With Clemson the only good program in the conference now it had me thinking who could possibly emerge. It is a problem when the 2 best teams in your conference are Virginia and Pittsburg....
IMO here are the schools who have the capacity to be good football programs in the ACC:
Miami's- going to be curious if Manny Diaz can get the talent level back up. Miami guy who has only coached in the south. At minimum they should have a good and talented defense. The focus for Miami should begin and end with a staff of dogged recruiters with deep ties to South Florida. If you can keep 40-50% of the local players home you are going to be talented enough to win a lot of games in the ACC.
Florida State- Norvell can coach but the recruiting aspect... We will see. The mid major HC doesn't always translate to understanding what it takes to truly compete at the P5 level. We know this very well. He will be helped by the ACC being really bad and not usually needing NFL players all over the LOS. Corner36 has pretty much said he is an awful recruiter and it won't work in Florida. But Florida State sells itself in South Georgia and Northern Florida. Norvell is a better coach but lesser recruiter than Taggart. At FSU you have to think if you start winning some games you will be able to get kids.
Virginia Tech- another that went the mid major route. I think Fuente can coach but they aren't producing NFL guys anymore like they used to. Recruiting hasn't translated nearly as well as it should have for the premier DMV program with easy access to Carolina. After the worst P5 recruiting class I have ever seen last year (#83 in the nation... not a typo) they are off to a terrible start this year as well. Currently ranked #59. Their 2020 class had 1 4 Star. He was outside the Top250 and he was from Texas meaning nobody in Texas or the SEC wanted him.
Louisville- Satterfield is a dang good coach but man you have to question the recruiting. Outside the Top 40 last year. #50 right now. Louisville has really nice facilities and they have won at a pretty good clip in the recent past.
The Wildcard IMO.... Georgia Tech- I have never understood why they went with Paul Johnson. We are talking about a program that won a National Championship in 1990... They were winning 9-10 games in late 90s and early 2000s. Went to ACC Champ game in 2006 with Chan Gailey. Now I understand they were in the ACC but still it wasn't like they were a train wreck. They went with Paul Johnson and they always just had such a ceiling. He won some games for sure. Had a couple really nice seasons but they were never going to be talented. It was system based.
With how Georgia HS football has exploded. If they have a staff who can recruit and can start adding some talent and can translate into some ACC wins... maybe kids will take notice. A school in Atlanta with those academics to sell should be able to land some kids in the south. Not saying they turn into a powerhouse but IMO they could emerge in the SEC if the current staff can handle themselves on the recruiting trail.
It would be kind of nice if Clemson wasn't able to pencil in 11 wins a year with absolutely no question.
IMO here are the schools who have the capacity to be good football programs in the ACC:
Miami's- going to be curious if Manny Diaz can get the talent level back up. Miami guy who has only coached in the south. At minimum they should have a good and talented defense. The focus for Miami should begin and end with a staff of dogged recruiters with deep ties to South Florida. If you can keep 40-50% of the local players home you are going to be talented enough to win a lot of games in the ACC.
Florida State- Norvell can coach but the recruiting aspect... We will see. The mid major HC doesn't always translate to understanding what it takes to truly compete at the P5 level. We know this very well. He will be helped by the ACC being really bad and not usually needing NFL players all over the LOS. Corner36 has pretty much said he is an awful recruiter and it won't work in Florida. But Florida State sells itself in South Georgia and Northern Florida. Norvell is a better coach but lesser recruiter than Taggart. At FSU you have to think if you start winning some games you will be able to get kids.
Virginia Tech- another that went the mid major route. I think Fuente can coach but they aren't producing NFL guys anymore like they used to. Recruiting hasn't translated nearly as well as it should have for the premier DMV program with easy access to Carolina. After the worst P5 recruiting class I have ever seen last year (#83 in the nation... not a typo) they are off to a terrible start this year as well. Currently ranked #59. Their 2020 class had 1 4 Star. He was outside the Top250 and he was from Texas meaning nobody in Texas or the SEC wanted him.
Louisville- Satterfield is a dang good coach but man you have to question the recruiting. Outside the Top 40 last year. #50 right now. Louisville has really nice facilities and they have won at a pretty good clip in the recent past.
The Wildcard IMO.... Georgia Tech- I have never understood why they went with Paul Johnson. We are talking about a program that won a National Championship in 1990... They were winning 9-10 games in late 90s and early 2000s. Went to ACC Champ game in 2006 with Chan Gailey. Now I understand they were in the ACC but still it wasn't like they were a train wreck. They went with Paul Johnson and they always just had such a ceiling. He won some games for sure. Had a couple really nice seasons but they were never going to be talented. It was system based.
With how Georgia HS football has exploded. If they have a staff who can recruit and can start adding some talent and can translate into some ACC wins... maybe kids will take notice. A school in Atlanta with those academics to sell should be able to land some kids in the south. Not saying they turn into a powerhouse but IMO they could emerge in the SEC if the current staff can handle themselves on the recruiting trail.
It would be kind of nice if Clemson wasn't able to pencil in 11 wins a year with absolutely no question.
