Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - PATH CLEARED: NC State Wolfpack’s Schedule and CJ Bailey CREATE Perfect STORM for ACC Title Hopes

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

NC State Wolfpack eye a breakthrough ACC title run as questions swirl over quarterback battles and revamped rosters across the conference. Can Dave Doeren’s squad capitalize on the league’s softest schedule and a potential leap from CJ Bailey to finally reach Charlotte, or will defensive uncertainties hold them back? Julian Council and Kenton Gibbs break down scrimmage insights from NC State, Virginia Cavaliers, and Florida State Seminoles, spotlighting key performers. The episode spotlights ACC quarterback competitions—including the intrigue at Chapel Hill among Billy Edwards, Miles O’Neill, and Travis Burgess—and examines whether star transfers and improved depth can tip the balance. With rivalries looming and coaching careers on the line, which ACC dark horse is set to shake up the college football landscape this season? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! KALSHI For a limited time, Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. . The Game Don't miss this chance to celebrate 40 years of The Game with 40% off your entire order. Visit https://TheGameCaps.com and use promo code LOCKEDON at checkout. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're scrimaging all across the ACC. We'll give you the latest intel right here on Locked on ACC. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked on ACC podcast. I am Julian Counsel, and he is former NC State Football Letterman Kenton Gibbs, and we are breaking down the Atlantic Coast Conference yet again. on today's show.

We talked about this on Monday, the quarterback competition ongoing in Chapel Hill. We have dueling reports from dueling sites in terms of intel coming out of Sunday scrimmage. Is it Miles O'Neill? Is it Billy Edwards Jr.? Is it potentially the true freshman Travis Burgess? We'll give me an update on that at the end of today's show. But scrimmage is also going on in Tallahassee over the weekend,

Charlottesville, and up in Raleigh, where Kittins located with NC State, which is where we're going to start off with the Wolf Pass. as an interesting season for Dave Doren and the pack, as a lot of people are looking at the schedule. We're going to talk about it momentarily and see a potentially a path for the pack to finally make it here where I sit in Charlotte for the ACC title game,

likely against Miami Hurricane. So a couple of these things from the scrimmage on Saturday. I want to get your thoughts on Kitten first before we get to the talk about the potential opportunity for state this year. So looking at it apparently from, Pack Power 247 site. It was defensively led there in the first half.

In the second half, the offense took over. Guys like Popo Aguirre and AJ Richardson, they're starting linebackers. They impressed Isaiah Shirley, Josiah Victor on the defensive line. Two key pieces for them this year also did. And then no surprise here,

Brian Nelson the second. Their corner also looked good. And then in the second half of the scrimmage, it was C.J. Bailey, who allegedly is at a different level. Do you have any insight that you can give us on some of things maybe you heard and just those guys stand?

out what does that mean to you as a former PAC alum? And of course, somebody hoping that they can finally break through this season. You know, I heard very similar things coming out of the scrimmage, but I also want to talk about one quick thing that I was a little bit surprised about. I heard that the running game got out to a slower start than expected, which I'm sitting here like, now. Hold on now. What's going on? Because the office is supposed to be able to be a very balanced outfit this year

with Duke Scott, Davy I Goss and Company in the backfield. and I'm intrigued by the fact that I'm still waiting to hear some news about Jonathan Paler and how he's looking, you know, coming off the ACL Ter last year. This is a young man I was the second highest recruit out of his class. And so I'm interested to see, you know, I know they're keeping things under wraps. And by the way, shout to my man, Corey Smith and Noah Fleischman the company over there at Pack Power. They do great work. I am interested to see how this run game fully shakes out and materialize because CJ Bailey, heck of a quarter of. quarterback, Howard quarterback.

But you know what every quarterback's favorite pass is? A handoff. That's every quarterback's favorite pass. The one where they don't got to lift their arm, you just extend right, extend left, and let that thing go. And so ultimately, I'm very intrigued by that. The defense leading in the first half, hmm, mm, that's a great sign potentially because the defense was the Achilles Hill of last year's team.

I mean, objectively speaking. There were times where it was just like, did you even pitch the damn offense? Can we consider stopping them? I think the Kay Bell is a rising star in the coaching ranks up at Pitt. I don't think that his offense was that good to get you a fitty, fitty of them things on your head. So ultimately, I look at this scrimmage and I say I'm hearing a lot of good things and whatnot. And I'm surprised, again, I'm surprised that the D-Line is performing so well without K. Trine Evans, despite the fact that he had the injunction filed for two weeks and all that.

he was not meaningfully involved, you know, in a major way. So it's interesting to see the defensive lines showing up and showing out there. But yeah, all in all, I don't have too much extra or additional intel to give you. Just pretty much a reiteration of what is already a known about it. Yeah, you bring up Jonathan Palor, who is coming back from that serious injury. He was a top 100 recruit. That state paid some pretty money to get to come from Burlington to be there in Raleigh. It looks like Deion,

And Andre Desonor is right now the favorite to be the number three running back, according to Michael Clark from over there at Pack Power, who works alongside Corey Smith, who, yes, they do a great job covering the pack. That is certainly the number one side I go to any time I want some Intel from state. Harvey Dyson, the Tulane transfer who's going to be key for you all this year off the edge. Apparently he had a really good outing as well. And you're right, the run game, I think it's going to be good. Every time Duke Scott had to fill in last year for Hollywood Smothers, he was awesome, especially in that game against Georgia Tech. I think the last season in Chapel Hill, there was a lot of issues. The running back rotation oftentimes didn't make any sense at all.

I think Davyong Goss can play. And you have a lot of those guys who were with CJ back in high school, him, Jojo Trader apparently looked good. And look at the wide receiver core last season. I thought overall it was kind of disappointing, considering the star rankings, all that those guys are like getting paid. Like Noah Rogers, we still haven't really seen it from. He's injured right now at Alabama.

Grimes was fine. If anybody you look at, losing is Terrell Anderson, who actually, I think, probably exceeded expectations last year. So having Keenan Jackson back, being in and over, Davian Dozier from App State and then Jojo Trader, who a lot of Intel last year, this time around at Miami, was about, okay, Jojo's going to break out and be that guy. He was going to be what Malachi Tony was last season. Of course, injuries got in away. Now he's in Raleigh. So I'm excited about what they have offensively, especially having the fact they have CJ Bailey back and defensively. I raise an eyebrow. It's good to hear

that they had success against the offense, I think will be successful this upcoming season. The talent level, in my opinion, is nowhere near where it was for a lot of years under Dave. But that may not matter because the schedule, everyone's saying is the weakest one in the ACC. And I want your thoughts on that. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, State has the easiest strength of schedule in the Atlantic Coast Conference this year. They have at Virginia, of course, in week zero. They play home against Louisville, which will be tough, home against Blake, at Stanford, home against Cal, home against Duke, home against Syracuse.

And then depending on how things go in the first half of the season for both these teams, they can be traveling to Tallahassee and to Chapel Hill, at least Tallahassee to an empty stadium, Chapel Hill to a stadium full of red against two zombie teams. So it does, at least to me, seem to set up pretty well for a team that has plenty of questions, but some things especially quarterback-wise to like getting into the year. You know, you talk about the questions, and they are there. But some of the things that are answered, like you talk about, they come from the schedule.

This schedule, think about all of the teams from last year, right? If you look back at the rankings, and don't get me wrong, we understand in 2026, it is a different ball game. Anybody who says, oh, you expect the exact same team from one year to the next, they're a liar. They're lying to you. They're being untruthful to you. But I want to go through all of the top teams from last year and let's see which ones NC State has on their schedule, okay? Virginia. Yes.

Okay. Even though they beat them last year, that's one. SMU, are they on the schedule? They are not. Miami, are they on the schedule? They are not. Pitt, are they on the schedule? Nope.

Georgia Tech, are they on the schedule? Nope. Duke, are they on the schedule? They are, but a very different Duke team. Okay, so the only two teams that are ahead of state last year in the rankings, that state has to play, both of them are replacing their quarterbacks, and one of them state beat last year. I'm not saying that this is summertime and the living is easy, right?

I'm not saying that, but I am saying, Coach Doran, you know, they say when you turn about 13, 14, that's about the time where you start filling yourself in certain parts of your body start to drop. Well, guess what? We in year 14 for Doran, let them drop, brother. Let them drop. It's time to show something for NC State. state here because you talk about being one of the only teams having a third year

returner, even if you don't count the first year, fine, having a second year starting quarterback. Well, I'm just saying he started for a majority of the year, but some people don't want to count. I'm going to count it. Either way, you got a guy who's been in the program for quite some time, a guy who's definitively the guy. There's no question about Will Wilson did great at running the ball in short yardage and all that. I'm hearing great things about him out of camp. There's still a definitive guy.

you have that going on for you. You have a defense that apparently is much improved. You have a wide receiver quarter that has been stripped down to the studs and rebuilt, so we'll see what that is. But you got a lot going for yourself. The offensive line room, I think will be just as good, if not better, than last year. You know, you got Spike Soles, another year older, fantastic young man from a fantastic family.

You've got T. Genderson, who got better and better as the year went on. He started off the year like a bull in a China shop. just a lot of aggression, not much of a way to kind of cage it and point it in the right direction. You saw some flimsy penalties and just dumb stuff from an elder statesman. He cleaned that up at the end of the year. Obviously, you're losing your man to carry his peak, but you're replacing them with McCriman, who I've heard great things about so far. I think that NC State has as great of a chance as they've ever had to go.

The question is, how good is the defense going to be? How good are they going to be? I think that's a bigger question than anything else for me. Yeah, and that would really be my question, because I agree with you offensively. Look at the line, and it's great to be able to replace Peak with a guy in Jamarion McCriman, who was first team all AAC, or sorry, American Conference, than more AAC last year at ECU.

So to be able to backfill that way, the player could probably give you maybe just as good a play you would have potentially gotten this year from Peak, who's currently banged up down in South Carolina. But it's not just that you have continuity on the offensive line, which is so key for that, position. But yeah, defensively, I think there was a lot of issues on the back end,

especially at safety and injuries were a key part of that. But also the guys they brought in via the portal, they clearly spent more by bringing a player like King Mack from Penn State. I think that will help them immensely. Andre Evans coming from Georgia, potentially could be a starter there at corner for them. So I think on the back end, it should be better. It's upfront. That's really going to be where the questions are asked.

And the defense has been really good linebacker-wise when you watch them of the last decade. They've also had a ton of talent and defensive line. So maybe being better on the back end can be able to clean some things out for them. But again, we get into the schedule. You look at Bill Connolly from ESPN, his SB Plus. They're missing four out of the top five highest rated teams that he has going to the season, that being Miami, Clemson, SMU, and Virginia Tech, which is interesting that they're that high.

They do have to play Louisville, FSU and Virginia. Duke is the only team. Apparently, that's projected above them in SP Plus. I don't really get that how Duke's sitting at 44. but states one spot behind about 45, but they do get Wake who's 56. Cow is 57. I think that's kind of a low rating for Cal. State Carolina is 58, Syracuse is 69, and I top, but I could see them as a bounceback

candidate. Probably not a candidate to beat State and Raleigh in November ended at Stanford. So I think it works out pretty well for them. They could certainly lose Virginia in a couple weekends. Louisville could be a loss. I don't see them losing to this Wake team. They should not lose the Stanford. They could lose the Cal.

Shouldn't lose the Duke. Shouldn't really lose to Syracuse. I would think at this point in time. and God knows what Florida State and Carolina look like by time we get to the last two weeks there in November. So I see the vision with the schedule. I'm never a fan of the schedule being the reason why somebody would pick a team to potentially get to Charlotte. But it worked out for Louisville, year one of Brom. It worked out for SMU.

Their first year in the conference didn't really happen last season. So maybe in year 14, finally at long last, Dave Doran gets in there to Charlotte. And, I mean, that would be a hell of a scene. certainly here in my hometown, probably at the leap of the weekend. Likely not. But that would be great for you guys all with state friends out there who have been suffering, I suppose, for all these years. So we'll talk more about that matchup coming up in a couple of weeks in a moment

because Virginia, they also had a scrimmage over the weekend. And they got two guys back for the time being because of that injunction by the Colorado judge that happened a couple of weeks ago. We'll talk about how the Hoos are looking here in just a moment on Locked-on ACC. Since 1986, the game has been creating classic college hats that fans are proud to wear. Whether an alumnus, current student, season ticket order, or simply someone who never misses a game, a great college hat is more than just apparel. It's a way to represent your school wherever you go.

This year, the game is celebrating its 40th anniversary by giving fans a chance to save on some of their most iconic college hats. If you've been thinking about replacing an old favorite or adding a new one to your collection, now is the perfect time. Everyone has their favorite hat to wear on game day. and why not choose a classic college hat from the game that you can wear here around, whether you're heading to the game, running errands or just showing off your school pride with hundreds of officially licensed college hats to choose from, you'll find a perfect fit for game day and every day.

Don't miss this chance celebrate 40 years of the game with 40% off your entire order. Visit the gamecaps.com and use promo code locked on at checkout. That's the gamecaps.com promo code locked on. Celebrate 40 years of the game with 40% off, but don't wait. This anniversary offer won't last forever. All right, back here on Locked-on, ACC, taking a look around the conference as we have some intel on some scrimmages that happened over the weekend. Started off by discussing the NC State Wolfpack in only 18 days time. They'll be back out there on the field, 3.30 Eastern Time on ESPN in Charlottesville, facing off against the who's on the grounds.

Virginia also had a scrimmage over the weekend and was interesting here, Kenton, apparently of the two quarterbacks. Now, Bo Probula has already been named a starting quarterback by Tony Elliott. But according to Wahu 247, Eli Holstein impressed the most in that. And I was surprised when Tony decided that he was going to name a quarterback prior to camp. Now, it's certainly possible that Bo could lose the job. I think he probably did it because he wanted to have one leader, wanting to have one guy getting the ball with the first team, knowing that week one, you have state, you can't really have any sort of

competition going into it, knowing that state has their quarterback settled. I'm intrigued by that. Yeah. And it's a very different situation than it was last year. We won with NC State and Virginia because remember last year, that was the non-conference conference game. So it was like if you take a loss, it's equivalent to you losing to LSU or Eastern Michigan or Washington State or whoever else.

You know, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. It's just like, oh, we're O and one. It's okay. We can still regroup, rebound. and have an excellent year. And lo and behold, the loser of that game, which was UVA, went on to win double-digit games for the first time and forever and go to the ACC championship.

So I look at that and I say, I'm not super surprised that Coach Elliott said, hey, I've got to have a guy going into game one because this carries more weight. This carries into our ACC schedule. What are we looking like? This game is going to matter. This game is going to matter to that.

So I'm not surprised there. And I'm also not surprised that Eli Holstein performed better than Perbula or, you know, was the more exciting of the two. I'm not, I'm not a Perbula believer. I am a hosting guy. I'm a hosting guy. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm a hosting guy. I believe in Holstein.

I believe in Holstein. And that's one of those ships that I feel like I'll go down playing on the deck for because I believe that he's a heck of a quarterback. He just, I don't know what happened last year at Pitt, but it just looked like his confidence was going and he had the yips. then Mason Hintill, Wally pipped him, and he never got the spot back. Hey, I get it. It goes like that sometimes. But the reality is, I think that this UVA team, they're continuing a lot of continuity on the offensive line,

which is one of the most important place. Your offensive line has to be one big, fat man. Everybody has to be moving together. They have to understand what it's going to be like, okay, when we run PowerG, this is how he likes to block that, and this is how he likes to get around there. Oh, when we run inside zone, this is how we like to work to the second level and all that good stuff.

You need that. need that continuity, they have it at a very high clip. So that's part of what makes them dangerous. But the other part of what makes them dangerous, belief. Belief. Yes, Tony Elliott did a good job in the portal going out and getting some ball players who can get it done. But more important than that, that UVA team now looks in the mirror and says,

damn it, why not us? Why can't we win double-digit games two years in a row and get back? We did it once when everybody picked us to finish 14 in the conference. When everybody said our coach was a fireman walking, Now he's got one of the most illustrious years in UVA history and an ACC championship of game appearance. How about it? We can do it again.

So I think that this UVA team, regardless of who the quarterback is, I think they're in good position. I was a little surprised by how quickly Perbula was named until you look at the four contexts of week one. You can be O and one in conference. Now you've got to dig yourself out of a hole. So from that standpoint, it makes sense. Yeah.

And I still feel like they have one of the better situations in the ACC, because they have two guys who have plenty of starts under their belt. And Pabula is someone that I think they're going to run a lot and honestly should run a lot. And if he goes down, you have Holstein, who's not necessarily the kind of athlete. And Pabula showed up on Bruce Feldman of the athletics freak list on Monday. So he's one of the better athletes in college football. And we'll see what it looks like. A couple other things from the scrimmage, apparently defensively, they looked really good.

And that has been a calling card, at least under Virginia, under Tony Elliott, since he's been there offensively, they had some issue. defensively they've been fairly solid. And Rico Flores, who's one of their bigger portal signings at receiver. He's been in a non-contact yellow jersey over the last couple of days. He's going to need him back there as that's a rebuilt wide receiver room that they have in Charlottesville. And I'm not totally concerned offensively because the offensively, you brought back with the continuity with the overall talent that they have.

Because the guy like Mikhail Bowley could potentially go in the first two rounds, depending on how he performs this upcoming season there in Charlottesville. So I think offensively, they should, they'll figure it out. defensively, that's the area to look at. And they did get some news there on the defensive front. We talked about this last Monday. A Colorado judge has an injunction right now allowing the class of 2022 who just should have graduated back in the spring, allowing them a fifth year of eligibility.

You're seeing at Texas, you're seeing players come back in Indiana. Well, UVAs hats too coming back, Jacob Holmes and Kaz Moore who were under defensive front last year and all back. And you look at just the defensive tackle room, they already had Jason Hammond. and Anthony Brick coming back. Now you had Holmes who transferred in last year. They got Zion Wilson from ECU, that first team, All-American Conference player last year. And then off the edge, Fisher Kavak was the only other top four who was returning this season.

Now Kizm Moore, the former Elon Phoenix, who's now back for a second year for the time being. Because that's still something that's up in the air. Potentially, that could get changed and turned around. And that would hurt Virginia in a situation and would also hinder a team like Indiana from finding a way to repeat and other teams like Texas. So that's a big thing for them right now as far as depth on the defensive line. They have it all offensively, but if they could have it defensively, that would make it even more likely for them to be back in Charlotte this upcoming season. So that's a couple of things coming out of Charlottesville.

FSU, they also scrimmaged all over the weekend. We'll get into what's going on with them. And again, give you an update on the North Carolina quarterback battle here in just a moment on Locked on ACC. Baseball fans, if you think you know who's hitting a homer today, Fandle is giving you a free chance to call your shot with Daily Dingers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings.

Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLB season. Daily Dinger is another fun way to stay engaged with every day's games, whether you're following your favorite team or keeping an eye on matchups across the league. Every game has someone capable of going deep. Now you get the chance to make your predictions before first pitch. Sometimes it's a hitter who's been on a hot streak, a favorite. will pitching matchup or even a ballpark that tends to give up home runs. Those are always first things I look at before making my Daily Dinger's pick. And Matt Olson from my Braves, he's been on a heater.

So maybe take him with Daily Dinger. So are you ready to play your game? Join all the action at fandle.com. That's fandle.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a homer. Play ball and swing for the fences on Fandall, an official partner of the MLB. One final segment here on a lockdown ACC, focusing in on a few. schools who are going to be facing off against each other in week zero and also playing in week zero. Florida State, Seminoles, be facing off against New Mexico State at home. I think under

the lights there at Doak Campbell Stadium. They also scrimmaged over the weekend. I've actually had two. They had scrimmage last Wednesday, had one on Sunday and they were done with scrimmaging. It's all about move week. Mike Norvell saying as guys are trying to win spots there into starting lineup, the DeSere twins were two guys who were great for them last year. Andro especially, Darrell as well. Those guys are standouts. They need an edge rusher. And Jalen Anderson, Adjuko got a step up this season.

Apparently, he was adding pressure on the quarterback. Charles Lester, who's fighting for a job at Corner, had an interception. Ashton Daniels, who won the job. FSA you didn't spend a ton to get him, but he has plenty of experience starting last year at Auburn, primarily at Stanford. He led a couple of touchdown drives, and though things were up and down. But the run game, that's really what stood out over the weekend as Usman Kroma, who was a top recruit last year.

and Samuel Singleton Jr. We're both successful in the run game. And they're missing right now, Trey Wisner, the Texas transfer, but he should be back shortly. So FSU, I think they have talent. It's just about can they get off the mat if they, when they get knocked down, which is definitely going to happen this season.

And can they find a way to just not quit on Mike Norvell and utilize talent that they have, stay healthy, and make noise, which is what this conference needs FSU to do as long as they are here in the ACC. Absolutely. And Croma is a heavy hitter out of that backfield. He's a guy that I was surprised he wasn't, you know, more heavily mentioned in the all-ACC looks and all that type of stuff because he's a load to bring down.

He runs physically. He runs angry. It just wasn't, you know, the offensive line last year, it was a bit of a struggle. And so you ask yourself, how good is the offensive line going to be this year? Because you expect with the DeSiers, they're going to get better. Those two were really good last year and you're expecting them to get better. You talked about the Jugo Transfer. or what he's expected to add in off the edge.

You're looking at a team that on paper should not have been as bad as they were last year. So it's a little bit paradoxical and a little bit confusing as to how Florida State continues to put out these types of stinkers with this type of talent, which then leads you to one conclusion and one conclusion only. Is it the head coach? Is it something going on culturally that is just not clicking there? because everybody, the coaching staff has been virtually stripped down to the studs.

So it's great to hear that there are early performers doing well in camp. And, and I will say this, that may be one of the good things about having the portal as heavily as they've had to in recent time. It's not like, oh, man, I wish that you would have kept Mao Zahn because that was my coordinator. And now he's going, no, no, no. You've got guys in there who they're not familiar with a different system.

They're familiar with what you got going on right now. familiar with you as the play caller. So if it is to be, it's up to me. If you want to save your job, Mike Norvell, now's the time to do it. But again, these are positive signs coming out of Campet Talasic. Yeah, and if I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down calling plays. And that's really what led to

Florida State having to turn around. Look, they did a great job in the portal with the guys they were able to bring in, like Braden Fiske. Of course, Jordan Travis, who was a program changer for them. Jared Verse. Jared Verse, of course. Can't forget about him. Like, there was so many dudes. There was so many dudes. which in early portal, they killed it.

And a lot of teams have obviously caught up to them. I don't think they have the flash around them like they used to have. And that certainly has shown with just the talent level. Now, he's not done a great job recruiting high school, but I look at them offensively. Like Ashton Daniels is capable that he was leading Auburn to a victory in the Iron Bowl last year until Auburn just couldn't finish a game, which was really the calling card.

I know Hugh Freeze was gone, but that era they just could not find a way to finish. But he's played plenty of football. If you have Chroma, looking the way he's looking so far, and Wysner eventually will be able to get in there and help them out and have that one-two punch. Wide receiver, Deuce Robinson, maybe the best wide receiver in the ACC, the back that he came back, Mackay Danzy,

probably the fastest player in the ACC. And then it sounds like they got some two freshmen and Jason Lopez and Devin Carter. Now, I heard this about Jabon Boggs last year that they look good and that they could come in and potentially be guys that help out. Like, there's plenty of talent in the skill positions for Florida State this upcoming season. There's some talent, maybe not depth there on the defensive line. They're going to lead a need a lot from the DeCir twins, from Kevin Wynn, and from other guys

like Ryan Kennedy, the transfer of A&M to step up. I see the talent. It's just, will they be able culturally to be able to handle potential loss in week one against SMU? Or if they win that game, can they be able to maintain if they fall on the road against Alabama? If they have a stress against Louisville and also there against Clemson, Miami where things maybe aren't going their way, can they, find a way to get to November and still be together. Like that's the big question for FSU this season and moving forward. And it's not just about the potential losses.

It's also about winning. None of these guys have won at a high clip. And that's just me being as respectful as possible. None of these guys know what it's like to be rock stars on Florida State's campus because you are a very winning team. How do you block out the noise? Because now, you know, back in the day, even if you were a winning team in Florida State,

you weren't supposed to be walking around with any money in your pocket. You catch my drill. You weren't supposed to. You couldn't, you know, you couldn't flaw. You couldn't have a real good time with it. Now, you can say, hey, man, this ain't nothing but a whole lot of, whole lot of NIL going on over here. You know what I mean?

And they would truly enjoy yourself. How do you handle success if they are to be successful? You know, so this is a make or break year for Norville. This is it. This is, you go no further. if you cannot get this team right, in my opinion. And so I'm going to see, I'm excited to see what this team looks like. But let's talk about that QB battle with your boys over there in Chapel Hill.

Because this QB battle is turning into pure cinema. I want to let you get into it. Okay. I don't know about pure cinema. We're still trying to figure out what's real, what's fake. That's coming at Chapel Hill. So we talked about this on Monday and we went over the quarterback competitions across the league. Go back and watch that show.

Clemson certainly, that's the headliner. We talked about. Bizzina and Reynolds and how that pans out down in Death Valley. But in Chapel Hill did not see the intel from the 247 site, Tar Hills 247 that came out on Sunday from the scrimmage that they had over the weekend. Now, according to them, Miles O'Neill, the A&M transfer, who was handpicked out of high school by Bobby Petrino, who never coached him in college station,

but then brought him to Chapel Hill. Apparently, he was getting the majority of the reps at QB1. and if they played TCU today, he would be the starter, which was interesting. Also, apparently Billy Edwards, not performing poorly, just Edwards or O'Neill's, Patrano's guy, looks better. And then also Travis Burgess, the true freshman, looking pretty good as well. Now, inside Carolina, which I would view as the preeminent Tar Heel site, they take a little bit more time to come up with a scoop. And then earlier today on Tuesday, from their sources, which is what I used on yesterday's show, they're hearing that it's Billy Edwards, who would be the starter against TCU and that he has looked better while O'Neill is also getting reps.

They're splitting reps, but also that Burgess is somebody who apparently is impressing and potentially could see the field. So on one hand, I feel excited. On the other hand, I feel a little sick. And if I had a third one, I'm like, oh, okay, well, Travis Burgess, that's interesting. So I don't know what to make of the situation in Shabler other than it's apparently wide open. And depending on which site you read, you're either really happy or you're really not happy at all about the situation and who potentially is taking a field in Ireland and in 18 days time. Julian, I'm nervous. I'm nervous.

I'm worried. I'm worried because I knew if they go with Billy Edwards, oh, he's truly clocked out. Bill Belichick is truly clocked out. He don't give a damn about none of this. They're just doing whatever, right? This shows me a level of commitment and dedication to still being locked in on the details because we know of these things. three, the highest floor is by far Billy Edwards. But of these three, the lowest ceiling, probably by far, is also Billy Edwards. So you know what he is. He's a proven commodity. We have seen

him at multiple schools. We have seen him be the guy. We've seen him lose the job multiple times. That's just the fact. That's not a slight against him. That ain't no hate to him. That's just what we're looking at here. And so now to see these other two in the mix, to hear O'Neill and Burgess are in the mix to hear that O'Neill is taking first team reps. I'm saying, oh, I'm a little nervous. I'm a little nervous because that operation, you know, I've been calling CJ Sally. He ain't answered.

He didn't answer the phone. You know, I might have to pop up on campus to see about it, but that's neat to hit on. Tampering is unreal, man. We got a fixedness. It's not temper. It's not temper. If I reach out.

It's not temperate if I reach out. I'm just a podcaster. You know, I'm just fellow cast technician going to check on this cast technician. Yeah. But now, but now, in all seriousness, it is a very, a very interesting time in terms of, again, this was one of the things that I said, this is going to be definitively one of the things that hurts North Carolina. The fact that they do not have a dynamic playmaker at quarterback, because I've said, they do not have the type of roster

that you can have a win with quarterback. And high key, I think Billy Edwards is on the low end or the high end of win in spite of up. I really do. I don't think he's a win with quarterback. I think he's a guy to like, you got to grin and bear through some moments where you're like, it's Billy being Billy. But if you put these two dynamic playmakers in the mix, not saying that they're going to get North Carolina six ways, not saying they're going to get them an eight win. Not saying that.

I'm saying that tells me that Petrino is here, not messing around. They're here and actually locked in on, hey, we got to earn these checks. We got to find a way to put a at least decent, at least serviceable, at least the highlight of our offseason ain't being a laughing stock of a Hall of Fame kicker type of performance this season.

And that's what it looks like they're doing with this quarterback bout. Yeah. And look, Belichick right now, just based off the four and eight season, all the off the field stuff. And of course, what Adam Vinatari had to say on Saturday during his Hall of Fame speech, which certainly is a choice, he's become a punchline. And what has he provided Carolina right now other than all of the negative headlines? And if hiring Bobby Petrino, which occurred after Miles O'Neill, decided to go to Chapel Hill,

which I can't imagine they took him with. already knowing that Bobby was going to come here. And Bobby probably told him, hey, this kid, he's going to follow me. He's going to be our quarterback. Like, if O'Neill wins, then clearly that's who Petrina wanted to be the guy. But also, he's shown the upside. He's shown enough of the ability to play the position. We always get super interested in arm talent and all that.

Can you play quarterback between the ears? It can't just be the athleticism. It can't just be the arm. You got to be able to play the position. And that's the thing that's tough about Billy Edwards. And look, to be fair to him, I thought he was fine at Maryland, was injured. last year at Wisconsin. Like, am I excited for when he did two years ago under Mike Loxley?

No, not at all. I watch Malik Washington. I get excited about that in college park. Let's talk about that when Virginia Tech goes up there later on this fall. But it'll be interesting to see, man, because I'll leave you all with this. I had a conversation for somebody last year, just about the situation in Chapel Hill. This is prior to the Stanford game. Very clearly at that point in time, Gio Lopez was not going to come back and be Bill Belichick's

quarterback in year two. as it was told to me at that point in time, the plan from that staff was to bring in a portal quarterback, which, duh, but also to have a guy in Travis Burgess, who was coming off a torn ACL where he only played to think one or two games last year in high school, he was going to come in and compete, knowing full well that he was not going to be available for spring. And the fact that he's coming so far and apparently is wowing people,

that is interesting to me that this may actually end up working out to the point where, yeah, they got their porter quarterback in Billy, and then they brought in O'Neill in large part because of Petrino was being hired in a few days afterwards, and they still had Travis. If Travis comes in, wins that job. That could actually be the highest ceiling of the guys down the road. For this season, maybe not. That may be Miles O'Neill. But that is fascinating to me.

But I'm also just someone who does not believe Bill Belichick is going to last past November. So are any of these guys going to, well, Edwards, I think it's over for him no matter what, but are any of these guys that they pop special? O'Neill or Burgess or any of these guys can be back in Chapel next year under likely, in my opinion, and from what I've been told, if things don't go the right way, which you're probably not going to go the right way, are they going to be back under a new coaching staff? So we'll keep you updated on all of that. What's going on in Clemson, what's going on with the other quarterback battles? I suppose Stanford technically has one.

I can't imagine Davis Warren's not going to be the starter. Maybe that'd be a good thing if he's not. But we'll talk about a lot of that here later on on Lockdown ACCC as we continue to go across the ACC, give you all some camp buzz on the shows here. Maybe try to get some other college hosts, part of the network, maybe get them on, give us some updates from what's going on with their teams. But that's going to wrap up this edition of the Lockdown ACC podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

We're your host, Julian Counsel and Kenton Gibbs. Again, y'all subscribe and follow the show for free over on YouTube and wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Be sure to follow us over on the socials at Julian Council and at TGIF underscore Kitten. And it means not be safe. Be happy, be whole. And we'll talk to y'all on Wednesday here on Locked-on, ACC.