National Signing Day for Football less than One Week Away

National Signing Day for college football is less than one week away (Wednesday, February 3). With it approaching, here is a quick rundown of where ACC teams stand nationally.

Teams will be listed by highest rank nationally (in terms of their recruiting class) with their national rank in parentheses.

1. Florida State (18)

Top signees: 5* MLB Jeff Luc and 5* CB Lamarcus Joyner

Outlook: Jimbo Fisher is now the head coach at FSU and right after he was introduced the two players listed above committed. FSU recruiting will always be strong but it looks as though FSU could be moving back towards the elite top 10 status with a younger, energized coaching staff.

2. Miami (19)

Top Signees: 4* C Brandon Linder and 4* RB Eduardo Clements

Outlook: Miami continues to re-build a solid program under Randy Shannon. C Brandon Linder is the number one ranked C in the country. Miami is still recruiting a couple of kids that if they are able to land could push them into the top 15.

3. Clemson (24)

Top Signees: 4* CB DeAndre Hopkins and 4* DE Corey Crawford

Outlook: Clemson has another top 25 haul. While they have not landed a couple of the top 30 players nationally like they did under Tommy Bowden, the overall class looks very solid and should allow the Tigers to continue to compete for the ACC crown.

4. North Carolina (29)

Top Signees: 5* T James Hurst and 4* RB Gio Bernard

Outlook: UNC continues their great recruiting (esp. when compared to the previous decade) under Butch Davis. They are going for a ton of top talent, and while striking out some, are getting their few and it is starting to show in on-field talent and results.

5. Virginia Tech (30)

Top Signees: 4* DE Zack McCray and 4* G Lawrence Gibson

Outlook: VT, under Beamer, doesn't always sign 5 star guys but they definitely get good players and do an unbelievable job of developing them. A top 30 class is really good for VT and leads me to believe that they will continue to be a frontrunner in the ACC.

6. North Carolina State (36)

Top Signees: 5* T Rob Crisp and 4* DT Fre'Shad Hunter

Outlook: NC State probably hasn't had the total on-field results they had hoped when they hired Tom O'Brien three years ago. This class is really good for the Pack and should be one that will continue to help O'Brien build. They won't win only 5-6 games a year under O'Brien forever.

7. Maryland (39)

Top Signees: 4* OLB Javarie Johnson and 4* QB Tyler Smith

Outlook: Maryland has struggled mightily the past couple of years when compared to the beginning of Friedgen's tenure. This class has a couple of good players and is a top 40 class nationally and could help Friedgen turn it around in College Park if he has the time.

8. Boston College (40)

Top Signees: 4* OLB Steele Divitto and 4* T Seth Betancourt

Outlook: Boston College has been really unsettled at the head coaching position the past 5 years but this class, considering that, is not bad at all. A top 40 class will allow BC to have enough talent to compete with every team on their schedule and to see if Spaziani has what it takes to continue to sustain and perhaps grow the Eagle program.

9. Georgia Tech (45)

Top Signees: 4* CB Ryan Ayers and 4* DT Shawn Green

Outlook: Georgia Tech won the ACC title last year but that was mostly with Chan Gailey's recruits. Johnson did a remarkable job of taking players recruited for another system and taking them to an ACC title. Georgia Tech's class is solid but not spectacular. The hardest part for the rest of the conference is that the system is so hard to stop that it might not matter if they don't get elite talent (at least not until their bowl game).

10. Wake Forest (58)

Top Signees: 3* C Daniel Blitch and 3* G Antonio Ford

Outlook: Wake has never recruited "elite" talent under Grobe. However, they win a lot of games (more than any other era in Wake history). This tells me that Grobe probably does the best job in the conference (along with Beamer) of scouting talent and developing it. Wake will win as long as Grobe is in Winston Salem.

11. Duke (70)

Top Signees: 3* G Laken Tomlinson and 3* RB Juwan Thompson

Outlook: Duke has continued to improve vastly on the field under head coach David Cutcliffe. Recruiting was also much better the first couple of years. This class, by all accounts, has been a disappointment. Duke has lost some guys previously committed to other schools and missed on many of their bigger recruits. Duke is still signing much more speed than in previous years but this class hasn't been their best.

12. Virginia (73)

Top Signees: 3* MLB Henry Coley and 3* T Conner Davis

Outlook: Virginia football has really fallen the past few years. Groh hasn't been recruiting as well (besides the O-line) and a coaching change was made in the offseason. New coach Mike London had no time to save this class so next year will be the first to judge his recruiting ability. Virginia will likely struggle at times next year and maybe the year after. After that it is unsure.

UNC...NIT??

Lets start with this. The title of this post is a joke. I don't believe that UNC losing to two ranked ACC opponents in a row equals them being in real danger of not making the NCAA tournament. The only real alarming loss for UNC this season is to College of Charleston a week or so ago. There have been some positives and obviously some negatives this year for the defending national champs. Here are a few of them on each side.

Positives

1. Ed Davis' development: The last two games haven't been Davis' best (4 pts. 4 rebs. vs Clemson and 12 pts. and 8 rbs. against GT) but overall this year Davis has shown great improvement from a year ago. He is averaging 14.7 pts and 9.8 rebounds for the year and has been the Tar Heels most consistent player.

2. Dexter Strickland: The highly touted freshman started slowly, struggling to adapt to his role as a PG at Carolina after being a SG his entire high school career. The last few games, however, Strickland might have been the Tar Heels best PG. Against Clemson particularly, he might have been the only player to show up in UNC's worst performance of the year.

Negatives

1. Marcus Ginyard: Unfortunately he has not had the year that UNC fans were hoping and the media (who picked UNC to win the ACC and #4 nationally preseason) thought he would. He has been a decent perimeter defender (but not as good as pre-injury) but hasn't provided the consistent scoring on the wing that UNC needs to make their offense go. He is only averaging 9.4 points on the year. Ginyard's role cannot be fully stated just in stats (his leadership is huge for this team) but if UNC is going to turn around from a less than stellar start they need more perimeter scoring. If they don't get it, teams will continue to solely focus on UNC's inside guys and take their chances on UNC beating them from the perimeter.

2. John Henson: For a guy that was rated the #4 overall prospect nationally in last years' high school class, he certainly has not fulfilled the role that UNC fans were hoping and probably Roy Williams was hoping. He really doesn't have a position at this point in his career. His frame is too thin to play in the post but he doesn't, at this point, have the quickness, shot, or ball handling ability to play on the wing. He has a great feel for blocking shots and should be a good rebounder during his career. UNC needs more than that from Henson though.

Has UNC's season been a disappointment so far? It depends on how you look at it. Their six losses were to teams currently ranked 24, 4, 2, 19, 18, and then the College of Charleston upset. They have also beaten teams currently ranked 15 (Ohio St. ) and 9 (Michigan St.). They are 1-2 in ACC play but again, those losses were to GT and Clemson (ranked 19 and 18 respectively).

The biggest problem for UNC thus far has been expectations. This was a predominately young team with zero proven guys on the perimeter (unless you want to count Ginyard) and guard play wins in college basketball. Had UNC been picked to be a top 25 team that would finish somewhere between second and fifth in the ACC then the level of panic would be far less. Roy Williams is a kind of a victim of his own success this year as people just expected UNC to keep rolling. That probably was not going to be possible considering what they lost last year (do the names of Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington, Green, and Frasor ring a bell?).

Lastly, I didn't want to list this in the negative column but I haven't been overly impressed with some of Roy Williams' coaching this year. He has said on multiple occasions on TV this year before and during games that his job for this year was to get the new guys to run just as fast as his previous couple of years' teams had. This team is not ready for that. They don't have the PG to make the great decisions on the run or the three point specialist from the wing to get all the kick-outs from the point guard's drive and kick. Simply put, this team is not built to be an up-tempo team. I think Williams would be better suited to slow it down, play more of a half-court game, and run only when the opportunity presents. UNC's best asset this year is in the post and they negate some of that with their always running style. Recruits might not think it is as glamorous watching UNC play a half court game, but it might would help them win more games. Not to mention in a half court game they would not have to score as many points to win, and they are not as explosive as in years past.

UNC is by no means in BIG trouble but they need to start winning games to regain some confidence. Their next five games are all against unranked opponents before their first meeting with Duke. UNC, currently at 1-2, could easily be 6-2 heading into the game against Duke and then the perception around UNC would be much different.

ACC Football Season Officially Over

With Georgia Tech losing ANOTHER BCS game for the ACC tonight to Iowa, another bowl season has wrapped up for the conference. It was yet another fairly disappointing year as the ACC still cannot get over that hurdle and make the jump to becoming a very good/elite football conference.

The only real quality win for the ACC came from Virginia Tech, as they dismantled Tennessee in the Chick-Fil-A bowl on New Years Eve. Thank you Virginia Tech for being the one constant in this conference. Even if you are not usually quite good enough to be a national title contender, you are always solid and represent the conference well. Without you the past five years this conference would have been no better than the MAC or Sun Belt.

You could make a case for FSU also getting a quality win for the conference (beating West Virginia in the Gator Bowl in Bobby Bowden's last game) but FSU has more talent than WVU, even if their record didn't show it this year. But I would give this at least half a point on the quality win scale (from 0 to 1).

The worst loss has to go to Georgia Tech. They are the ACC champs, 10-2 on the year going into the Orange Bowl, and a favorite in the game. This was a prime chance for them, as well as the conference as a whole, to make a statement. Iowa was the second place team in a WEAK Big 10 this year and should have no business beating the ACC champs. However, they actually dominated the game and the score should not have been as close as it was. This is two years in a row that GT has looked awful in a bowl game when their opponent has a month to prepare for their option offense. Not a good sign for Paul Johnson and the Yellow Jacket fans.

Overall, the ACC went 3-4 in bowls this season. While not the worst year they have ever had, it certainly doesn't help the national perception of this conference in football. FSU looks to be on the rise (a rash of 5* recruits have committed since Fisher took over after the bowl), Clemson should continue to be good, VT is always there, and GT looks like it will be a force in the conference. For the national perception to change any though the ACC needs to have a national title contender in the conference and two or three other teams hovering around the 10 win mark. Until that happens (and the ACC wins some big bowl games for goodness sake) it will still be looked at as a second rate football conference, behind the SEC, Big XII, PAC 10, and Big 10.