Friday, November 21, 2008
All-ACC nominations leave voters guessing
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.
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Less than four hours elapsed Thursday between the time the All-ACC football ballot arrived in e-mail in-boxes and the appearance of a similar transmission from Virginia Tech with the Hokies’ all-conference nominations.
Clearly, there was little connection between the two.
The nominations sent out by the conference included 13 Virginia Tech players, who are named on the list below.
The e-mail sent out by Tech asked that the media give strong consideration to five Hokies. They are Darren Evans, a candidate for All-ACC running back and conference freshman of the year; cornerback Macho Harris; defensive end Orion Martin, place-kicker Dustin Keys and center Ryan Shuman.
In the past, schools nominated their own players and, if Tech had been asked for its nominations, the Hokies probably would have nominated more than five players. But these are the guys Tech really wanted and it’s helpful for the media to know that.
Presumably, the ACC changed its system this year because the nominations had gotten too unwieldy, so coaches this year were asked to nominate only players from other teams and not their own.
“The coaches wanted to do it,” ACC associate commissioner Mike Finn. “I think they probably felt more comfortable with this. There wasn’t much discussion.”
I can see why the coaches didn’t want to nominate their own players. Some reporters (“like you,” Finn told me) would invariably point out which players had not been nominated and possibly drive a wedge between player and coaches.
When the system changed this year, the coaches – and this was probably assistant coaches and SID types – were as clueless as I suspected.
What were they watching? Or, were they watching?
How could anybody have watched Virginia Tech in person or on tape and thought that four of the Hokies’ offensive linemen were All-ACC material (five if you count tight end Greg Boone)?
Tech had a total of 13 players nominated for All-ACC. In addition to the above-mentioned five being pushed by the school, the others were Boone, offensive tackle Ed Wang, offensive guard Sergio Render, offensive guard Nick Marshman, defensive end Jason Worilds, linebacker Brett Warren, safety Kam Chancellor and punter Brett Bowden.
Boston College and Florida State had 14 nominations, which might be deserved in the first instance but not the latter. Eight of 13 Maryland players nominated for ALL-ACC were on offense, a head-scratcher for anybody who watched the Terps at Virginia or Virginia Tech.
Obviously, rival coaches don’t think much of Virginia’s talent because they nominated only six Cavaliers – a conference low – for All-ACC. I thought that was a fair number, although I would have put senior linebacker Jon Copper on the list ahead of talented but injury-prone cornerback Ras-I Dowling.
Accuse me of local bias, but Copper is closing in on 300 tackles for his career, is bidding to become the first player in 24 years to lead Virginia in tackles for three straight seasons and is tied for third in the ACC in tackles this season.
If Copper’s absence from the ballot helps teammate Clint Sintim make All-ACC, maybe the omission is worth it. No Virginia player is more worthy of a first-team All-ACC selection than Sintim.
Following are the nominations by school:
BOSTON COLLEGE (14) -- QB Chris Crane, RB Montell Harris, TE Ryan Purvis, OT Anthony Castonzo, OG Thomas Claiborne, OG Clif Ramsey, C Matt Tennant, DT Ron Brace, DT B.J. Raji, LB Mark Herzlich, Mike McLaughlin, CB Roderick Collins, S Paul Anderson, RS Rich Gunnell
CLEMSON (12) -- QB Cullen Harper, RB James Davis, RB C.J. Spiller, WR Aaron Kelly, C Thomas Austin, DE Ricky Sapp, DT Jarvis Jenkins, LB Kavell Conner, CB Chris Chancellor, S Michael Hamlin, PK Mark Bucholz, KR C.J. Spiller (nominated twice).
DUKE (7) -- QB Thaddeus Lewis, WR Eron Riley, OT Cameron Goldberg, Bryan Morgan, DT Vince Oghobasse, LB Vince Rey, LB Michael Tauiliili.
FLORIDA STATE (14) -- QB Christian Ponder, RB Antone Smith, WR Greg Carr, WR Preston Parker, OG Rodney Hudson, C Ryan McMahon, DE Everett Brown, DE Neefy Moffett, LB Derek Nicholson, LB Dekoda Watson, CB Tony Carter, S Myron Rolle, PK Graham Gano, RS Michael Ray Garvin.
GEORGIA TECH (9) – RB Jonathan Dwyer, WR Demaryius Thomas, OT Andrew Gardner, OG Cord Howard, DE Michael Johnson, DE Derrick Morgan, DT Darryl Richard, DT Vance Walker, S Morgan Burnett.
MARYLAND (13) -- QB Chris Turner, RB Da’Rel Scott, WR Darius Heyward-Bey, TE Dan Kronkowski, OT Bruce Campbell, OT Scott Burley, OG Jaimie Thomas, C Edwin Williams, DT Jeremy Navarre, LB Moise Fokou, Alex Wujciak, CB Kevin Barnes, P Travis Baltz.
MIAMI (10) – RB Graig Cooper, OT Jason Fox, DT Dwayne Hendricks, Glen Cook, LB Darryl Sharpton, LB Sean Spence, S Anthony Reddick, PK Matt Bosher, P Matt Bosher (nominated twice), RS Travis Benjamin.
NORTH CAROLINA (14) – WR Hakeem Nicks, WR Brandon Tate, OT Kyle Jolly, OT Garrett Reynolds, OG Calvin Darity, DT Marvin Austin, LB Bruce Carter, LB Mark Paschal, LB Quan Sturdivant, CB Kendrick Burney, S Trimane Goddard, P Terrence Brown, S Bruce Carter (nominated twice), RS Brandon Tate (nominated twice).
N.C. STATE (8) – QB Russell Wilson, RB Andre Brown, TE Anthony Hill, DE Willie Young, DT Alan Michael Cash, LB Nate Irving, S J.C. Neal, RS T.J. Graham.
VIRGINIA (6) – RB Cedric Peerman, REC Kevin Ogletree, TE John Phillips, OT Eugene Monroe, LB Clint Sintim, CB Ras-I Dowling
VIRGINIA TECH (13) – RB Darren Evans, TE Greg Boone, OT Ed Wang, OG Sergio Render, OG Nick Marshman, C Ryan Shuman, DE Orion Martin, DE Jason Worilds, LB Brett Warren, CB Victor Harris, S Kam Chancellor, P Dustin Keys, B Brent Bowden.
WAKE FOREST (7) – QB Riley Skinner, REC D.J. Boldin, OT Jeff Griffin, DT Boo Robinson, DT John Russell, LB Aaron Curry, CB Alphonso Smith.
