Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Are THESE The Best Players In The ACC? | Mike Norvell's Focus During Realignment Distractions

Starting point is 00:00:00 In going through all of these college football previews, we're reminded that there are some really talented football players in the ACC, but are these the best of the best? You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the Everydayers for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:00:34 We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code, Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. I am Alex Dono from Lockedon Caines. He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockedon Wolfpack. On this episode, we will talk about pro football focuses for most underrated teams

Starting point is 00:00:58 heading into this season, two of which are in the ACC. I want to discuss the attitude that Florida State head coach Mike Norvell has towards conference realignment and a lot of these other distractions. Let's just call it what they are that happen in college football these days. But Kenton, digging back through the Phil Steel College Football magazine, which to me, again, this is one of one of the great preseason resources. It's been for nearly 30 years, along with Athlon and Lindy's. I love these college football preview magazines.

Starting point is 00:01:30 And tell me if you agree with his first team, all-ACC selections. So we'll start with the quarterback position. Not too surprising. He went with Miami's Cam Ward, his first team all-ACC quarterback. You know, Ward out of all the quarterbacks in the conference, he put up the biggest numbers last year. Now, not against the best defenses in the PAC-12, but Ward put up monster numbers last season with 3,735.

Starting point is 00:02:00 passing yards, 25 touchdowns to seven interceptions. And, you know, obviously to claim that first team spot beats out the likes of the Grayson McCalls and the DJ Wee Ungalelillelahs and the Tyler Shucks of the world. I will say that he rightfully deserves this. And this is not a backhanded compliment. This is just the reality of the situation. If he were in a different year, the race may have looked differently in terms of who is the first team guy. You know, if we're looking at the years with Devin Leary, Kenny Pickett, TVD, before we knew he couldn't read his own defenses and all that. We're looking at a very different situation. With the situation as it is right now, I think the best returner of all of the ACC

Starting point is 00:02:43 quarterbacks in terms of guys who played in ACC last year, probably Thomas Castiano. And so if you're arguing who's the better of the two, it's not really close. It's not particularly close. I think they're both dynamic runners. but Cam Ward in terms of what he can do through the air looks a little bit next level in comparison to Cassiano. So I'm completely fine with Camia first thing. You know, and before we get to first team at other positions,

Starting point is 00:03:10 I do want to go through his second, third, and fourth teamers at quarterback because his list is pretty interesting. He and I'm, you know what, honestly, this name should have come out of my mouth before maybe some of the others that I mentioned, but he's got Chiron Drones for Virginia Tech's second team all ACC. he's got Haynes King at Georgia Tech third team and he's got Grayson McCall at NC State fourth team and obviously there are going to be some fan bases that feel hard done by that where's DJU where's where's Tyler Shuck who comes into Louisville with some expectations

Starting point is 00:03:42 but interesting to go with Kyron Drone's second team I think Kyle Ron Drones has proven it though I think he's proven to be that type of player he has not it's not a matter of oh he you know Virginia Tech won some games where he just was kind of a long for the ride. No. If he was a long for the ride, Virginia Tech lost. Period.

Starting point is 00:04:02 Period. That's all there is to. Either they lost or they were playing an island of misfit toys community college. Because the reality is, Kyron Drones is the engine that drives that car, period. There's no way around that. I saw it firsthand when it looked like NC State was going to run away with it.

Starting point is 00:04:19 Then all of a sudden, Kyron Drone says, eh, not so fast, my friend. It starts finding open receivers everywhere. I think he's a truly special. with talent as well. He's another one of those dual threat guys that he can give it to you any way you want. He can give it to you on the ground. He combines with Byshaw to two to make a hell of a read option up there. And when it comes to passing, again, Virginia Tech does not have a receiving

Starting point is 00:04:39 court that I think of like, man, these are world beaters, especially with Ali Jennings being banged up for most of the last year. And yet, he still found a way to put up good passing numbers as well. So I have no problem with him in second team. So we go through the other positions. Steele has two first team running backs. That's the way a lot of people do. They're all conference teams. He's got Miami's Damien Martinez and North Carolina's Amerian Hampton. I'm not necessarily going to argue with either of those two selections.

Starting point is 00:05:09 The other guy who I'm thinking, man, there was definitely a battle for that one of those spots. I believe is Jaden Ott from Cal. Yeah, I could have really been in that conversation. Absolutely. Odd is a special, special guy. But these two, you're looking at Martinez. who was undoubtedly, and I mean this now, how many powerbacks in the power five

Starting point is 00:05:29 would you take over right now? How many guys did you know? I would say, Ali Gordon is what you would take over, but Ali Gordon is more of a one cutback than a true power back that you think of, like, I'm heavy, I lean on you, during the game, I get heavier, I get bigger,

Starting point is 00:05:43 I get stronger, you know, not too many. So I absolutely get that. And then Hampton, you know, there was a play, there was a play, for the Rams back on Marshall Falk was playing where Dick Vermil said, we didn't block anybody. We didn't block anybody and he got it done. There were a lot of plays

Starting point is 00:06:02 like that for Hampton. With all due respect to North Carolina's offensive line, he was making chicken salad out of chicken scratch many a time, and he has to be given respect for that because if you gave him a crease this big, it was like, how did he find that hole? What happened? So, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:18 as much as it pains my soul to give a dirty foot clever proper due, he was a very special talent there that, again, he kind of alleviated some of the pressure off of Drake May during the season. So Steele has three first team, all-ACC-wide receivers. Louisville's Colin Lacey. He's got NC States, Kevin Concepcion. He's got Miami's Xavier Restrepo. I don't have too many arguments with that list.

Starting point is 00:06:45 I would say a guy that plays for a team that I don't think it's going to be very good this year who may make a case, though, is Eelick. I. Manner from Stanford. I never know if I'm saying his name correctly because the commentators say it all different ways, but Ayo Manor is one. That dude's going to put up numbers. I don't think Stanford's going to be very good,

Starting point is 00:07:03 but that dude's going to put up numbers. Absolutely. And the only question for him is going to be, how good is your quarterback play? But the three guys that we have, the three guys that we have in here, I can see it only from a standpoint of all three of them have dominated the ACC previously. All three of those guys, Kevin Concepcion,

Starting point is 00:07:19 was it. But He was their first, their last, their everything in terms of NC states while receiving Cor. And yet, he did it well. You look at the other two as well, and you cannot save yourself. Xavier Restrepo was phenomenal despite up and down quarterback play. He was phenomenal despite, you know, different things that kind of conspired at Miami last season.

Starting point is 00:07:43 I had many people like, well, what is Mario Cristobal doing? Xavier Restrepo was the constant, regardless of who the starter was, regardless of who the backup was. you knew that you had to find him. It didn't matter if he was on the slot. In the outside, you had to find him. You had to get him addressed. And the wide receiver from Louisville,

Starting point is 00:07:59 I can absolutely see him as well because you think about Jamari Thrash and all that he was to that offense. But this young man did some special things too. He was the reason that we thought of Jack Plummer, he may be a Power 5 quarterback. We all know he wasn't. We all watched the field. We all knew he wasn't.

Starting point is 00:08:19 It was because the web. around and made him look that way. And this young man, it definitely belongs to not in that type of realm. Yeah, I have the privilege of being able to cover Xavier Restrepo. And that I don't, I don't know of too many players. And I've covered a lot of great ones over the years. So I don't know if too many guys who work as hard or harder than X, as we call him. And, you know, when he and Tyler Van Dyke were very close friends, like they were roommates and, like, best friends. So, like, people thought when Van Dyke left, like, oh, is he going to get target? this much. I guess that's still yet to be seen in games, but I covered almost every spring practice, Kenton, and Restrepo was always open, and Cam Ward was always fine in that dude. So

Starting point is 00:09:01 if spring football, which it can be is any indication, I think Restrepo is going to have a monster year coming up. I'll go through. I don't think people want to hear us break down the offensive line too much. Let me go through these real quick. We'll get to the defense here on the other side, but the first team offensive line on Phil Steele's preseason list. Justin Osborne Center from SMU, Logan Taylor, guard from Boston College, Michael Gonzalez, guard from Louisville, Blake Miller, offensive tackle from Clemson, and Darius Washington, offensive tackle from Florida State. I want to talk about the defense on the other side, because I think they did get a lot of things right here. Plus, I actually, I appreciated the outlook

Starting point is 00:09:43 that Florida State head coach Mike Norvel has on conference realignment and a lot of the other distractions out there. So my friends, we're only getting started. You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. And folks, I know you're only getting started with game time. You're looking for tickets for the upcoming sporting event. Maybe you're going to the NBA finals. Maybe you're down here in South Florida. You're going to the Stanley Cup finals.

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Starting point is 00:11:07 Again, create an account and redeem code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown, ACC. your first listen in your first watch today. Alex Dono alongside Kenton Gibbs. All right. So Kenton, Phil Steele preview first team all-ACC defense. His defensive ends, I'm not going to argue with. He's got our guy Ashton Jalati from Louisville, who I think had double-digit sacks last year at one edge spot. And he's got Miami's Rubin

Starting point is 00:11:45 Bain at the other edge who's heading into his sophomore year after putting up seven and a half sacks and 12 and a half TFL. last year as a freshman. Not saying those are the only good defensive ends in the conference, but those were certainly the first two that popped into my brain. If you watched the film on either one of these guys and decided they're not first team, you believe somebody else in this conference is going to be a top-hop overall draft pick next year. That's just the reality. And I'm sorry to tell you, unfortunately, we don't have a guy like that in the conference right now. Bain is an absolute freak of nature. He is bendy. He is strong. He knows how to, he is a guy that

Starting point is 00:12:22 has he's beyond his years in terms of his pass rush bag as a true freshman coming in with multiple moves. You know what I mean? It's something to see. The only thing that I would like to see out of him, a little bit more flexibility, a little bit more ability to beat guys cleanly around the edge. He's amazing got converting speed to power. I just love to see him get a little bit better at that get off and work guys around that edge a little bit better because it sets up all of those counters and all that power that he comes with when he rushes. Jolati, on the other hand, that's a savvy veteran. And not only is he a savvy veteran, his team uses him like it, up and down the line.

Starting point is 00:12:59 They find a weak link and they put Ashton over him because he can rush from multiple different positions. He is a guy that plans his work and works his plan. You can see the development in his game and in his pass rush back from his, I'd say, sophomore year or so to now it's night and day. Before he used to win with all effort, all heart. Now he's starting to be a guy that you can see. He is consistently getting better with that double hand swipe. He is consistently developing that club rip. And I even saw him hit a couple hump moves last year where you think of a guy his size and you're like,

Starting point is 00:13:32 how is he humping guys on pass? But it's an impressive thing to see Ashton's Lottie be the refined passports that he is, which again, the motor is unstoppable and dominable. You combine that with the moves. He's something special. for the defensive tackles first team all ac c according to phil steel i'm actually i'm a little surprised by the miami player he's selected i hope he's right but he's got uh joshua farmer from florida state not that surprising and he's got simian barrow uh from miami in the other spot now full of school

Starting point is 00:14:02 i i don't see he goes to the school now that i cover but i don't really know simian because he arrived after spring football so i've not had a chance to watch him practice you know i do know he He was an instrumental part of Michigan State's defense for the past four years. You know, I don't think he was never an all Big Ten first team selection. I think he made third team before. So, yeah, and again, I hope to see it with my own eyes once they start fall practices. But Phil Steele is bullish on Barrow. And, you know, obviously he's bullish on Farmer at Florida State.

Starting point is 00:14:37 Farmer, I understand. Farmer was very clearly the next in line behind Braden Fis. he was clearly the next one in a long storage tradition of Florida State defensive lineman. I get it. He's shown a little bit of everything. I'd like to see him anchor down against double teams a little bit better, but he's shown a lot of past rest use from the interior and all that good stuff. Hey, I get you.

Starting point is 00:14:58 The thing I don't understand, Barrow, why? This is not a conference that's lacking for quality defensive tackles. I mean, with all due respect, you have C.J. Clark, who. look phenomenal at NC State at times last year who's still in the conference at Miami and you had his backup who who was so good it's rare to hear fans calling for a defensive tackle especially the defensive target that's playing well to get replaced cleveland was so good people were saying is there a way we can get him and clark on the field at the same time is there we got to find a way and i agree because brandon gleveland was phenomenal at times he was flatly unblockable last year which you only ask yourself

Starting point is 00:15:41 can he keep at that level with a higher snap count, which Barrow has proven. Cleveland has not. But other than that, I don't really understand how you give a newcomer who's coming into a team at the point of your past spring ball, the nod for first team, and not guys who have been here and proven it. But, I mean, hey, like you said, if you're a Miami fan, Phil Steele's got some faith in Miami. He's always had faith in Miami, which sometimes is not worked that well for him. We'll see how it works off this time.

Starting point is 00:16:11 makes me wonder if this dude's the jinx. If it's all, if the last 20 years are all Phil's fault. It's the steel effect, baby. It's the steel effect. The steel effect. Oh, man. And so for,

Starting point is 00:16:23 for his linebackers, he's got Kaiman Rucker from North Carolina, Barrett Carter from Clemson, and Marlowe, oh, he's actually got four linebackers, Marlowe Wax from Syracuse and Kiko Maui Noah

Starting point is 00:16:39 from Miami. And, yeah, I mean, Kiko, Kiko is, that dude's a player. So a question in my mind. Here's the only thing I'll say about this. Kaman Rucker is not a linebacker in my mind. I'm sorry to tell you all that young man is 265 pounds and plays attached to the line of scrimmage more so than off. He's always going down here, rarely ever dropping back.

Starting point is 00:17:05 Let's be honest with ourselves here. But he is a phenomenal player. He is a phenomenal pass rusher. he is a pass rush specialist supreme that the likes of which we have not seen a ton of in this league you know or we will not see a ton of in this league this year i don't think we have that many guys like a pass rush like him this year so kiko oh he's a free he's a free side line to sideline is overused and i don't think that that quite applies to him but i will say hash to hash oh try get away from it try it'll be a fun fun little uh fun little operation there

Starting point is 00:17:39 Marlow Wax, the leader of the mob, as they call themselves. I'm going to tell you something. Marlowe is not only the quintessential linebacker in turn to his style of play, he is a building block that if Fran Brown can utilize, get the maximum amount out of, this team can be something special. Because when you think of Marlowe, he's not just a great player. He's the first guy that we've said so far that when I think of him, his leadership comes to mind immediately. You hear the way that he speaks on the podcast.

Starting point is 00:18:08 you hear the way to play. You watch the way that Syracuse players interact with him on in between plays and whenever they're on the sideline. He is by far the, he's not a leader on that team. He's the leader. He's the alpha dog on that squad. And Marlowe is that for good reason. He not only does it by word, but by deed.

Starting point is 00:18:27 He's a physical linebacker. He's a thumper that knows how to disengage. And he's getting better and better in coverage by the year. I think Marlow wax is something special up there in Syracuse. I like it. Defensive backs, you're going to like this because Phil Steele, he put some respect on Aden White's name. He's got NC State's Aden White, first team, Florida States. God, if I butcher his first name, Florida State fans will kill me. Azaray Thomas. He's got Jonas Sanker from Virginia as one of the safeties and Donovan McMillan from Pittsburgh as the other safety.

Starting point is 00:18:59 So a strong, strong group of defensive backs. And I completely understand why Miami doesn't have a guy on there because that it's, you know, consider to be the question mark on Miami's side. Let me tell you. Aiden White getting the respect that he finally deserves, it makes me feel like Mr. Crocker from fairly odd parents anytime you saw fairies. I want to jump out my skin right now.

Starting point is 00:19:20 I want to get real wicked because that is a bad, bad man in that number three. He's something special. But I want to talk about Donald McWillan for a second. Because on the defense that struggled mightily last year, he was one of, if not, well, he wasn't the only, but the only other bright spot is transferred out of the program because he doesn't believe they could win. He's the only bright spot that they have returning.

Starting point is 00:19:42 That's just an objective truth. Devin Shire's going to the NFL, their edge rusher who is special transferred out. He is everything to that defense. He's their last line defense, but he does it well. He doesn't win. He's a Narduzi guy through and through. He's willing to put his nose in there and make a tackle. He's smart.

Starting point is 00:20:00 He's he's heady. And in that cover four scheme, safeties have to be aggressive yet control. If a safety and cover four is, Jumping too many things, you leave your corners in bad positions. If you're sitting too far back and kind of waiting for everything to come to you, teams will kill you with dig routes all day. Don't worry me and Donald will break down the film on that one day, baby. But the reality is, cover four puts a lot of pressure on the safeties,

Starting point is 00:20:23 and he finds ways to make the defense right, make the guys around them right very often. And I absolutely think that he deserves to be on here, despite the struggles that Pittsburgh has had and probably will have this upcoming season. All right. So when we come back, this is a reminder that players and coaches don't have control over the politics that are happening in college sports right now. You want to keep it locked right here. Alex Dono and Kenton Gibbs with you on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Hey, Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:21:00 And now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. Locked on sports today is here for you 24-7, covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league. Find Locked-on Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. So, you know, Kenton, obviously Florida State

Starting point is 00:21:22 has probably been the most talked about college program in recent months with things that are happening, you know, off the field, right? From the college football playoff snub to the multiple loss. suits, okay? And we all have to remember that coaches and players have zero control over this stuff that's happening behind the scene. So on three sports put out an article with some Mike Norvell quotes about, you know, how Florida State athletics, how they're dealing with the new world for college sports about, you know, they can't ask, they can't directly ask him about

Starting point is 00:21:59 the lawsuit, obviously, but I think it's implied that that's a distraction that's going on. And, you know, he's keeping the focus within the program. He says, no, I mean, it's still about us, Norvell said. And, you know, I said that a couple years ago. Same thing last year. He says, as you go through this journey, it's just about seeing our team get better. He says, and you know, last year, we had a great regular season championship game. Obviously, the season didn't end the way we wanted to in a couple of different ways.

Starting point is 00:22:24 But, you know, can we show up this season or next season and be a better football team? And it's like, you know, sometimes some of my locked on came. listeners will be like, hey, you know, you should ask the coaches how they feel about the ACC and conference realignment. And it's like that that's the last thing on their minds. And even in the case of, in Mike Norvell's case, like his, his board of trustees is actually suing the ACC, but that still needs to be the last thing on his mind. And it's simple, Kenton, because, and I thought Norvel answered those questions very well, he has virtually zero control over any of this stuff. All he can do is coach football, try to make his team better.

Starting point is 00:23:04 and you hope all the administrative issues take care of themselves. As Florida State often says, all we got is all we need. And that really is the case for them, right? Inside that locker room, all they have is all they need because that's all that they can control. That's all that they can do to be the best team possible to win games. Regardless of if Mike Norvelle had said, hey, we hate it here, we hate this conference, we're ready to go, we're leaving tomorrow, or we love the ACC. I don't know why our chancellor.

Starting point is 00:23:32 I don't know why our board of trustees is doing. doing this. It's we love the ACC. The ACC loves us, but we're going either one of those answers gives you a distraction, serves as something off the field, serves as something that you're thinking of something besides what's in between the lines. All he can do, all that team can do is show up on Saturdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Mondays, whenever they're asked to play and be their best selves. That's it. That's it. So I wholeheartedly agree with Norville in terms of the politics has nothing to do with the players has nothing to do with the coaches you have got to go out there and do what you do because the reality is this let's say Florida state is to slide back to an early

Starting point is 00:24:16 norval or taggered era record right let's say they slide back to a seven win season eight win season how appealing are you to the big 10th sAC then right how appealing are you if people feel like ah that 13 and oh was a fluke they'll never be back until they get rid of the Oh, but they need private equity money to build out their stadium and they're going to need money to leave the conference. Where are they going to get the money from to even replace this guy? Adding them in would be adding in mid. Even if a lot of people like watching mid, America loves a winner and nobody's going to want to watch them for long. You know, that's the reality.

Starting point is 00:24:53 They got to show up, do what they do, and keep it pushing. Because at the end of the day, when you give too much credit, when you give too much credence to outside distractions, It's almost like you're worshipping that problem. They have nothing to do with that. Don't work. Focus on what you can control. Focus on are we executing properly? Focus on, are we hitting the weights properly?

Starting point is 00:25:15 Focus on, is this team detail-oriented? Focus on, I know what it takes to make an undefeated team. Are we rolling in that direction? If not, how do we get that course corrected? That's what needs to be this team's focus, not what's going on in the courts and what's the update. Because, again, court is slow and plotting. boring, which is the exact opposite of football.

Starting point is 00:25:36 It is quick. It is sudden. Well, I guess the violence is common, but that's it. That's all and that's it. Yeah. Well, something, I want to give this the proper amount of time on tomorrow's episode. So let me tease it here because pro football focus, including a friend of mine, Max Chadwick, who's, we should probably get him on this show soon. He's joined me on Locked on Cains a couple of times, has put out his list of the four most

Starting point is 00:26:03 underrated teams in college football heading in the next year. Just to give a background on pro football focus, they try to go strictly by numbers, by analytics, right? I mean, obviously, you know, the analytics are created by human beings, but it's not a situation where they're trying to put personal biases in. They go strictly by the numbers. And I want to break down tomorrow if SMU and Virginia Tech are, in fact, two of the most underrated teams heading into college football.

Starting point is 00:26:31 So I definitely want to get to that. on tomorrow's episode. So guys, make sure you give us each a follow on X. You can follow Kenton Gibbs at TGIF underscore Kenton. You can follow me at Alex Dono. Dono spelled D-ON-N-O. And we'll talk to you guys tomorrow

Starting point is 00:26:46 on another episode of Lockedon ACCC. We're part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Are THESE The Best Players In The ACC? | Mike Norvell's Focus During Realignment Distractions

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