Pressing questions for several ACC staffs this spring

Much like the Pac-12, the offseason storylines dominating the ACC involve future media rights deals and the longterm viability of the conference rather than actual football. 

So let’s talk football!

Clemson won the conference in 2022, yet the Tigers are no longer (for now at least) head and shoulders above the rest of the league. 

Florida State is chalked with momentum right now, with the Seminoles hoping to reassert their former dominance in the ACC. 

Of the league’s 14 teams, only FSU, Duke, North Carolina and Syracuse look guaranteed to start the same Week 1 QB from last season come the fall. 

Jeff Brohm and Brent Key are the conference’s two new head coaches, while Jeff Hafley could start to feel some real heat if Boston College (3-9 in 2022) doesn’t show any significant improvement. 

Meanwhile, Syracuse’s Dino Babers is seemingly on a never-ending hot season, and the second-year coaches at Virginia and Virginia Tech may not be long for the league either if things go as poorly in the future as they did in Year 1. 

With all that, here are my most pressing storylines for several ACC staffs this spring.

What are the initial returns from the Garrett Riley-Cade Klubnik partnership?

Though it came later than many had hoped, Dabo Swinney recognized that Clemson needed an offensive reset this offseason, so he went out and grabbed the hottest name on the market in TCU’s Garrett Riley. 

Riley turned Horned Frogs backup quarterback Max Duggan into the Heisman Trophy runner-up, and TCU feasted on explosive plays (No. 4 nationally) in 2022. 

What have been Clemson’s issues offensively the last few seasons?

Inconsistent QB play and a lack of chunk gains. 

The Tigers ranked No. 8 in the ACC in explosiveness in 2022, and tied for last in the conference in 2021. 

Riley got the most out of Duggan in one season and now will turn his attention toward Cade Klubnik. The two have a prior relationship dating back to the recruiting process, so there shouldn’t be any chemistry issues early on. 

How Riley implements his scheme and uses Klubnik’s skill set to elevate Clemson’s offense will be of utmost interest, though. 

The Tigers return most of their starting offensive line, and there are still real uncertainties at receiver, but any offensive growth starts with the quarterback. 

Riley developed Duggan into a more complete QB in 2022 — still implementing Duggan’s QB-run game but not making it the center of TCU’s attack. 

Well, Klubnik has wheels, too, but accuracy and vertical throws were two of his biggest strengths coming out of high school. In his two starts last season, he flashed some of those attributes, albeit with inconsistent results.

Still, if Clemson’s OL can’t hold up or the receivers still can’t get separation this spring, does Riley opt to lean into Klubnik’s athleticism and make that the focal point of the attack in 2022?

We won’t know for sure until the fall, but Riley’s assessment of Clemson personnel and how he marries that with Klubnik’s toolbox should provide some initial clues.

Can North Carolina’s reshuffled secondary gel this spring?

The Tar Heels opened spring practice Sunday, and while all eyes are on potential Heisman Trophy candidate Drake Maye at quarterback, the main focus for Mack Brown & Co., this spring has to be fixing a defense that has become the program’s bugaboo the last two seasons. 

In Gene Chizik’s first season as the DC, the Tar Heels ranked last in the ACC in scoring defense (30.8), total defense, yards per play (6.14), pass efficiency and pass defense (271.3 yards per game). They also allowed a league-high 29 rushing touchdowns, as well as the second-most passing scores (27). 

The entire unit was a sieve, but especially the secondary. So perhaps addition by subtraction will make the difference?

They better hope so.

Like a hockey line change, UNC’s entire starting secondary transferred this off-season. Brown also pushed out position coach and former Tar Heel Dre Bly. 

In steps Indiana secondary coach Jason Jones, who worked with UNC co-defensive coordinator Charlton Warren for a season with the Hoosiers in 2021, as well as likely starters in transfer corners Armani Chatman from Va. Tech and Alijah Huzzie from ETSU and safeties Derrick Allen from Georgia Tech and Antavious Lane from Georgia State. 

The ACC is ripe for the taking, and with Maye under center — even in a new offense with Phil Longo now at Wisconsin and Chip Lindsey the OC — the Tar Heels shouldn’t have an issue scoring points most Saturdays. 

To be true contenders, have they done enough this offseason to improve the other side of the ball, though? 

Has the dust settled at Miami, so the Hurricanes can just focus on football? Or is more turnover coming?

The Hurricanes went from preseason Coastal Division champs to missing a bowl game in Mario Cristobal’s first year, so the former Cane cleaned house in a major way this offseason. 

Think the biggest HVAC and the most potent bleach on the market type of deep-cleaning. 

Miami’s second-year staff is almost unrecognizable, as Cristobal fired OC Josh Gattis and nudged multiple other assistants out the door, too. Kevin Steele left for Alabama and Charlie Strong quit. In total, the Hurricanes have six new coaches on staff in 2022 — with new offensive (Shannon Dawson) and defensive (Lance Guidry) coordinators, a receivers (Kevin Beard) coach, a tailbacks coach (Tim Harris), a linebackers coach and a defensive ends coach (Jason Taylor).

But that was only Part 1 of the turnover in Coral Gables, Cristobal also reconstructed Miami’s roster, with 21 players entering the transfer portal and 10 fresh new faces coming in the door. 

The Canes lost a couple of impact performers, but they still came out ahead in terms of projected production in 2022. They added two all-conference offensive linemen (Javion Cohen from Alabama and Matthew Lee from UCF), a likely starting corner (UCF’s Davonte Brown), two defensive tackles (Branson Deen from Purdue, Thomas Gore from Georgia State) and an impact linebacker (Francis Mauioga from Washington State). 

Change for the sake of change doesn’t mean much unless you address specific needs — and Miami did that. Mostly. 

While the OL has been rebuilt and the defense has more depth, there are still major question marks at receiver. 

The Canes won’t be able to asses (or address) every issue this spring, but they definitely need to take stock in whether there’s enough playmaking talent for quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to work with. The offense averaged under 20 points per game (17.9) in ACC play last season, and one of the unit’s primary issues (outside of porous protection) was a receiver room that looked more like Miami of Ohio and not ‘The U.’ 

The Canes started practice Saturday, and over the next six weeks, Cristobal should have a better feel if he needs to dip into the portal again and supplement the roster with a couple of impact wideouts, or if in-house guys like Colbie Young and Xavier Restrepo have made a leap and no additions are necessary.

Is Jeff Brohm + a host of potential impact transfers enough for Louisville to emerge as a darkhorse ACC contender?

The Cardinals upgraded at head coach this offseason by bringing Jeff Brohm home, but the former Purdue head coach inherited a roster in flux so he went portal’ing hard during the initial transfer window. 

Louisville had a lot of holes to plug, especially offensively with the loss of quarterback Malik Cunningham and tailback Tiyon Evans. 

The Cards return just three starters on an offense that ranks 99th nationally in returning production, per ESPN, so Brohm opted to lean on familiar and reunite with Cal quarterback Jack Plummer. 

Plummer started 14 games over three seasons with Brohm at Purdue and had over 3,000 yards passing for the Bears last season. 

Louisville also restocked its playmaking room with wideouts Jamari Thrash (61 catches for 1,222 yards and seven touchdowns for Georgia State in 2022), former Top 100 recruit Kevin Coleman, who spent a year at Jackson State and had 33 catches for 510 yards and three scores, and Jimmy Calloway, as well as Wisconsin backup tailback Isaac Guerendo, who averaged over 6.1 yards per carry last fall. 

The Cardinals grabbed multiple starters on defense, headlined by Stanford pass rusher Stephen Herron (5.5 sacks in 2022). 

But starting at the end of the month (Louisville opens spring practice in late March), Brohm must determine if the roster still needs additional upgrades for the Cardinals to go from an 8-5 team to a legit conference contender in Year 1. 

With no divisions anymore, Louisville’s schedule is ripe for a boon season — that is if the Cards have hit in the transfer portal correctly.