top two tacklers Buster Davis and
Lawrence Timmons. FSU is a linebacker
factory and should be just fine in time,
but depth was a problem last year and
now there's going to be a mega-battle to
see who lines up next to Geno Hayes.
Spring attitude... One last big run. Five years from now
everyone might still be wondering how
long Bobby Bowden will continue to
coach, but now the heat is on to start
to produce at a Florida State level
again. Step one was to switch around the
offensive duties and bring in Fisher,
and step two will be to win all the
close games. Lost in the 7-6 season was
how the Noles dropped five games by
seven points or fewer. Better
quarterback play and smarter coaching
would've won at least three of those and
changed the landscape of the ACC.
Maryland
Spring Practice
Begins: March 27 Game: April 28
The early spring buzz ... Did anyone notice Maryland's
resurgence last year? With the way Wake
Forest stole all the headlines and too
many stories about the collapse of Miami
and Florida State, the Terps got swept
under the rug despite cranking out a
tremendous nine-win season even though
they were
relatively young on both sides of the
ball. It's doubtful anyone will have
Maryland as the preseason favorite for
the Atlantic title, but with nine
starters back on offense and seven on D,
this will be a dangerous team coming out
of spring ball.
The big spring question is ... How did it happen? The defense was
one of the worst in the ACC, the offense
was pedestrian, at best, and it wasn't
like there were big plays coming from
either side of the ball (outside of a
Darrius Heyward-Bey catch or two against
Miami). The Terps managed to win almost
every close game it played beating FIU,
Virginia, NC State, Florida State,
Clemson and Miami by a total of 17
points. In what should be a tighter ACC
race, they have to keep finding ways to
come through when things get tight. That might be hard without steady
quarterback Sam Hollenbach to rely on.
That means ...
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback.
Everything else is in place on offense
to have a far better year as long as the
quarterback situation is settled early
on. Jordan Steffy has the most
experience in the system as Hollenbach's
backup, but he'll be in a fight with former Florida Gator Josh Portis, who sat out last year after
transferring. Both can move better than
Hollenbach and each has a live arm.
Whoever moves the team more consistently
in practices will get the gig.
Spring attitude... If last year's team could win nine wins
and a bowl game despite having so many
problems, this year's team could be
positively dominant. By any measure,
another nine-win season would be a
success, but that might not make anyone
happy considering how much talent
returns and how much excitement there is.
Maryland will be better
if it starts winning the turnover
battle, can find a way to get to the
quarterback, and gets steady play out of
either Steffy or Portis.
NC State
Spring Practice
Begins: March 14 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... Be like BC. There aren't many programs
that aspire to be Boston College, but
that's exactly who NC State needs to be
like after the tumultuous Chuck Amato
era. How does an inconsistent, flaky,
underachieving team break out from that
mold? Get a coach like Tom O'Brien who's
known for cranking out winning team
after winning team and maintaining an
even keel year in and year out. He
always gets the most out of his players
and teams and should provide some
stability for a program in desperate
need of it.
The big spring question is ... What will change under
O'Brien? For starters, the defense will
likely play far more 3-4 to mix in with
the traditional 4-3, while the offense
should be more consistent running the
ball. BC didn't run as well as expected
last season, but with the Wolfpack
stable of backs, the emphasis will be on
keeping the passing mistakes to a
minimum and getting the ground game
rolling.
The most important position to watch is ... Offensive tackle.
The quarterback battle between Daniel
Evans and Marcus Stone won't matter much
if they don't get time to operate (or if
Nebraska transfer Harrison Beck goes
lights out). The Pack allowed a mere 19
sacks last season, and now loses James
Newby and Jon Holt from the outside,
along with star guard Leroy Harris.
O'Brien's teams live and die on the play
of the offensive line, and this one
needs work.
Spring attitude... The past is the past. Just when the
the Pack appeared ready to take off after tremendous wins over Boston
College and Florida State, the season went
into the tank with seven straight losses. O'Brien will put together a much
tighter, much tougher team that won't
turn the ball over nearly as much as it
did last year and with a far more
efficient passing game.
Wake Forest
Spring Practice
Begins: March 20 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... After all the accolades and all the
excitement has died down,
the team has some title defending to do.
With eight starters returning on offense
and some good players returning on D,
don't expect the program to instantly
fade away. Even after all the new
coaching hires, Jim Grobe is still among
the league's best and has the pieces in
place to be good again. The formula that
got the job done last year should work
again, and now there's a quarterback
with experience and Micah Andrews back
for the running game.
The big spring question is ... Will the secondary be better? The
Demon Deacons did just about everything
right except consistently
defend the deep ball. The veteran
defensive backs ate up the short to
midrange passes but still allowed 217
yards per game. Now replacements are
needed around rising corner Kevin
Patterson, while defensive front has to
keep finding ways to get into the
backfield. That's why ...
The most important position to watch is ... Safety. Patrick
Ghee and Josh Gattis weren't the best
safeties in the league, but they were
great against the run and good leaders
for the defensive back seven. With
concerns in the linebacking corps after
the early departure of Jon Abbate, the
secondary has to come together in a
hurry. Fortunately, there aren't many
ACC teams that'll be able to throw.
Spring attitude... "No one respects us." It's the most tired
of sports clichés, but it really does
apply here. No one really believed Wake
was any good last year even after
blowing out Florida State in
Tallahassee, beating Georgia Tech for
the title, and playing well in the
Orange Bowl loss to Louisville. No one
will believe again with all the other
teams in the Atlantic, not to mention
the stars from the Coastal, looking much
better. Even so, the Demon Deacons are
loaded with experience and aren't just
going to hand over their title. Having
an attitude isn't a bad thing.
Coastal
Duke
Spring Practice
Begins: March 26 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... After years and years of problems, and
with drastic changes needing to be made
to try to do something, anything,
to start to become more than just a
doormat, Duke is in for an interesting
year. Head coach Ted Roof will take
over the defensive duties after
co-defensive coordinator Jerry Azzinaro
was let go along with running back
assistant Charles London. With defensive
lineman the strength of the recent
recruiting classes, the Blue Devils will
play a pure 4-3 to try to beef up
against the run.
The big spring question is ... Will the experience turn into
production? All 11 starters return on
offense. In fact, the entire two-deep
returns, while six starters return on
defense including the best players on
the line. Duke has tried to improve and
rebuild over the 20-game losing streak
by throwing
not-ready-for-primetime-players on the
field, and it either needs to pay off
this year with a few signs of overall
improvement, or Roof will likely be
gone.
The most important position to watch is ... Cornerback. It's
not like the pass defense was air-tight,
but it had an All-ACC talent in John
Talley along with veteran Deonto
McCormick manning the corners. With the
two gone, it'll likely be up to Leon
Wright and Rodney Ezzard to produce
early on to try to improve a secondary
that allowed 227 yards per game and 27
touchdown passes.
Spring attitude... Just keep getting better. Being 2006 Wake
Forest and a sleeper in the ACC
title race isn't even a consideration, and a
winning season is a pie-in-the-sky
dream. After losing 20 straight, going
0-12 last year, and winning just four
games against D-I teams over the last 49
chances just cranking out a few
victories would be cause for
celebration. With four road games in the
first five, and eight games in a row
against 2006 bowl teams, it might be
tough.
Georgia
Tech
Spring Practice
Begins: March 1 Game: April 7
The early spring buzz ... After being within a hair, and a
quarterback, of winning the ACC title,
and after a painful end to the 2006
season losing to arch-rival Georgia, Wake Forest,
and West
Virginia by three points each, to go
along with an opening day four-point
loss to Notre Dame, it's easy to think
about what might have been. Even with a
slam-dunk NFL star like WR Calvin
Johnson gone, Tech might be the class of
the ACC as long as likely new starting
QB Taylor Bennett shows he can be better
than Reggie Ball. With offensive
coordinator Patrick Nix off to Miami,
there's a lot of work to do around the
Tech offense.
The big spring question is ... Will the loss of Ball actually
be a plus? After a wild four-year career
where he showed he could pull out some
games with one big throw, and implode in
others by not being able to hit a basic
throw. Jonathan Garner, the backup for
the Gator Bowl, chose to transfer with
several options looking to fight for the
starting job including freshmen Steven
Threet along with Byron Ingram and
juniors Kyle Manley and Calvin Booker.
Throw into the mix star recruit Josh
Nesbitt, and there are plenty of options
to add even more to the passing game. It
doesn't help to not have Johnson to
throw to, which means ...
The most important position to watch is ... Wide receiver.
The situation is better than you might
think with several players to spread the
ball to. James Johnson has to build off
a nice year as the number two man in the
passing game and become a number one,
while Greg Smith, Demaryius Thomas and
Corey Earls will be the new names
getting passes their way.
Spring attitude... Win the ACC title. The defense will be
fantastic with nine starters returning
to a group that finished 27th in the
nation in both total and scoring D. Four
starters return to the offensive line,
the running backs, led by Tashard
Choice, are excellent, and the kicking
should be solid led by All-America
caliber punter Durant Brooks. It also
helps to get Virginia Tech in Atlanta.
Miami
Spring Practice
Begins: March 6 Game: April 7
The early spring buzz ... Cane fans got their wish with the end of
the Larry Coker era, and now it's all
about Randy Shannon and what he can do
to turn the program back around. Either
the former coaching staff miscalculated
on how good the recruits were, or they
didn't coach them up to their potential,
or a little of both. Shannon wasn't shy
on the recruiting trail when it came to
telling prospects they'd have to battle
daily for their jobs, but could get a
shot right off the bat to see time. He
got a decent class, and now he has to
make everyone better and find the right
pieces to fit the puzzle..
The big spring question is ... Is there going to be any
offense this year? Patrick Nix, the
former Auburn Tiger quarterback and Georgia
Tech offensive coordinator, wasn't even
Shannon's second choice with Dirk Koetter, Kevin Rogers, and Oklahoma's
Kevin Sumlin taking a pass. Nix is a
rising star in the coaching ranks and
should turn out to be a tremendous
pickup for the Canes. The offense will
stay the same as always unless a
quarterback emerges from the pack who
can move. That's why ...
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback. Kyle
Wright has been a tremendous
disappointment since coming to Coral
Gables as the next great Miami
quarterback, and Kirby Freeman has
hardly set the world on fire when he's
had a shot. Shannon isn't going to go
with star recruit Robert Marve unless
everything breaks down, which means
Wright and Freeman, who'll get equal
chances for the job, have to step up
their play this spring.
Spring attitude... You're freakin' Miami. Play like it. 7-6?
Almost losing to Duke? 3-5 in the ACC?
The program has fallen on hard times,
but it might not take that much to get
back to being among the elite. Taking a
glass was half full approach, the Canes
lost four games by a touchdown or less
thanks to one of the nation's top
defenses.
Of course, if you're negative, they also
won four games by five points or fewer.
There's more than enough NFL talent to
win now.
North
Carolina
Spring Practice
Begins: March 19 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... The program got a major coup in landing
Butch Davis as head coach, and the
payoff was immediate with a phenomenal
recruiting class that might have been
the best in the ACC. The overall speed
and athleticism was built up with just
one class, but don't expect miracles
right away. This team has a load road
back to respectable, much less being an
ACC title contender.
The big spring question is ... What will Davis and his staff
change up? For starters, the playcalling
will be more aggressive on both sides of
the ball. The quarterbacks will be asked
to do more, the defense will blitz more,
get in the backfield more often (after
registering a pathetic 44 tackles for
loss) and the overall tempo of the team
should go up several clicks from day
one. Davis likes to attack, and at the
risk of making mistakes, that's what his
team will do from the outset.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback.
Someone has to show he can lead the
woeful offense to points. With no threat
whatsoever of a passing game, defenses
teed off on the ground attack making
running the ball worthless. Joe Dailey
started to play better over the second
half of the season, but he didn't do
nearly enough to put a stamp on the job.
Cam Sexton has potential but is hardly
special. They both might be keeping the
seat warm this spring before the 6-5,
220-pound Mike Paulus hits campus late
this summer.
Spring attitude... Accept another step back to take a giant
leap forward. Davis was never shy about
playing freshmen at Miami, and he'll put
the best athletes out there and accept
the consequences. The result should be a
maddening year of turnovers, mental
errors and tough losses ... sort of like
last year.
Virginia
Spring Practice
Begins: March 21 Game: April 14
The early spring buzz ... This was a young team, and it's
getting better and even more youthful
this season with a strong recruiting
base to keep the Cavaliers above
average. 2006 was about rebuilding and
improving, and now it should all pay off
as nine starters return on both the
offense and defense led by rising star
quarterback Jameel Sewell and defensive
end Chris Long. The offense can't help
but be far, far better.
The big spring question is ... How much better will Sewell
be? Possibly a lot with the passing game
opening up a bit more to let him
push the ball deeper, but he might not
get that chance this spring with a wrist
injury likely to limit him until later
this summer. Top recruit Peter Lalich
might be good enough to challenge for
time this summer if Scott Deke and Marc
Verica don't look ready to handle the
backup roles.
The most important position to watch is ... Receiver. Under
offensive coordinator Mike Groh, who had
a rocky first year, the passing game has
to start to produce. With
top target Kevin Ogletree out for most
of this spring undergoing surgery on his
wrist, other players need to prove they
can make the nation's 102nd ranked
passing offense more productive.
Spring attitude... The lumps were taken last year. Now it's
time for the payoff to come. Any sort of
an offense would've meant at least two
more victories and a winning season, and
there's no chance things will be as bad
again. The schedule is manageable enough
to show up and win six games, so
anything less than a seven-plus win
season will be a mega-disappointment.
Virginia Tech
Spring Practice
Begins: March 28 Game: April 21
The early spring buzz ... This might finally be the year Frank
Beamer gets over the hump and cements
Virginia Tech among the elite of the
elite programs. The nation's top defense gets eight starters back,
led by the nation's best linebacking duo
in Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi, along
with a slew of good reserves. The
offense won't be nearly as bad with
almost all the key parts coming back led
by RB Branden Ore and almost everyone in
the receiving corps. Win at LSU on
September 8th, and it's national title
or bust. However ...
The big spring question is ... Can the program finally keep
its head for a full season? Known as
much for its on-field meltdowns and
inconsistency as it is for the big wins,
Tech has to play like the veteran team
it is and be consistent week in and week
out. Mental toughness hasn't exactly
been a strong suit, but when all the
parts are humming, this is one
devastating team.
The most important position to watch is ... Quarterback.
Everything is in place to win the ACC
title, and maybe a lot more, just as
long as there's more production from the
quarterbacks. Sean Glennon was a decent
game manager at best, and a major
liability at worst, and unless he shows
he can be more than merely efficient, it
might be the beginning of the Ike
Whitaker era, baggage and all. You'll
have to wait a year until super-recruit
Tyrod Taylor gets on the field.
Spring attitude... Focus on winning the ACC title. A lot will
be made about the LSU game, but it's
early enough in the season, and it's in
Death Valley, that a close, hard-fought
loss could still mean the national title
is in range. Outside of road trips to
Clemson and Georgia Tech, and a visit
from Florida State from the Atlantic
Division, the ACC slate isn't bad. Win
the ACC championship and let the chips
fall where they may.