ACC Football Preview #1: Florida State

I am going to start with the Atlantic Division and go with my pick to win that division, then my pick for number two in the division and so on and then go to the Coastal. So, my pick to win the Atlantic division and make the ACC title game is Florida State.

OFFENSE

QBs: This position has probably plagued FSU the most recently in their fall from the best team in college football to a decent team at best the past few years. Drew Weatherford was the starter the three previous years before last year when Christian Ponder was chosen by second year OC Jimbo Fisher as the starting quarterback. The switch proved to be a good one as FSU went from 21.8 PPG (their worst since 1981) to 33.4 PPG last year. Ponder was a big reason why. He is mobile, athletic, has a good arm, and most of all seems to be a very smart QB. EJ Manuel, a top 5 QB recruit from last year, will be the back-up to Ponder even though he missed the spring due to injury. I look for more improvement from Ponder as he enters his second year as the starter under Fisher's schemes and should be one of the top three or four QB's in the ACC this year.

RBs: FSU has produced some great talent at the RB position under Bobby Bowden. It is hard to believe that they have not had a guy go for 1000 yards since 1996 when Warrick Dunn accomplished the feat. Last year senior Antone Smith was the solid #1 RB for the team and had a good year, rushing for 792 yds. and 15 TDs. Jermaine Thomas was the #2 guy and rushed for 482 and 3 TDs. Ponder was actually third on the rushing list with 423 and 4 TDs. This year Thomas looks to be the lead guy and should have a good year as FSU's o-line continues to improve under Rick Trickett. They will probably continue their streak of no 1000 yard rushers however as they lose their top rusher from a year ago and Thomas is still young.

WRs: WR has always been a strength for the Seminoles as they always are able to recruit great speed. Last year they were hurt early in the year by suspensions that carried over from last years academic cheating scandal. Greg Carr (6'6") graduated last year and Corey Surrency lost his NCAA appeal for another year of eligibility. This unit has a lot of decent young talent that was young last year and should improve. This should be a decent year for FSU's receivers but this will not be an overwhelming group.

OL: If QB wasn't FSU's biggest problem recently then the offensive line definitely was. Bowden hired Rick Trickett, considered one of the best OL coaches in the country, away from West Virginia three years ago with the hopes of correcting these problems. It has been a slower process than what some Seminole fans have wanted but the results are starting to show. Last year FSU had one of the youngest lines in the country, starting 3 freshman and 2 sophomores (almost unheard of in major college football). The line struggled at times but really showed flashes down the stretch last year picking up Trickett's zone blocking schemes. The great news is that this should be FSU's best o-line in many years as all five starters return. They will still be on the young side, now with 2 juniors and 3 sophomores, but all the playing experience from a year ago should nullify some of that. This should be one of the top offensive lines in the ACC and should be FSU's best in some time.

DEFENSE

DL: FSU seems to produce NFL defensive linemen and LB's almost at will. FSU, with Mickey Andrews at the helm, always has a good rush defense. FSU had an uncharacteristic year against the run last year, allowing 133 YPG but they did record 39 sacks. This year they lose Everette Brown, the second round draft choice of the Carolina Panthers, and Neefy Moffett who had 5.5 sacks last year. They do however, as usual, bring in top notch talent with the #1 ranked DL in the country Jacobbi McDaniel and the #1 Junior College DL Markus White. FSU will have another good d-line that might not record as many sacks but should be better against the run.

LBs: Florida State always has big, fast, really good linebackers. That is just the advantage of having a great defense that produces NFL talent, good recruiters, and being in located in the state of Florida. This year they do have to replace their top 2 tacklers from a year ago (Derek Nicholson and Toodrick Verdell) but they always seem to replace talent with talent. This years LB corps will be inexperienced but FSU has done a great job recruiting LBs the past few years and this group will be lightning fast and very talented, albeit young.

DBs: Again, as it seems like is written in every position group defensively, FSU is always loaded with speed and athletes in the secondary. They usually have a very strong pass defense, sometimes simply because their front seven is so good they get good pressure on opposing QBs. They slipped a little last year because they struggled against the run, often playing now departed safety Myron Rolle closer to the line of scrimmage. In addition to losing Rolle this year they lose two of their better cover corners in Tony Carter and Michael Ray Garvin. They also lose FS Darius McClure. This unit returns just two starters this year (Patrick Robinson and Jamie Robinson) but should be pretty good. They replace the departing upperclassmen with younger speed and I think this years DBs could actually have a better year than the experienced group from a year ago.

OVERALL

FSU has been struggling the past few seasons in trying to return to their glory days of the 1990s. I think they are almost back. This years team looks solid across the board with a couple of potentially scary spots (depth at WR and young LB) but the guys projected to start are extremely talented as FSU has done a better job recruiting the past couple of years. FSU now has a team that resembles some of those 1990s teams with tons of speed and good line play on both sides of the ball. I predict for FSU to have their first double digit win season since 2003 and to not only play in the ACC title game but to win the ACC. FSU does have a very tough schedule with BYU, South Florida, and Florida on the non-conference schedule but I see FSU as a team on the rise and one ready for at least somewhat of a breakout year for them.

Pretty Impressive

This video is pretty impressive. Some MMA guy jumps out of a swimming pool (in 3 feet of water depth) without using his hands. Just thought I would pass this along as it has nothing to do with ACC sports

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/B-J-Penn-is-the-best-athlete-in-MMA-?urn=mma,177359

Good article on Scout.com

Just saw a good article on www.scout.com's front page about the upcoming ACC football season. It gives five thoughts on the ACC this upcoming year. The ACC should be competitive this year with many good teams, but probably not a national title contender this year.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/879556.html

ACC Football Preview

Starting on Monday, I will do an ACC football preview for each team heading into the 2009-2010 football year. It is hard to believe, and exciting, that football season is less than two months away. This should be a very competitive year in the ACC as many teams appear to be moving in the right direction.

Coach K to Coach USA Basketball through 2012

It was announced yesterday that Mike Krzyzewski, head coach at Duke, has decided to stay on with Team USA and USA basketball through the 2012 Olympics in London. This is great news for the national team as it means great cohesion throughout this stretch as the U.S. continues to try and re-assert its world dominance in basketball. The question is, is this a good thing for Duke basketball?

Anyone can notice that Duke, currently, is not the program that they were ten years ago. Duke has not been to a final four since 2004. They have not been past the sweet sixteen since that time either. They have won three ACC championships but really have not done anything on the national scene (2005 and 2006 were good years that saw Duke ranked in the top 2 and often number one at many times). The real "decline" has been the past three years, coincidentally (or not) with Coach K's first commitment to USA basketball. In 2007, Duke had its worst season since the mid 1990's, going 22-11 and losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament to VCU. In 2008, Duke had a better year, gaining a number 2 seed in the NCAA tournament but lost in the second round to West Virginia after beating Belmont by one point on a last second lay-up by Gerald Henderson (now a Charlotte Bobcat). Duke improved again in 2009, winning the ACC tournament and getting another #2 seed in the NCAA tourney. However, Duke still was not the Duke of old. They got beat by 100 at Clemson earlier in the year and lost to Villanova in the sweet 16 by 23.

Did Coach K's commitment to USA basketball hurt the Duke basketball program? By simply looking at the numbers it would be hard to argue anything other than it obviously did. Duke, from 1986 to 2004, could guarantee every recruit that came to Duke they would probably get to go to a final four during their four years at Duke, and most likely multiple final fours. Not anymore. They have won just won ACC tournament the last three years (which is definitely not bad) but not near the pace they were on before K's commitment to team USA.

Taking numbers as the only basis for comparison would not be doing the situation justice. What Krzyzewski says himself has to count for something. He has sworn since day one that this has not hurt Duke in any way but rather it has helped Duke because it has made him a much better coach. He states he has learned a great deal from the assistant coaches he has been working with, the elite players he had the opportunity to coach, and the international game. He also has sworn it has not hurt Duke's recruiting.

I agree with him on all points minus one. I believe it has hurt Duke's recruiting. There is a reason Duke's program is not currently an ELITE national program. They don't have the players they used to have. Coach K is a hall of famer and has done some incredible coaching jobs during his great career at Duke, but he can only do so much when the players on the other team are that much better than his. Just go back and watch the Villanova game. Duke was severely out classed at every position minus two (Henderson and Singler). Duke simply does not currently have elite level talent. When Duke would usually be out heavily recruiting during the summer, except for the dead periods, they are not. K took his whole staff with him on the team USA ride. They learned a great deal as coaches, but could not form the relationships with high school juniors and seniors that were necessary to get the elite level high school talent to sign.

If you look at Duke's recruiting in 2010, they look to be loading up again. They already have commitments from three players, two of which are considered immediate impact guys in Andre Dawkins and Josh Hairston. Most feel they are in good spots with Harrison Barnes (the #1 player in 2010), Kyrie Irving (5 * PG), and Ray McCallum (5 * PG). They also have offered Roscoe Smith (4 * SF) who appears to now be very interested. K has stated that 2010 needs to be a monster class and it is shaping up to be one. Duke, if this class pans out, will be back in the final four before you know it.

Will this new commitment hurt Duke's recruiting in 2011 and 2012? Most feel that Duke has made great strides with guys in 2011 they are targeting. These also will probably be smaller classes if the 2010 class is what they are hoping. Many think Coach K will now also have a much better idea of his schedule. Will it hurt Duke's recruiting in the next few years? I don't know. If Coach K thinks it won't then you have to think he knows something. Either way it is great news for USA basketball and in the long run I think at least decent news for Duke basketball.