Friday, January 02, 2009
ACC picture for 2009 not necessarily rosy
State's 53 Division I-A commitments listed by school.
Doug Doughty
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In watching the ACC go 4-6 in college football's bowl games after Virginia Tech's 20-7 Orange Bowl victory over Cincinnati, I kept coming back to one thought:
Clemson's Cullen Harper was the preseason ACC player of the year!
Did you see Harper on Thursday in Clemson's 26-21 loss to Nebraska? I'm not sure I've seen a more hapless quarterback in the postseason unless it was Cincinnati's Tony Pike.
On second thought, Boston College redshirt freshman Dominique Davis was just as unimpressive. That's the thing about the ACC. I can't remember a year when the quarterbacks have been so undistinguished as a group.
It seems like somebody told me that the ACC is pointing for 2010, but that's wishful thinking. First-team all-conference quarterback Russell Wilson displayed multiple gifts as a redshirt freshman, but durability is a question for Wilson, as it has been for Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor.
Taylor managed to get through the Orange Bowl in one piece, but didn't we see Sean Glennon warming up early in the first quarter? That may be the biggest question concerning the Hokies in 2009. Who goes in at quarterback if Taylor's ankle gets twisted the wrong way?
It was interesting to spend a few days in Atlanta leading up to the Yellow Jackets' men's basketball game with Virginia and hearing people describe Georgia Tech as a possible preseason top 10 choice for 2009. I've been suspicious of the Yellow Jackets since seeing them lose to visiting UVa at midseason, and a 38-3 Chick Fil-A Bowl loss to LSU did little to change that perception.
Clemson was supposed to be another hot team going into the bowls and looking ahead toward 2009 after ending the regular season with four victories in the last five games. But I wonder how many Clemson fans left the Gator Bowl with just a little uncertainty over interim-turned-permanent head coach Dabo Swinney.
Seems like I remember somebody comparing Swinney's elevation to West Virginia's "knee-jerk" hiring of Bill Stewart, but I think there's a big difference. WVU didn't break the bank to hire Stewart, though the Mountaineers gave him carte blanche to hire a big-time staff. It's going to be interesting to see who Swinney gets to be his offensive and defensive coordinators.
As for knee-jerk coaching hires, Miami's choice of Randy Shannon following the 2006 season had to head the list. As expected, Shannon has been a dominant recruiter in talent-rich south Florida. On the sidelines? He looks like a deer in headlights.
The Hurricanes' clock management at the end of the Emerald Bowl against California was atrocious and the ugly demotion and subsequent departure of freshman quarterback Robert Marve has only raised questions about Shannon's people skills.
Maybe the most impressive ACC team in the postseason was Florida State, a 42-13 winner over Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl. But, there's no way the Seminoles should feel good about letting Boston College capture the ACC's Atlantic Division championship for a second straight year.
Granted, the Eagles lost senior quarterback Chris Crane in the final month of the regular season, not that he'd be back in 2009. Coach Jeff Jagodzinski appears to be a good recruiter and he has big-time coordinators in Steve Logan (offense) and Frank Spaziani (defense). Even so, check out Davis' numbers from the Music City Bowl: 15-of-36 for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted twice.
Here are the starting ACC quarterbacks as they project for 2009 -- Davis at Boston College, Willie Korn at Clemson, Thaddeus Lewis at Duke, Christian Ponder at Florida State, Josh Nesbitt at Georgia Tech, Chris Turner at Maryland, Jacory Harris at Miami, T.J. Yates at North Carolina, Wilson at N.C. State, Jameel Sewell at Virginia, Taylor at Virginia Tech and Riley Skinner at Wake Forest.
Nobody has a more uncertain quarterback situation than Virginia, where Marc Verica started 10 games this season, passed for more than 2,000 yards and may have saved Al Groh's job during a midseason four-game winning streak. He also may have cost offensive coordinator Mike Groh his job during a season-ending four-game losing streak.
FOR THE RECRUITING junkies in the readership, here is a summary of the 53 Division I-A commitments in Virginia to date, according to The Roanoke Times Top 100:
VIRGINIA TECH (14) - No. 1 David Wilson, No. 4 Logan Thomas, 8 DeAntre Rhodes, No. 16 Antone Exum, No. 18 David Wang, No. 19 Andrew Miller, No. 23 Theron Norman, No. 26 James Gayle, No. 29 Telvion Clark, No. 33 Nubian Peak, No. 34 Duan Perez-Means, No. 45 Tyrel Wilson, No. 46 Kory Gough, No. 50 Cory Journell.
VIRGINIA (14) - No. 5 Tim Smith, No. 7 Dominique Wallace, No. 12 Jake Snyder, No. 14 Quintin Hunter, No. 20 Corey Lillard, No. 22 Will Hill, No. 30 Ross Metheny, No. 32 Perry Jones, No. 35 Luke Bowanko, No. 38 Alex Owah, No. 44 Lo'Vante' Battle, No. 48 Connor McCartin, No. 49 Javanti Sparrow, No. 54 Laroy Reynolds.
WAKE FOREST (4) - No. 24 Zach Thompson, No. 39 Mike Olson, No. 56 Matt Muncy, No. 61 Patrick Thompson.
WEST VIRGINIA (3) - No. 10 Logan Heastie, No. 13 Dominik Davenport, No. 21 Shawne Alston.
TENNESSEE (2) - No. 9 Jerod Askew, No. 27 Damien Thigpen.
PENN STATE (2) - No. 3 Kevin Newsome, No. 47 Frank Figueroa.
NORTH CAROLINA (2) - No. 15 Brynn Renner, No. 36 Curtis Campbell.
N.C. STATE (2) - No. 28 Brian Slay, No. 58 Boogie McCray.
MARYLAND (2) - No. 41 Bradley Johnson, No. 42 Dexter McDougle.
RUTGERS (1) - No. 17 De'Antwan Williams.
GEORGIA (1) - No. 25 Jordan Love.
BOSTON COLLEGE (1) - No. 43 Sterlin Phifer.
LOUISVILLE (1) - No. 53 Mike Privott.
MARSHALL (1) - No. 55 James Rouse.
TEMPLE (1) - No. 62 Byron Parker.
DUKE (1) - No. 63 Garrett Patterson.
OHIO U. (1) - No. 77 Skyler Allen.
