Ten Hokies on Phil Steele's 2015 Preseason All-ACC Team

Tech's defense dominates preseason list. How'd the Hokies compare to the rest of the ACC.

[Michael Shroyer]

Phil Steele released his 2015 preseason All-ACC team on Monday. Ten Hokies are among the 112 total Atlantic Coast Conference players chosen. Bucky Hodges (TE), Dadi Nicolas (DL), Ken Ekanem (DL) and Kendall Fuller (DB) are all first team selections. They are joined by Isaiah Ford (WR, 3rd team), Jonathan McLaughlin (OL, 4th team), Corey Marshall (DL, 2nd team), Brandon Facyson (DB, 2nd team), Deon Clarke (LB, 3rd team) and Chuck Clark (DB, 3rd team). Fuller (1st team), Nicolas (4th team) and Hodges (3rd team) all made Steele's preseason All-American squad.

Virginia Tech is well represented on Steele's ACC team, but in order to better compare us to the rest of the conference, I did some simple number crunching (the same as in 2010). Below you'll see I weighted each ACC teams' offensive, defensive and special teams units. My formula was simple, 4 points for a first team selection, 3 for a second, 2 for a third and a single point for a fourth. Therefore, the weighted total is out of a possible 120 points. My intent was to identify which are the more talented teams in the conference according to Steele. However there are two flaws in the logic. It doesn't weight position importance. For example, it assumes a first team guard is "more important" than a second team quarterback. Second a first team player isn't necessarily going to be four times better than fourth team player. Therefore, I don't think the analysis is complete enough to conclude that team one > team two > team three, and so on. However, I do believe it is a good indicator of general overall ranking, that is to say the teams at the top are more talented than the teams at the bottom.

Offense

School First Team Second Team Third Team Fourth Team Total Weighted Total
Boston College 0 0 0 1 1 1
Clemson 3 2 0 3 8 21
Duke 1 0 1 1 3 7
Florida State 1 1 1 1 4 10
Georgia Tech 1 1 1 1 4 10
Louisville 0 0 0 2 2 2
Miami 0 1 2 1 4 8
NC State 0 2 1 0 3 8
North Carolina 2 3 3 1 9 24
Pittsburgh 3 1 0 0 4 15
Virginia 0 0 2 0 2 4
Virginia Tech 1 0 1 1 3 7
Wake Forest 0 1 0 0 1 3
Total 12 12 12 12 48 120

Defense

School First Team Second Team Third Team Fourth Team Total Weighted Total
Boston College 0 1 0 0 1 3
Clemson 0 0 3 0 3 6
Duke 1 2 0 0 3 10
Florida State 2 1 1 2 6 15
Georgia Tech 1 2 2 0 5 14
Louisville 2 1 1 2 6 15
Miami 0 2 2 0 4 10
NC State 0 0 0 2 2 2
North Carolina 0 0 0 2 2 2
Syracuse 0 0 0 1 1 1
Virginia 2 0 1 1 4 11
Virginia Tech 3 2 2 0 7 22
Wake Forest 1 1 0 2 4 9
Total 12 12 12 12 48 120

Special Teams

School First Team Second Team Third Team Fourth Team Total Weighted Total
Boston College 0 1 0 0 1 3
Clemson 0 0 0 1 1 1
Duke 1 0 2 0 3 8
Florida State 1 0 0 0 1 4
Louisville 0 0 1 0 1 2
Miami 0 1 0 1 2 4
North Carolina 0 1 1 0 2 5
Pittsburgh 1 0 0 2 3 6
Virginia 0 1 0 0 1 3
Wake Forest 1 0 0 0 1 4
Total 4 4 4 4 16 40

Conclusions

This may be overkill given my simple methodology, and all of these statistics and conclusions are based off the opinions and analysis of one person. Take this with a grain of salt if you'd like, but remember that one man is sage Phil Steele.

If not for the early departures of defensive Eli Harold and outside linebacker Max Valles, Virginia might have had one the conference's elite defenses.

North Carolina senior quarterback Marquise Williams (or Mitch Trubisky if Fedora still is playing QB switcheroo) has plenty of talent around him. No excuse for The Tar Heels not to score points in bunches this season.

Clemson's offense led by quarterback Deshaun Watson should be back to form near the top of the ACC statistically after finishing seventh in points and yards last season. On paper at least, the league's best defense in 2014 is primed to take a step back this year.

Virginia Tech's defense has the pieces to be the best in the league. Keep in mind, that while Steele didn't consider Maddy (a definite oversight if Big Lu is healthy), he did push in most his chips on Facyson.

Steele believes there are twenty offensive linemen in the ACC better than Wyatt Teller, that's news to me. Surely he tops the league in Taco Bell calories consumed.

Syracuse's roster seems to have bottomed out.

Based on top-end known quantities, I'm less apprehensive about the Miami and NC State games.

Comments

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

21st century QBs Undefeated vs UVA:
MV7, MV5, LT3, Grant Wells, Braxton Burmeister, Ryan Willis, Josh Jackson, Jerod Evans, Michael Brewer, Tyrod Taylor, Sean Glennon, and Grant Noel. That's right, UVA. You couldn't beat Grant Noel.

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in bad humor.

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

Virginian by Birth, Hokie by Choice

Please join The Key Players Club to read or post comments.

"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" Stephen M.R. Covey

“When life knocks you down plan to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up, if you fall flat on your face it can kill your spirit” David Wilson