ACC 2016 Conference Review
It was a great year for the ACC. Clemson made their way into the College Football Playoffs, and Louisville surprised everybody by finishing the season ranked thirteenth in the nation with a 9-3 record. Florida State finished their season strong with a 31-13 victory over Florida. The ACC is stocked, locked and loaded with talent, and just about every team has at least one player that could somewhere down the line make an impact at the NFL level. The large pool of talented prospects isn’t a surprise, since the ACC is one of the strongest conferences in college football.
Player of The Year
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Dalvin Cook, RB Florida State (Junior)
268 carries, 1,620 yards, 18 touchdowns, 30 catches, 426 yards, one touchdown
The latest infusion of talented running backs is going to alter the dynasty market in the near future due to the shear fact that we haven’t seen this many talented running backs enter the league in quite a long time. Cook is going to be one of the poster-boys for next year’s draft and he’s going too billed as one of the next generational talents. He should be mentioned in the same breath as Adrian Peterson, Todd Gurley and Ezekiel Elliott. He has rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his last three seasons and has a total of 4,319 yards and 45 touchdowns on his career, allowing him to finish his junior season as Florida State’s all-time leading rusher. His junior season was impeccable as he rushed for over 100-yards in eight games, accumulating 1,620 yards on the ground for the season, ranking him sixth in the nation. His numbers weren’t just a product of volume since he owned a 35.95 percent share of the team’s offensive production, making him an integral of Florida State’s offense.
Cook will be considered a consensus top three pick in rookie drafts this year. Leonard Fournette is the only other running back that will compete with him as the top running back in this draft class. Three down backs that were hyper productive in college that are from power-five schools don’t grow on trees, making Cook a rare commodity.
Honorable Mention
Mike Williams, WR Clemson (Junior)
84 catches, 1,171 yards, ten touchdowns
Williams finished the season on a tear, catching 38 receptions for 523 yards and six touchdowns. His style of play drew a lot of rave reviews amongst a lot of draft analysts. He does a very good job at using his size to shield himself away from the defender to make tough contested catches. He uses his strong hands to attack the ball while making the catch in traffic. He suffered a severe neck injury during his sophomore season which derailed his development, causing him to start this season off a little slow, but the pre-existing condition didn’t deter him from finishing the season ranked second in the ACC with 1,171 receiving yards.
Williams is more than likely going to be a first round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft and he will also be one of the top prospects in rookie drafts next spring. Many analysts question his speed and quickness, but he has the size and strength to become starting wide receiver at the NFL level if all the chips fall in the right places for him. He has been an intriguing prospect for the last two–three years and now it’s time to see if talents can translate to the NFL level.
Lamar Jackson, QB Louisville (Sophomore)
220/382 passing, 3,390 yards, 30 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 234 carries, 1,538 yards, 21 touchdowns
The ACC is stacked with talent and in most conferences Jackson would be labeled as the player of the year, because it’s almost physically impossible to rival his offensive output. When you take in account his rushing and pass production, he gained a total of 4,928 yards and 51 touchdowns. He started the season off hot, scoring at least five touchdowns in his first five games. He led Louisville to a 63-20 thrashing over Florida State and almost got the upset victory over Clemson. Accuracy issues and his inability to make the correct decisions against tough defenses will be the two major red marks on his profile when we look back at his sophomore season in a few years. Nonetheless, his sophomore campaign was incredible and he’s worthy of being touted as one of the most electrifying players in the country.
Jackson’s devy stock exploded this season, going from a promising sophomore to winning the Heisman Trophy. His accuracy is a bit of an issue. He finished the season with a 57.6 completion percentage, and he completed less than 60 percent of his passes in seven games this season. He will need to improve upon his accuracy next season and maintain his current production for him to be one of the top quarterback prospects in his draft class. His stock should maintain its value through next year as long as there aren’t any setbacks in his game. I look for him to develop into a better passer and finish his junior season as one of the top quarterbacks in his draft class.
Amba Etta-Tawo, WR Syracuse
94 catches, 1,482 yards, 14 touchdowns
I wish my senior year of college was as amazing as Etta-Tawo’s. His 1,482 yards receiving, ranked him fourth in the nation, as he shattered Marvin Harrison’s program record of 1,131 yards in a single season. He had seven games with over 100-yards receiving while owning an incredible 38.44 percent market share of the team’s passing offense.
He’s a senior which means he will definitely be coming out for the upcoming draft. The combine is going to be very impactful for his draft stock, because he only has one productive season on his resume and testing well with solid to elite athletic metrics could be enough to get him selected within the top-100 of the NFL Draft. Right now, he is projected as a late second to late third round pick in rookie drafts.
Isaiah Ford, WR Virginia Tech (Junior)
73 catches, 1,038 yards, seven touches
Ford is one of the top receivers in the country due to his superb route-running and ability to create separation with his speed and quickness. This was his second straight season with over 1,000 yards receiving. He finished the season ranked third in the ACC in receiving (1,038 yards) while owning a 30.32 percent market share of the team’s passing offense. He also had three games with over 100-yards receiving while averaging 79.85 receiving yards per game. His sophomore season is ranked first in Virginia Tech’s history in receiving with 1,164 yards and his junior season ranks second all-time with 1,038 yards. He is currently the all-time leading receiver for Virginia Tech with 2,911 yards.
Ford is projected to come out for the upcoming draft, and should easily be a consensus top ten wide receiver in this draft class if he does come out. The running back class is massively talented and it’s overshadowing some of the receivers, causing Ford to fly under the radar. He is currently projected as a late-first round pick to a mid-second round pick in rookie drafts, but there’s a lot of time between now and the NFL Draft and his stock could rise if he does well at the combine.
Mitch Trubisky, QB North Carolina (Junior)
281/408 passing, 3,468 yards, 28 touchdowns, four interceptions
Trubisky started the season as an unknown quarterback prospect and is now potentially going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. He led North Carolina to victories over both Miami and Florida State. He also has three games with over 400-yards passing and seven games with three or more touchdown passes. The most impressive part of his game is his accuracy and his ability to fit the ball in tight windows. His accuracy allowed him to complete an astounding 68.9 percent of his passes and finish the season with a 161.00 QBR.
His stock increased immensely during the season and it will continue to increase going into the draft. The top draft analysts like Mel Kiper and Matt Miller are already talking about him and I expect him to be mentioned quite a bit more once football season is over. Quarterbacks tend to fall in rookie drafts, especially in one quarterback leagues where there’s less of an incentive to pay a premium for a rookie quarterback. Like most quarterbacks, all projections for his rookie draft capital is going be to very malleable until he’s drafted. Right now, he should be considered an option in the third round of rookie drafts, but that could easily change during draft season.
James Conner, RB Pittsburgh (Junior)
208 carries, 1,060 yards, 16 touchdowns, 20 catches, 299 yards, four touchdowns
After tearing his MCL, an injury that caused him to miss his entire sophomore season, and defeating cancer in the off-season, Conner was able to bounce back and finish his junior campaign with 1,060 yards and 16 touchdowns. He had six games with over 100-yards rushing while finishing the season ranked fifth in the ACC in rushing. He was able to rise to the occasion and have his best games against tough competition by rushing for over 100-yards against Penn State, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State and Clemson.
Conner has the size and build to be a three down back at the next level, which could make him a trending pick in rookie drafts next spring. He’s more than likely coming out for the draft and his presence is going to add even more talent to an already stacked running back class. Landing spot is going to be very important to his value in rookie draft, but right now he is currently projected as a late-first round to a mid-second round pick in rookie drafts.
Freshman of The Year
Ahmmon Richards, WR Miami (Freshman)
46 catches, 866 yards, two touchdowns
Richards, a four-star recruit from West Palm Beach, Florida, caught 144 receptions for 2,722 yards and 39 touchdowns in high school. He’s a great route runner and has a good understanding on how to read defenses to get open. He broke out as an 18-year-old freshman, owning a 26.39 percent market share of the team’s offensive production and finishing the season sixth in the ACC in receiving with 866-yards. Richards is going to be the perfect complement in the future to four-star recruit Sam Bruce, a smaller shifty receiver who is comparable to Tavon Austin.
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