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Friday, July 18, 2008
Five burning questions about the ACC
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The ACC Preseason football meetings start Sunday at Reynolds Plantation at Lake Oconee. There will be a million questions asked by the assembled scribes, but here are five that interest me:
1. What will the Georgia Tech defense look like under Dave Wommack? For seven years it was a lot of fun watching DC Jon Tenuta driving opposing offensive coordinators nuts. Wommack won’t be blitzing when he gets off the bus like Tenuta used to do. Tech has a couple of studs in the defensive front in Vance Walker and Darryl Richard. But for the most part Wommack starts with a pretty young defense, especially at linebacker and secondary. What will Ryan Perrilloux (QB, Jacksonville State) think when he looks at this defense on Aug. 28?
2. Will Drew Weatherford go the distance at QB for Florida State? Florida State obviously thinks so because the school is bringing him to the media session on Sunday. Weatherford is a fifth-year senior and if you just look at the numbers, he’s had a pretty decent career. As red-shirt freshman he had 18 interceptions. As a sophomore in 2006 he had 11 picks. Last season he only threw three interceptions. But he also threw only nine touchdown passes. The quarterback’s job is to get the ball into the end zone. Florida State was eighth in the ACC in scoring (23.3 ppg) last season. He had knee surgery on March 28 that has limited is off-season throwing and workouts. But he is a fifth-year senior and normally those guys play with a sense of urgency. We’ll see.
3. How is Cullen Harper’s shoulder?: Harper, Clemson’s junior quarterback from Alpharetta, suffered an injured shoulder in the Nov. 17 game with Boston College. He said this week that if Clemson had beaten BC and reached the ACC championship game, he probably would not have been able to play against Virginia Tech. He had surgery two days after the regular-season finale against South Carolina and played in the Chick-fil-A Bowl and struggled with the shoulder in an overtime loss to Auburn. Last season he was the ACC’s most efficient passer (27 TD, 6 int). How is the shoulder now and will it be ready for the opener against Alabama?
4. Will North Carolina finally find a running game?: For a school that has produced 24 rushers over 1,000 yards in a season, the Tar Heels simply could not run the ball in 2007, averaging 99.7 ypg (10th in the ACC). It’s one reason North Carolina (4-8) lost six games by seven points or less. Freshman wide receiver Greg Little made the switch and ran for 243 yards in the last two games of the season. Four starters return on the offensive line. If Little is the answer at running back, North Carolina will be the most improved team in the ACC.
5. Can Duke improve? Got to. Can’t get any worse. David Cutcliffe will enter preseason with a team that finished last in the ACC in total offense (271.1 ypg), last in scoring offense (17.9 ppg), last in total defense (424.4 ypg) and last in scoring defense (33.2 ppg).
Two players from each ACC will meet with us on Sunday. If you were there, what questions would you want to ask?
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