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Keep your friends close and Enemies Closer (ACC 2022)

motorcitycane

motorcitycane

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We know our team but we should also pay attention to our enemies.

Here’s a quick look around the ACC while Miami is on spring break!

Games in Order of schedule
ACC 2022

UNC

Offense:

QB: Missing Sam Howell. 5 star QB Legacy Drake Maye the truth or a fraud? (He’s favored to win the job.)

RB: Wide Open for a guy to emerge.

WR Josh Downs one of the best in the country. (Had 11 receptions,96 yards, and a TD against us.) They need someone to step up as the 2nd and 3rd options and take pressure off of Downs.

OL: Good LT and C coming back but lose 3 other starters on OL. Got a 5 star EE freshman.

TE:??????

Defense

105th ranked defense in 2021.

Got Gene Chizk as DC.

DL: Myles Murphy (ALL-ACC) and ????????

LB: lost two good ones in Tomon Fox and Jeremiah Gemmel. They have stud in Cedric Gray who had 2 of TVDs 3 picks in that game.

DB: Grimes in his junior season.

Overall: UNC went 6-7 in 2021. Losing their all time great at QB. But if Drake Maye is the real deal they could surprise. Feels like a 6-8 win team in 2022. They also have recruited well. That may start paying off.

Spring Game April 9th to answer more questions.

Virgínia Tech

Coaching Change Coach Brent Pry comes to Blacksburg

Offense:

QB: ??????? they got a transfer QB from Marshall

RB: Malachi Thomas (had two 300 yard rushing games in 2021 can he step up?)

WR: They got temple transfer and NFL hopeful Jadan Blue and ??????? Beyond him.

OL: Luke Tunuta (HM ALL-ACC)

TE:?????

Defense:

This should be the strength of the team in 2022.

DL: Tyjaun Garbutt, Jordan Williams (Honorable Mention ALL-ACC)

LB: Dax Hollifield (Honorable Mention ALL-ACC) Alex Tinsdale return, Keshon Artis

DB: Nasir Peoples (Honorable Mention ALL-ACC) Chamarri Conner (balled against Miami with 11 tackles and honorable mention All-ACC) Jermaine Waller (2nd team ALL-ACC selection)
Overall the natural assumption is that players get better. Not just Miami players but all players. VT has a ton of experience coming back on D with question marks littered across the offense. Can some of the honorable mention guys take a next step and reach ALL-ACC status.

As a defensive guy I’m sure Brent Pry is happy with what he has to work with on D.

6-8 wins is my expectation. 8 if they can plug some holes on Offense but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

Spring game April 16th

Duke

Coaching change Mike Elko

QB: ?????? Lost starter

RB: ?????? Lost a great college RB in Durant

WR: Jalon Calhoun, Lost All-ACC WR Jake Bobo

TE: ???????

OL: Jacob Monk,

Defense:
DL: ALL-ACC Dwayne Carter

LB: ALL-ACC Shaka Heyward (10 tackles against Miami) Dorian Mausi,

DB: Da’Quan Johnson(13 tackles against Miami) Jaylen Stinson, Nate Thompson, Jalen Alexander(9 tackles against Miami), Jeremiah Lewis,

I think this is a Duke team that lost a lot of its offensive production. They will need to find their identity under Mike Elko. Has a few pieces to work with on D. But I’ll be watching to see if anyone emerges.

Spring Game April 16th

Virginia

Coaching change with Tony Elliot

QB: Brennan Armstrong is back

RB:??????? They gotta figure that out

WR: All-ACC Dontayvion Wicks, ALL-ACC Billy Kemp,

TE: ??????

OL: All-ACC Olusegun Oluwatimi,

Defense:

DL: ????

LB: Nick Jackson (ALL-ACC)

DB: Anthony Johnson, Antonio Clary, Coen King,

Overall: The ACC, like most conferences, has been won by good QBs. I would feel **** good if I was Tony Elliot with getting Armstrong back and two ALL-ACC WRs back.

I’m sure Elliott will get their run game back popping. But he’s got tools to work with. The defense however only has Nick Jackson at LB as the strong point and they have to figure out that side of the ball. But with a QB anything is possible. See Pitt and Wake Forest 2021. UVA and Miami could be that in the coastal for 2022. I see a jump in Ws for UVA.

Spring Game April 23rd

FSU

Offense:

QB: Jordan Travis

RB: Treshaun Ward,

WR: Winston Wright, Mychah Pittman, Ontaria Wilson,

TE: Camren McDonald

OL: Darius Washington, Maurice Smith, Robert Scott, Dillon Gibbons, Kayden Lyle

Defense

DL: Robert Cooper(All-ACC HM) , Fabian Lovett (ALL-ACC HM) Dennis Briggs,

LB: Tatum Bethune, Kalen Deloach, DJ Lundy, Amari Gainer,

DB: Jammie Robinson, Akeem Dent, Jarvis Brownlee, Sidney Williams, Jarrian Jones

Overall:

FSU will try to bounce back to being at least respectable. I don’t have confidence that they will due to HC, OL, and QB. I still don’t believe Travis is good.

They’ve lost Keir Thomas and Jermaine Johnson at DE. They have some solid DTs. Linebacker is a strength for FSU this season as well as DB. They should be decent on the D.

Offensively, they lost Corbin to the Draft but I think they’ll be fine with Ward. New transfers at WR from WVU and Oregon. I think they’ll earn the starts. The OL has a TON of experience but experience alone can’t substitute for bad players.

Overall this feels like a 7-5 team.

Spring Game: April 9th

Georgia Tech:

QB: Jeff Sims

RB: Dontae Smith

WR: ?????????

TE: Dylan Leonard

OL: Jordan Williams and ???????



Defense:

DL?????

LB:??????

DB:??????

Overall:
With 12 players leaving in the transfer portal GT had a rough offseason. Especially with guys expected to be big time contributors.

Gibbs, two guys off to the NFL and transfer portal have left the GT defense open for competition across the board.

Spring Game: March 17th

Clemson

Offense:

QB DJ Uiagelele

RB: Will Shipley(HM) Kobe Pace,

WR: Joseph Ngata, Beux Collins, Dacari Collins,

TE: Davis Allen (HM)

OL: Jordan McFadden (All-ACC) Will Putnam,

Defense:

DL: Xavier Thomas(ALL-ACC) Myles Murphy(ALL-ACC) Tyler Davis (ALL-ACC) Bryan Breese (ALL-ACC)

LB: Trenton Simpson

DB: Andrew Mukuba (ALL-ACC)

Overall Clemson struggled heavily on offense in 2021. Dabo promoted from within on both sides of the ball after losing his coordinators. I believe it’s the first season both have called plays.

All the attention is at QB. DJ was bad in 2021 and that’s a understatement. If he can’t produce they may try some of the young gunners.

Shipley and pace looked good in 21.

The WRs seem set. They have explosive and elite playmakers. Don’t let 2021 season confuse you. Just the QB play made it tough for them to get the ball.

Defense looks absolutely scary. Clemson and Pitt both probably enter 2022 with top 5 Dlines. But the guys up front for Clemson are the MONSTARS. I don’t think we are quite ready to face this type of front 7. But it’s why you play the games. I’m actually happy that this game is later in the season. Gives our OL and offense time to gel and get in mid season form. If this was a early season game we probably would just get blown out.

We can’t understate the losses of the coordinators but I think at least for the 2022 season talent will reign supreme.

Spring Game: April 9th

Pittsburgh

Offense:

QB: Kedon Slovis

RB: Israel Abanikanda, Vincent Davis, Rodney Hammond,

WR: Jordan Addison(biletnikoff award winner,1st team all ACC, all-American best WR in CFB) , Jarod Wayne

TE: Gavin Bartholomew

OL: Carter Warren (ALL-ACC 2nd Team) Gabe Huoy (All-ACC) Marcus Minor (ALL-ACC)Jake Kradel (ALL-ACC HM,) Owen Drexel (ALL-ACC HM)

Defense:

DL: Habakkuk Baldonado(2nd Team ALL-ACC) ,Calijah Kancey (1st Team ALL-ACC) John Morgan,

LB: Sirvocea Dennis (2nd team ALL-ACC) , Phil Campbell (ALL-ACC HM)

DB: Brandon Hill (ALL-ACC) Erick Hallet, Marquis Williams,

Overall: No Pickett! Pitt should fall heavily?……..Not so fast my friend!

The Coastal Champs actually look really good on paper for 2022. On offense. Kedon Slovis won’t be Pickett but he’s also not a scrub. He’s accurate a career 68% passer. 7500 yards 58 touchdowns in his career.

They had have a really good RB corps. 3 Backs with 100 Carries and all went for over 500 yards.

Best WR in the country and his running mate returning. A pretty solid TE as well.

Pitt Spring Game: April 9th



My early spring thoughts on 2022 is that the Coastal division will be as wild as usual. The ACC is always filled with really average teams and a few studs.

This looks to be a 3 way race for the coastal leader right now.

Miami
Pitt
UVA

With Pitt as a pretty clear front runner unbiased opinion and no orange and green glasses.

These are going to be the 3 best coastal teams IMO all have QBs. Pitt being the best well rounded team offensively and defensively.

Dark Horses VT and UNC. But I think they are missing too much to truly compete.

Duke and GT should remain bottom feeders in the coastal.

Let me know what y’all think
 
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I'm honestly not too scared of Pitt. We always seem to match up well against them, on the flip side that's how UVA likely feels about us where they always seen to bring their A game vs the Canes. The assessment of Clemson is spot ok. Losing 2 excellent coordinators is tough but talent wise they're still stacked, that d line in particular is scary.
 
Everyone in the Coastal is either bringing in a new QB or a new Head Coach.
We have the best Returning QB and on paper the best coaching staff.

Simply put, we should win the division easily BUT games are not played on paper.
 
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305to954 said:
TVD get rid of bad first halves and we should be good in the coastal in terms of being near the top
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I love TVD, legit think he's a top 5 QB in the country. But he does have a big tendency to start slow in games. Good thing is that we have a good core around him with our RB stable and (hopefully) our pass catchers. I'm riding with @Brooklyndee on his analysis of our OL. He hasn't let me down.

I want to see what our defense looks like in spring and fall games. As big as Miller is, he should be the guy taking on blocks allowing our pass rushers and LT56 to get up field and free our LBs up to make plays. Need to see more from Miller.

As far as the ACC, Pitt and UNC look real good on paper. I won't even talk about Free Shoes, last year was a fluke. I'm not worried about them.
 
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Great thread @motorcitycane 💯

VA Tech will have a good Defense under Brent Pry, but that offense is gonna be basura x 10.

Their OC Tyler Bowen is former OL & a Joe Moorehead disciple, they’re gonna be a run heavy team with no firepower at all, plus they don’t have any weapons to stretch the field, they’re gonna be a slow pound the rock team, I don’t see them winning more than 6 games at best.

UNC has a chance to be good, their Secondary & pass rush is good & returns lots of talent on the DLine, plus they have a good WR corps. Everything will come down to how fast Phil Longo can get Drake Maye developed.

UVA returns the 2nd best QB in the ACC with Armstrong, but they’re not retaining the same offense, Tony E is not an Air Raid guy like Robert Anae was last year & they’re going to try to play Clemson ball, but they don’t have the horses to do it in the run game. In year 1 for Tony E, I think they’re a 7-5 team.

FSU’s refusal to address the QB position via the Portal will be the downfall of their team. They added 4 WR’s in the Portal, but Jordan Travis is still a very limited passer & they don’t have the old era FSU backs that used to dominate, that team is Fcked.

Clemson will be very good this year, even with DJ Ukulele at the helm, they have an Elite Defense & return a very good WR group, plus all their RB’s are back. In terms of talent, they’re the most stacked team on our schedule.

I’m about 150% certain they win the Atlantic & will be playing in the ACCCG, if Dabo & Streeter get Cad Klubnik maturated & playing by the end of the year similar to how he did with Bryant/T. Lawrence, they’re gonna be a dangerous team.

Pitt isn’t gonna fall off a cliff like everyone expects, a lot of people are sleeping on Kedon Slovis, when he was healthy he was one of the best QB’s in the Pac-12 his Freshman year & they still have some good offensive firepower at WR.

It will come down to Frank Cignetti & how much they replace what they lose on their defense from the secondary.

But I think the big mistake they’re going to make is that they won’t be as pass happy as they were last year & will want to scale back on airing it out so much, which will allow for teams that aren’t as good as them to hang around late in games with them. Plus, they have a tough schedule this year going up against some good offenses this season, that Secondary is gonna be challenged heavy.

My two sleeper teams that will be tougher to beat than they look on paper in the divisions will be, Cuse & UNC.
 
djnellz said:
I love TVD, legit think he's a top 5 QB in the country. But he does have a big tendency to start slow in games. Good thing is that we have a good core around him with our RB stable and (hopefully) our pass catchers. I'm riding with @Brooklyndee on his analysis of our OL. He hasn't let me down.

I want to see what our defense looks like in spring and fall games. As big as Miller is, he should be the guy taking on blocks allowing our pass rushers and LT56 to get up field and free our LBs up to make plays. Need to see more from Miller.

As far as the ACC, Pitt and UNC look real good on paper. I won't even talk about Free Shoes, last year was a fluke. I'm not worried about them.
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Well hate to disappoint you here then bud. I like Tyler. BUT Jake has made big steps in his development. Tyler needs to step it up if he's supposed to be the alpha in the room.
 
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Liberty City El said:
Great thread @motorcitycane 💯

My two sleeper teams that will be tougher to beat than they look on paper in the divisions will be, Cuse & UNC.
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Syracuse has an interesting coaching staff with Anae and Beck coming over from UVA plus their OL coach had some good units during his San Diego State days.
On defense, they have a Rocky Long disciple running their defense. Good coaches but aside from some players, not a very talented team.
 
Liberty City El said:
Great thread @motorcitycane 💯

VA Tech will have a good Defense under Brent Pry, but that offense is gonna be basura x 10.

Their OC Tyler Bowen is former OL & a Joe Moorehead disciple, they’re gonna be a run heavy team with no firepower at all, plus they don’t have any weapons to stretch the field, they’re gonna be a slow pound the rock team, I don’t see them winning more than 6 games at best.

UNC has a chance to be good, their Secondary & pass rush is good & returns lots of talent on the DLine, plus they have a good WR corps. Everything will come down to how fast Phil Longo can get Drake Maye developed.

UVA returns the 2nd best QB in the ACC with Armstrong, but they’re not retaining the same offense, Tony E is not an Air Raid guy like Robert Anae was last year & they’re going to try to play Clemson ball, but they don’t have the horses to do it in the run game. In year 1 for Tony E, I think they’re a 7-5 team.

FSU’s refusal to address the QB position via the Portal will be the downfall of their team. They added 4 WR’s in the Portal, but Jordan Travis is still a very limited passer & they don’t have the old era FSU backs that used to dominate, that team is Fcked.

Clemson will be very good this year, even with DJ Ukulele at the helm, they have an Elite Defense & return a very good WR group, plus all their RB’s are back. In terms of talent, they’re the most stacked team on our schedule.

I’m about 150% certain they win the Atlantic & will be playing in the ACCCG, if Dabo & Streeter get Cad Klubnik maturated & playing by the end of the year similar to how he did with Bryant/T. Lawrence, they’re gonna be a dangerous team.

Pitt isn’t gonna fall off a cliff like everyone expects, a lot of people are sleeping on Kedon Slovis, when he was healthy he was one of the best QB’s in the Pac-12 his Freshman year & they still have some good offensive firepower at WR.

It will come down to Frank Cignetti & how much they replace what they lose on their defense from the secondary.

But I think the big mistake they’re going to make is that they won’t be as pass happy as they were last year & will want to scale back on airing it out so much, which will allow for teams that aren’t as good as them to hang around late in games with them. Plus, they have a tough schedule this year going up against some good offenses this season, that Secondary is gonna be challenged heavy.

My two sleeper teams that will be tougher to beat than they look on paper in the divisions will be, Cuse & UNC.
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Appreciate you bro.

I agree UNC could for sure be a sleeper. Especially how they’ve been recruiting.

Armstrong is nice. 7-5 wouldn’t surprise me. Forgot about Elliot and ground game. He better air it out at least for 2022.

I’m absolutely not sold on Travis and FSU. I see the FSU beat writers trying to hype him. I’m like nahhhhhhh fam….

Glad to see you agree. I think Clemson will be fine as well.

Yep Slovis was a Boss his freshman year. Helps to have the best WR in college back and your number 2. With all 5 lineman back as well. And all 5 OL received honors for all-conference.

They got a scary DL. It was weird they were 3rd nationally with 54 sacks but had a pass D ranked in the 100s
 
UNC is better at doing less with more than Miami. Mack Brown still has a job despite having a worse three year record than Manny Diaz.

Everyone in the Coastal seems one dimensional besides Pitt. But they’re breaking in a new OC and QB. Plus they always seem really strong in the front seven but struggle against elite passing teams. They leave their dbs on islands a lot and none of them are great. Virginia was #3 in total offense in the nation last year and bring back most of their deadly passing game. Somehow, Miami held them to their lowest output of the season last year. The division is anyone’s to take besides Duke and GT.

A lot of people are sleeping on Clemson. They are a decent quarterback away from being right back in the playoff again. They remind me of some of those post 2002 Coker teams that still had elite talent all over the field but couldn’t get good QB play. We’ll see if Dabo’s coordinator hires can pick up where the last guys left off or if it’s really the beginning of a downhill slide.
 
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