Blog: Coaches front and center on Day 2 at ACC Kickoff
PINEHURST, N.C. (WTVD) -- Day two of interviews at Pinehurst have the ACC coaches front and center. They are all smiles in the North Carolina sun because, well, it's July.
Clemson is predicted to finish first by the 158 voting members of the media (yours truly not included) to win the conference. No love for three-time defending champion Florida State who's slated to finish second. Both North Carolina (3) and NC State (1) received championship votes. Whaaat? Clearly some folks waited until after happy hour to make selections.
Regardless, here's the breakdown:
ACC Championship Votes
1. Clemson - 84
2. Florida State - 41
3. Georgia Tech - 20
4. Virginia Tech - 7
5. North Carolina - 3
6. Miami - 2
7. NC State - 1
Atlantic Division
(First place votes in parenthesis)
1. Clemson (101) - 1,032
2. Florida State (56) - 992
3. Louisville (1) - 746
4. NC State - 673
5. Boston College - 473
6. Syracuse - 291
7. Wake Forest - 217
Coastal Division
(First place votes in parenthesis)
1. Georgia Tech (96) - 991
2. Virginia Tech (44) - 841
3. Miami (7) - 632
4. Duke (4) - 615
5. North Carolina (4) - 590
6. Pitt (3) -535
7. Virginia -220
ACC Player of the Year
1. Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson - 69
2. James Conner, RB, Pitt - 46
3. Justin Thomas, QB, Georgia Tech - 13
t-4. Jalen Ramsey, CB Florida State - 7
t-4. Brad Kaaya, QB, Miami -7
t-6. Marquise Williams, QB, North Carolina - 6
t-6. Kendall Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech - 6
8. Tyler Boyd, WR, Pitt - 3
9. Jacoby Brissett, QB, NC State - 1
As for highlights of the coach speak:
Larry Fedora says he's pushing hard to improve team chemistry. On a white board he had everyone in the program white something that needed to be discussed. "When I say everybody I mean every single player was required to put something on the board. And there were a 100 something issues. Then we addressed every single one of those issues and got rid of them." He says he's never had a winning/successful team without good team chemistry.
David Cutcliffe talked about the loss of Duke linebacker Kelby Brown who re-tore his left ACL, ending his career. Brown missed all of 2014 and worked hard to get back. It wasn't meant to be. "We were all just crushed. He's handled himself like the champion that he is," Cutcliffe said. Brown broke the news to the team himself. Instead of being down, Brown spoke of other doors this would open turning a negative speech into one of inspiration. Earlier in his career, Brown tore his right ACL on two occasions. Ouch!
At least with the print guys, NC State coach Dave Doeren kept it pretty vanilla except for this little blurb. "I don't think we've gotten credit as a league the last two years." Doeren went on to say the ACC has performed better than SEC over the last two years. Guess it depends on what criteria is used. If it's National Championships, then yes. Interestingly, the schools Twitter handle didn't ferry that take out to the masses.
