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David Hale ACC preview

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OrangeBowlMagic said:
Wow, he has us with the #1 secondary in the league. I think this is going to be a much improved defense this year, but if the kids back up this ranking, it absolutely will be. I see his rationale, there is a lot of talent back there especially with the Tyrique addition, but nice to see him so high on that group.





4th best without pressure was something I didn’t realize. Maybe that will help with the loss of the edge kids.
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Makes sense considering the amount of experience we'll have on the backend. At CB we go 4 deep with players who have starting experience. At safety we have 3 players, excluding Amari Carter who is now a Striker, with starting experience.
 
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DMoney said:
I'm bullish on our secondary after spring. They were the strength of the defense last year and we bring back six upperclassmen.

These are our Top 10 DBs, with blue chip players (four star or above) in bold:

Tyrique Stevenson
DJ Ivey
Al Blades
Te'Cory Couch
Isaiah Dunson

Bubba Bolden
Gurvan Hall
Avantae Williams
James Williams
Kamren Kinchens
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That's that high grade right there. I think by the end of the year Avantae Williams will be a household name. His gear and play speed are at another level.
 
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Think he is spot on with QB and DB's... our Running Game will end up ranking top 3 in ACC with an improved Line and if we actually do run our best horse most of the game. If Chaney stays healthy and gets 80%+ of the carries, he'll have a big year.. with Cam and Knightly breaking big runs once the D is tired...
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
David Hale is one of the main ACC writers for ESPN, he just started looking position by position at the ACC. I’ll post his rankings/thoughts on Miami and we can discuss.

He started with the QBs. Here are his rankings and Miami thoughts:







This is probably pretty fair. Miami (King) at #3 behind Howell and Uiagalelei. Based off last season I think this is probably a good cut at it. Howell was really good, and DJ was sensational in his limited duty. But let’s see how Howell does with losing all his talented NFL weapons and King does with everyone back but Brevin.
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I hate UNC...but if we're fair we've already seen what Howell can do without his weapons...cue up the OB game vs A&M...they'll have a deadly OFF this year as well. I

Side note: I do think we get them this year though and break the 2 game win streak
 
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CaneThang2020 said:
I hate UNC...but if we're fair we've already seen what Howell can do without his weapons...cue up the OB game vs A&M...they'll have a deadly OFF this year as well. I

Side note: I do think we get them this year though and break the 2 game win streak
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He had one of his worst games of the season against A&M. It wasn’t terrible, he’s a good player. But it was his lowest YPA of the entire season. Only his rating the first 2 games of the season were lower. Also Dazz Newsome did play in that game, he caught 6 balls for 68 yards and a TD. He is not retuning, he was a 6th round pick.

They scored 27 points, two touchdowns short of their season average of 41.

If that’s their 2021 offense, I’ll take it. But I’m sure Longo will have them ready and Howell is a year older. They’ll be good. But losing all those NFL kids, I doubt they’ll be quite as good.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
He had one of his worst games of the season against A&M. It wasn’t terrible, he’s a good player. But it was his lowest YPA of the entire season. Only his rating the first 2 games of the season were lower. Also Dazz Newsome did play in that game, he caught 6 balls for 68 yards and a TD. He is not retuning, he was a 6th round pick.

They scored 27 points, two touchdowns short of their season average of 41.

If that’s their 2021 offense, I’ll take it. But I’m sure Longo will have them ready and Howell is a year older. They’ll be good. But losing all those NFL kids, I doubt they’ll be quite as good.
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What are they returning on the OL?
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
Wow, he has us with the #1 secondary in the league. I think this is going to be a much improved defense this year, but if the kids back up this ranking, it absolutely will be. I see his rationale, there is a lot of talent back there especially with the Tyrique addition, but nice to see him so high on that group.





4th best without pressure was something I didn’t realize. Maybe that will help with the loss of the edge kids.
Click to expand...

Ive been on record in numerous threads saying this will be the best secondary we have had since 2005. I still stand by that. Everyone else sees it but our own fans...Ivey is the only weak link and T-Rob said he has the talent to have made All SEC last season. Bolden and Stephenson have All ACC/All American level potential. And if GHall gets it together.. WATCH OUT. Couch and Blades will also be big contributors along with AWilliams.
 
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Jassid82 said:
Ive been on record in numerous threads saying this will be the best secondary we have had since 2005. I still stand by that. Everyone else sees it but our own fans...Ivey is the only weak link and T-Rob said he has the talent to have made All SEC last season. Bolden and Stephenson have All ACC/All American level potential. And if GHall gets it together.. WATCH OUT. Couch and Blades will also be big contributors along with AWilliams.
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@DMoney posted the depth chart earlier. All 10 kids (Top 5 corners and Top 5 safeties) are all blue-chip players. There's no reason why this can't be one of the best secondaries in the country. What more do you want? Literally all blue-chip talents being coached by a proven developer who has put multiple kids into the league. Here are their composite numbers:

J. Williams -- 14th overall
Stevenson -- 37th overall
A. Williams -- 45th overall
Bolden -- 59th overall
Blades -- 97th overall
Hall -- 184th overall
Dunson -- 325th overall
Kinchens -- 329th overall
Couch -- 340th overall
Ivey -- 353rd overall

And you've got kids like Balom, who the coaches are very impressed with, Marcus Clarke had a ton of offers, lump the Strikers in there as well, which are essentially DBs in many regards. I really don't know how many programs around the country can line up 5 kids in the secondary who are Top 100 recruits. I'd bet it's a short list. With T-Rob and DVD coaching them, it'd be a massive disappointment if this wasn't a major strength of the team.
 
Starting secondary, including striker, game one?

Ivey, Stevenson, Blades (health status?), Bolden, Gurvan (?), Striker Frierson.

A lot can change between now and the first week in September, obviously summer/fall practice will determine starters/injuries, etc. etc.

So since the defensIve backfield has been a big topic of this thread, was wondering what anyone else’s thoughts were regarding who they would project to be the starters in the defensive backfield.

D-line is another question for another post.
 
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DMoney said:
I'm bullish on our secondary after spring. They were the strength of the defense last year and we bring back six upperclassmen.

These are our Top 10 DBs, with blue chip players (four star or above) in bold:

Tyrique Stevenson
DJ Ivey
Al Blades
Te'Cory Couch
Isaiah Dunson

Bubba Bolden
Gurvan Hall
Avantae Williams
James Williams
Kamren Kinchens
Click to expand...
I really hope that with experience Ivey has improved his processing speed. I still see a guy who has all the measurables but is a step slow because he just does not diagnose situations quick enough to make a play as opposed to just making a tackle.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
Starting secondary, including striker, game one?

Ivey, Stevenson, Blades (health status?), Bolden, Gurvan (?), Striker Frierson.

A lot can change between now and the first week in September, obviously summer/fall practice will determine starters/injuries, etc. etc.

So since the defensIve backfield has been a big topic of this thread, was wondering what anyone else’s thoughts were regarding who they would project to be the starters in the defensive backfield.

D-line is another question for another post.
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I go with the same starting cb's except I would have Couch as the nickel and Ivey as the first corner off the bench so long as Blades is healthy and ready to roll.
Safeties will almost certainly be the returning starters. What will be interesting as well is whether we start with a Striker (Frierson) or a wlb (Smith). Both were good and it seems wrong to keep either one off the field.
 
AtlAtty said:
I go with the same starting cb's except I would have Couch as the nickel and Ivey as the first corner off the bench so long as Blades is healthy and ready to roll.
Safeties will almost certainly be the returning starters. What will be interesting as well is whether we start with a Striker (Frierson) or a wlb (Smith). Both were good and it seems wrong to keep either one off the field.
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Your thought process is the same as mine.

I vacillated but finally put Ivey down as a starter, mainly because of comments I’ve been reading from T Rob, but of course that all could change.

My question mark regarding Blades assumes that he will be perfectly healthy, but even so, how much real hard work and conditioning was he able to do since he was allowed back.

In terms of full cardiovascular conditioning, stamina, strength and just re-getting a feel back for the game, it may take more than six months.

Kind of just a random thought I’m having about him. I mean he could be back for another year after this one possibly, I may be wrong but I think it would be allowed in his case. We have to accept the possibility that he may not be fully ready to play big minutes at the start of the season.
 
AtlAtty said:
I go with the same starting cb's except I would have Couch as the nickel and Ivey as the first corner off the bench so long as Blades is healthy and ready to roll.
Safeties will almost certainly be the returning starters. What will be interesting as well is whether we start with a Striker (Frierson) or a wlb (Smith). Both were good and it seems wrong to keep either one off the field.
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I'm interested in the battle at corner opposite Stevenson. Blades has been generally solid if underwhelming and while Ivey has had a knack for giving up receptions on plays where he could have made a play on the ball, he's statistically been the best in coverage overall. It's obvious that Couch is the best slot/nickel guy we have so someone is going to be on the outside looking in at either boundary or field CB.
 
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