ACC Football Power Rankings: Who follows Clemson in 2019’s final edition?
By Dante Pryor
The Wolfpack ended their season losing six straight games. This can be traced to one thing they didn’t get right all season: the quarterback position. The Wolfpack went through three quarterbacks. Matthew McKay, Devin Leary and Bailey Hockman all saw time at quarterback this season. North Carolina State struggled this season with life without Ryan Finley and Robert Gallaspy on offense.
Ironically, their record this season is a reflection of recent success in Raleigh. They’ve sent so much talent to the NFL, this season they were young and less talented because of what they sent to the league.
Next season: Redshirt sophomore quarterback Matthew McKay has entered the transfer portal, so the quarterback job will come down to either Leary or Hockman. They have three-star prospect Ben Finely coming in but he might not be ready to compete for the starting job. The Wolfpack defense wasn’t bad; they had issues on the back-end, but the pass rush was solid. They will be at the back of the pack again if they don’t fix the quarterback room.
“One day at a time” got the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets three wins this season. The most important thing about Georgia Tech is they showed progress this season. It was quite the pleasant surprise that two of their three wins came in conference. Geoff Collins has upped the ante on recruiting as well. The Yellow Jackets’ 2020 class is currently ranked No. 23 in the country and fifth in the ACC. Collins is definitely getting his guys in the program.
Next season: Expect there to be some serious competition at quarterback next season. Sophomore quarterback Jordan Mason was solid, and even good at times considering the circumstances, but the Jackets bring in three-star Tucker Gleason, and you never know who they get through the transfer portal. What’s that, Matthew McKay, you have the grades to get into Georgia Tech? The longest haul for Collins and the Jackets is the offensive line. That’s going to take some time to get ready to compete at an ACC level.
This was such an up and down year for the ‘Canes. They were young and inexperienced offensively, and the defense was supposed to be better than what it was at times. No shade on the Ramblin’ Wreck, but the Hurricanes gave up 28 points to Georgia Tech, 30 points to Florida International and 42 to Virginia Tech — all loses.
Even in their loss to the legend Sam Howell the North Carolina offense marched down the field and scored on the vaunted Miami defense. This was year one for Manny Diaz at his dream job, so let’s see what he does in years two and three.
Next season: We should see a definitive starting quarterback, and he might not be on the roster yet. In addition to Jarren Williams and N’Kosi Perry, the Hurricanes bring in four-star Tyler Van Dyke in to compete. Diaz, Mike Enos and the offensive staff need to stick with one guy behind center and stick with him; going back and forth did Perry, Williams and the offense no favors. The defense is the question mark next season with so much experience leaving due to graduation and the NFL draft.