Unit rankings and ACC Media Day

HD just finished up her unit by unit ranking of the ACC and as usual there is quite a bit to be disgruntled about. I really don't know about this whole blogger thing, or maybe they need to start adding two reporters for each conference because you can tell that shes personally familiar with a number of teams while she gets other information from reports. Her rankings aren't wildly off the mark they just sometimes seem to be a superficial analysis of certain situations. Now that shes all done I can give you my take.

First up are QBs where HD has us down @ 12 and I think thats right on the mark, I think her 2-11 are questionable but her analysis of BC is solid.

Next up are the RBs where Heather has us @ 5. As a pessimist I have to feel like there might be a chance that last year was a bit of a fluke with Harris, but at the same time you have to go with what you saw. Statistically 1(Haden) and 2(Harris) are definitely better than WF and Miami. I personally feel that VT should probably be #1 while we should be ahead of GT. I realize that Dwyer is the reigning player of the year and he will without a doubt be the best runner statistically, but you always see QBs from the spread get knocked why shouldn't tailbacks from the Spread Option get knocked. (that being aside I am legitimately afraid of what Paul Johnson can do when he gets his recruits into position, scary). While VT's stable is starting to look similar to USC's I feel that Harris and a healthy Haden are two great backs and that is what this is about, the units themselves, not the units in regard to their supporting cast.

WRs come in third and HD had us @ 4, to be honest to me that sounded high at first but looking at the returning players from other teams it is certainly understandable. I also like the decision to recruit big tall guys especially with our inexperienced QBs. I remember a couple teams over the years just lofting passes to receivers in the end zone and our CBs could do nothing about it (there was a really tall guy @ VT wore #2 I think, don't know if hes still there but he did it like 4 times)

O-Line where Dinich gave us some props @ #2 and maybe this is bias but we have to be #1 here. Castonzo and Tennant anchor a line with Lapham and Claiborne, two absolute forces. The LG spot is open still sure, but any number of the possibilities there could probably better than most other teams OLineman. We might be weak in blocking TEs but I still feel like they are capable and talented pass catchers in the group and McCluskey is one of the best FBs in the country.

D-Line is another area where I have a beef with HD. Yes, we have to replace BJ and Brace, but we also get Albright back. Albright, Ramella and Giles create one hell of a rotation of starting caliber ends. A lot of people also don't realize that BJ and Brace were big guys and needed a fair amount of breathers and Scafe in particular proved to be an effective backup. With Quinn coming in and Ramsey, Murray and Deska available there's still quite a lot of veterans along that line, even if it's not game experience. I wouldn't be surprised to see Giles get worked into the DT position either. This unit should be sixth above NC State at the very least.

Linebackers are up next and HD has us @ 10. My immediate reaction was that this was a fair enough assessment but looking at the situation of NC State, Duke and Maryland and factoring in McLaughlin's likely return and Spaz and McGovern's ability to really coach up LBs I think you could slot the unit in @ 7.

Dinich gave the secondary a 3rd place and I think she might have overestimated a bit here. We are returning 3 of 4 starters and plenty of experience but I think this year we're going to find that without a mind blowing front 7 the secondary will not quite live up to the hype. Looking at the other units we should probably be down in the 5-7 range.

Special Teams I think an off-season will give Quigley some good consistency and he's still got a boot for KO duty Aponavicious is pretty much money for PATs and he has great accuracy, just don't expect much out of him past the 15 yrds out. Nate Freese apparently hit a 52 yarder in HS but Ryan Ohliger hit a 58 yarder in HS and that didn't work out (granted that was because he was a head case).