Since 1996, AJ has covered more than 1,000 college basketball and 150 college football games, mostly in the ACC. He spent 10 years with the Wilmington Star-News before joining Buster and has covered Final Fours, Stanley Cup Finals, MLB, Tennis and PGA events. He has written for Inside Carolina, Pack Pride, ACC Sports Journal, Basketball Times, Eastern Basketball and more. He has hosted radio shows in Wilmington and Raleigh N.C.
Monday, April 20, 2009 12:16 AM
Posted By: Andrew Jones In: ACC
If the NFL draft was a barometer to gauge the strength of college football conferences, the ACC would rank at or near the top of the heap.
But that’s not exactly the case.
ACC football has an image problem, one that will take several years to repair. But even though the conference has fared better than the nation realizes, it still hasn’t put forth a legitimate national championship contender in nearly a decade.
Want to be taken seriously? Win some titles. Just ask North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams. A choke artist who couldn’t win the big one four-plus years ago, he is suddenly a genius with two titles in his back pocket.
But the ACC has been well represented in recent NFL drafts. In fact, no conference has had more players taken over the last three first rounds than the ACC with 25. The SEC is next with 21 with the Big Ten following with 18. And the Big 12? It trails the pack with eight.
The first defensive player selected in the last three NFL drafts has been from the ACC. N.C. State’s Mario Williams was the top overall pick in 2006, Clemson’s Gaines Adams went fourth overall in 2007, and Virginia’s Chris Long was the second pick in last year’s draft. Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry could go in the top two or three this weekend.
North Carolina’s Julius Peppers was the first defensive player taken in the 2002 draft.
That offense sells is another reason the ACC isn’t viewed through a sexy lens because it has largely been a defensive league this decade.
Sixteen of the 25 players taken in the first round over the last three years were defensive players, and only two were true offensive-skill guys: Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan and Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Maryland’s Vernon Davis (2006) and Miami’s Greg Olsen (2007) might also be considered skill guys as tight ends.
Draft week has returned, and next Saturday is a chance for the league to enhance its reputation just a bit. It is expected again to be well-represented in the first round, with as many as seven or eight players possibly being taken.
Andrew Jones is in his 13th year covering major college sports and can be reached at AJones@BusterSports.com
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