There was so much that could have been put into the story, including what some of those who cover the ACC think about the quarterbacks.
Here they give their thoughts on a few of the signal-callers. Their quotes have been paraphrased.
Wes Durham, formerly Georgia Tech’s broadcaster who now works for Fox Sports Net:
On N.C. State’s Ryan Finley
He’s talented, really talented. He and (offensive coordinator) Eliah Drinkwitz combine to make a nice package for them.
On Georgia Tech’s Justin Thomas
A senior who has done a really, really good job.
Though he’s not regarded as a passer of the ball, he’s a central cog in what they are doing offensively.
On North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky
I had the Delaware game last year when he came in and replaced Marquise Williams. This is no slight to Marquise, I thought in some ways he was as good a fit to what Coach Larry Fedora is trying to do.
He’s a guy who has all the throws. He’s a product of patience. Sometimes we don’t want to have patience. He came in and sat behind Marquise. Kind of guy who is a pretty solid package.
On Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson
Then you get these guys like Jackson and Watson that are just rock stars.
You see the stuff that Lamar does. I did Michael Vick’s game with the Falcons, and Lamar … that’s just crazy.
With Deshaun, he’s a guy that’s got the complete package. He’s just scratching the surface of how good he’s going to be.
On Florida State’s Deondre Francois
I like Francois. He’s just young. It’s just a matter of growth and experience. He’s got a cannon.
In spring, they gave Francois the whole playbook. They told him, “You work through this. We will run everything in this. Take it like it’s your game.” It ended up being his game.
It’s hard to believe he’s just a redshirt freshman.
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David Archer, who does analysis for ACC games for the ACC Network
On Virginia Tech’s Jerod Evans
Jerrod Evans is a big, physical guy. He’s extremely confident.
The No. 1 thing that jumps out is that he’s kind of had to go through it a little bit with his career. He had to go through the junior college ranks and had to rebuild his image.
Coach Justin Fuente took a chance on him. He’s really done a nice job of blending familiarity with what they wanted to do on offense.
The stage hasn’t been too big for him. He’s got a little something about him. It’s not a cockiness or something that turns you off. It’s something you gravitate to. Deshaun Watson has that. You want to be around the guy.
He has an ability to take that leadership and swagger to the field.
He can throw the rock and run it. This kid has the full package Big arm, tough. Doesn’t hurt with the talent he has around him.
He realizes he has really good players around him. He’s not trying to do everything.
On Virginia’s Kurt Benkert
Really impressed with Benkert at Virginia, especially his ball placement and accuracy.
On Duke’s Daniel Jones
Even though Jones threw five picks, he’s got all the skill in the world. Big, strong.
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Butch Davis, who does analysis of ACC games for ESPN
On Florida State’s Deondre Francois
The whole team is a mystery. How they are playing, lack of energy, lack of effort.
After Ole Miss, everyone wanted to anoint them as champion.
The Team had all five starters on the offensive line back and they’ve given up 15 sacks with a quarterback who is remarkably mobile.
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On Virginia Tech’s Jerod Evans
Maybe the guy that’s the sleeper is Jerod Evans at Virginia Tech. They had 10 fumbles in the first two games. It’s just almost impossible when you are turning the ball over that much and giving up possession.
The most important stats for Evans is 13 touchdowns and only one interception.
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On Clemson’s Deshaun Watson
The game played this past weekend, he put the team on his shoulders. It looked like maybe the play-calling earlier in the season kind of protected him.
One of the features we did on Clemson-Oklahoma when they played last year is the threat he is in the red zone. Going into last weekend’s game, he had zero rushing TDs inside the red zone.
Saturday, they used him a lot more running the ball.
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