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.
Shout out to Phil Steele!— Luther Maddy (@luthermaddy_) June 1, 2015
#Hokies DB coach Torrian Gray said Brandon Facyson was lifting with his legs in weight room today. Couldn't do that in spring. "Encouraging"— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) June 1, 2015
#Hokies DB coach Torrian Gray said of CB Brandon Facyson (leg), he's "anticipating him fully back" for the start of fall football camp.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) June 1, 2015
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.
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