Greg (@devywarehouse) had the idea to tackle one burning question for each college football team in 2020. We’ll break these up by conference and/or division. Greg asked Kyle (@FranchiseKF) and Brad (@DW_BMack) to join him for the ACC editions. Since the conference did away with divisions and added Notre Dame this year, we’ll tackle this alphabetically in two parts. The questions will either reference college fantasy football, Devy, or real-world gameday or locker room topics.
Boston College Eagles
Can transfers give the offense an added boost? @DevyWarehouse
The Eagles added two highly ranked transfers for the 2020 season. QB Phil Jurkovec and WR Jaelen Gill. Both enter as redshirt sophomores who’ve gained immediate eligibility for this fall. Both prospects have seen sparse playing time leading to leaving their previous destinations. Jurkovec and Gill give the new BC staff plenty of options on how to use them. Jurkovec is a dual-threat that can hurt defenses with his arm and legs. While Gill is a versatile athlete that can play receiver or running back. He was a running back recruit originally but converted to a slot receiver while at Ohio State. Both players add a new dangerous element to the Eagles’ offense.
Clemson Tigers
Next man up at wide receiver? @DevyWarehouse
The Tigers receiving corps took a major hit after the news of Justyn Ross being sidelined for the season due to a neck injury. The receiving room was already missing the 33rd overall pick in Tee Higgins. The two receivers combined for 117-1904-21 for the 2019 season, also combining for nearly 180 targets. The Tigers have major opportunities up for grabs in the 2020 season. Joseph Ngata and Frank Ladson Jr are the expected beneficiaries of the lost targets. According to 247Sports Composite ranks, both receivers ranked inside the top 52 overall players and top 10 receivers in the 2019 recruiting class. Ngata finished his true freshman season with a stat line of 17-240-3 and Ladson hauled in 9-128-3. Both enter 2020 as true sophomores with prime opportunity to garner an early breakout age.
Duke Blue Devils
Do the Blue Devils have a bona fide devy asset on their roster? @FranchiseKF
Bona fide: genuine; real.
My own question is already tripping me up! Now that I’m done with semantics, I think they have a prospective pro in TE Noah Gray. This is an excerpt from my CFF preview, “The player that I’m most interested in is TE Noah Gray. I could argue that he’s amongst the most underrated players in every draft that I’ve participated in this spring. He’s gone undrafted behind 27 of his peers and then as TE18 and TE19 in other drafts. He caught 51 balls last season. His aDOT should increase this season with a more capable passer at Q.B. Gray will get a shot to play in the NFL, and he’s a guy that I’ll continue to acquire as his price, especially in leagues with TE PPR premiums.” Cutcliffe is often transparent in his evaluation of his team and his players. This spring, he had this to say about his tight ends, “And then our tight ends, good gosh what a position there… Led by Noah Gray, who is just an outstanding player in every aspect of the game.” Gray isn’t the type of guy that should be targeted in traditional devy drafts, but he’s a nice player to target in C2C formats because you have a guy with an extremely high floor on the college side that possesses the potential to be desired by the NFL.
Florida State Seminoles
How much better will FSU’s offensive line play be? @DW_BMack
I was looking up different OL statistics but remembered that we all know FSU’s OL was bad, really bad, bottom of the NCAA bad in 2019. According to Football Outsiders, only 15 college football teams created fewer yards per carry than FSU’s 2.25. Only 15 other OLs were responsible for allowing sacks at a higher rate. Mike Norvell’s offenses have done a lot with a little at OL, but his OL coach and run game coordinator, Ryan Silverfield, stayed behind and took over the Memphis program. FSU returns 65% of OL snaps from 2019. But maybe that’s not a good thing. The previous coaching staffs stopped landing the kind of talent we are used to seeing in Tallahassee. Norvell’s scheme will help cover up some inadequacies. It’s probably fair to say the OL will improve because there’s not a lot of room to get worse, but until they get an influx of talent up front, it’s not going to be anything than makes their fans proud week in and week out.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Should we take WR Ahmarean Brown seriously as a Devy prospect? @DW_BMack
Absolutely.
Working primarily out of the slot or as the point man in bunch formations, Brown led a lost Georgia Tech team in catches, yards, and touchdowns in 2019. Having run a 10.4 second 100 meters in high school, Brown was recruited for his speed – that Florida speed that shows up in every facet of his game. I think his route running ability came as a surprise to those at Georgia Tech. Brown does a good job setting up his routes with head and shoulder fakes as well as upper body leans. He creates separation with his cuts and increases separation with his speed out of the cut. He’s adept at finding the ball late in the route, tracks it well after finding it, and catches it over his shoulder as well as anyone. He has soft hands even if it’s not a natural hands catcher. He can adjust his body to the pass and shows good sideline awareness, maximizing his catch radius and making several Sunday catches along the way. Even more, he’s a tremendous deep threat, even at 5’10”, with 7 of his 21 catches going for more than 25 yards. Brown tied Calvin Johnson’s freshman record with 7 touchdown catches. That might be the last time those two are mentioned together, but that’s OK. Brown should be the go-to guy in an offense that continues to evolve, and there’s an NFL role for a player with his skillset.
Louisville Cardinals
Does Tutu Atwell have an NFL future? @FranchiseKF
This is an excerpt from Bruce Feldman’s recent ‘Freaks List’, “Freakiest attribute: Speed, but it’s close. He’s coming off a breakout season where he caught 70 passes for 1,276 yards and 12 TDs. Atwell is 5-9, 190 but he can squat triple his body weight, he can bench press double his body weight and he has blinding speed with a 4.26 40 and a 3.9 short shuttle.”
The testing numbers don’t surprise. The listed weight does. On the team website, his 2020 size is listed at 5’9” and 165-pounds. I’ve known teams to be generous with the weights they give out, but I’ve never known them to discount a receiver’s weight by 25 pounds! I’m willing to stipulate that the NFL seems less bound by rigid size requirements on their receivers, but he’s a bit small for me to advocate taking with a valuable devy pick. It’s not a talent issue at all. He’s one of the most dynamic and exciting players in the game. I’ll wait another year to see whether or not he legitimately packed on the extra weight before I consider drafting him. I understand that there will be a tax associated with my move, but I’d rather not use a taxi spot unless I feel confident about the totality of a prospect’s profile.
Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Is D’Eriq King the most exciting QB to ever play at Miami? @FranchiseKF
Yes.
Will the line be able to protect him?
Maybe.
North Carolina Tar Heels
How high can UNC climb in 2020? @DW_BMack
Expectations around Chapel Hill are much higher heading into the 2020 season than they were this time last year. A year ago, we were more curious to see what Mack Brown could do with a budding team, a new OC, and highly-recruited incoming freshman QB. Howell looked great and broke school and national freshman records along the way. He showed that he has the IT factor and a clutch gene on his way to a 7-6 record. He’s surrounded by talent on the offensive side of the ball, and the defense was drastically improved in 2019 and only has a couple of holes to fill in 2020.
Have we set the expectations too high this year? Before COVID-19 messed everything up, I had already penciled the Tar Heels in the ACC Championship game. So, probably. Now that their work has been cut out for them, let’s look at the ACC schedule and figure out the best case scenario for UNC.
The first month of the season is very manageable. They open with Cuse before their non-con game and a week off, followed by a trip to Boston College. The middle of the schedule brings a couple of speed bumps (VT, FSU, NC State, UVA). If the Tarheels take the next steps this season, there’s no reason they can’t be 6-1 at this point. The last month of their season is the toughest, and how they handle this stretch will determine whether they play for an ACC Championship or not this year. Duke and Wake Forest aren’t pushovers. Everyone assumes Notre Dame will be Clemson’s opponent in the ACC Championship game. UNC hosts ND in late November, most likely for second place in the conference. However, North Carolina has to go to Miami in December in the final week of the season. I think a 9-2 record is possible, but 8-3 is probably more likely.
Check back Thursday for Part 2 covering the rest of the ACC teams and Notre Dame.
