Airing it Out in the ACC

The path to the ACC championship may depend on the right or left arm of each school’s quarterback this fall as the ACC returns a  number of quarterbacks with experience and success in their team’s offense.  With only three teams in preseason top 25 polls the ACC may feature more shootouts and turn this fall into one of the more exciting seasons we have had on the east coast in quite sometime.

Having a strong quarterback is the number one reason to be excited about your schools football team.  Defenses may win championships, but high profile offenses fill seats. A number of schools in the ACC have reason to excited about their signal caller this year.   We will give you a small breakdown of each player, and at the end of the article let us know who you believe is the best signal caller in the league.

Tajh Boyd: Clemson

Boyd stormed onto college football throwing for 3800 yards as a sophomore connecting on 33 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.  With playmaker Sammy Watkins at his disposal the Clemson QB will be a preseason Heisman candidate.  Boyd will have to show more consistency down the stretch as the Tiger’s offense sputtered slightly before winning the ACC championship game.

Michael Rocco : Virginia

The Cavalier quarterback through for over 2500 yards last fall and led Virginia to an 8-5 record.  Rocco has a solid run game to keep defenses off balanced and provides extra time in the play action to create some big plays in the passing game.  Rocco’s biggest competition may be on his on team as Alabama transfer Phillip Sims chose to move to Virginia in the off season.   Sims one of the nations top prospects could be immediately eligible this fall due a hardship case.  if this happens Uva has instantly solidified the best situation at Quarterback regarding depth in the ACC.

Tanner Price: Wake Forest

An experienced Quarterback in Jim Grobes system is always dangerous and that is what Price has going into his third year.  Price threw for nearly 3200 yards last season, but more importantly he threw 20 touchdowns to three interceptions. Three of his picks came in a game against North Carolina on the road where he was pressing because his defense was giving up points quickly.  An area the Deacons must improve in is protecting Price from the pass rush as he was sacked 34 times.

Sean Renfree: Duke

Renfree attempted 464 passes last fall for 2900 yards, and his completion percentage was around 65%.  For as many times as the blue Devils put the ball in the Air Renfree needs to improve in completion percentage as well as improving his touchdown to interception ratio.  Renfree connected on 13 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.

EJ Manuel: Florida State

Manual was very efficient in throwing 2600 yards in 2011 completing 65% of his passes for close to 9 yards per attempt.  Look for Coach Jimbo Fischer to allow Manual more freedom in the offense this fall, but FSU will still try to establish the run and utilize a talented defense to win games.  Like Wake Forest Florida State must protect Manuel better as he was sacked 33 times last fall.

Mike Glennon: NC State

Glennon may be the most NFL ready QB of all the play callers in the ACC, but the Wolfpack quarterback will have to find new go to play makers this fall as George Bryan graduated and speedy TJ Graham was drafted in the second round.  Glennon has handled taking over for Russell Wilson well, but the Virginia native needs to be more consistent and take care of the ball better for the Wolfpack to win the Atlantic division.  The Wolfpack will have a great secondary on defense, but they lost a lot of experience and talent in the linebacker corp.  Glennon may need to have a couple performances similar to the comeback win against Maryland, but NC state should be one of the stronger teams in the ACC.

Bryn Renner: UNC

For a University that finally had a starter in the NFL you would think fans would be happy with 3000 yards, 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.  However Tar Heel fans have discussed Ad nausiam in the off season the new offense with Larry fedora and back up QB Marquise Williams.  The spring game should put to bed any QB controversy and Renner’s accuracy should bode him well in the quick passing screen game.  Renner like Rocco from Virginia has a strong running game to lean on as Gio Bernard returns and is poised to be an all ACC type running back.

Tevin Washington: Georgia Tech

Washington’s 1600 yards were probably the most dangerous in the ACC in 2012.  running the Georgia Tech flexbone offense and being able to hit open receivers in the passing game makes defending Tech almost impossible.  As junior he completed 49 % of his passes up from 41%.   If the senior improves his completion percentage even more then the offense will be even more dangerous.  In all four regular season losses last fall Washington managed less than 100 yards through the air.  Teams that were successful did a great job defending Tech on first down.  For Washington to take Tech to the next level he will have to be better on 3rd down and long.

Logan Thomas: Virgina Tech

Thomas threw for 3000 yards and 19 touchdowns, but the key to the rising junior’s success will be taking care of the football and completion percentage.  In Tech’s two losses Thomas tossed 3 interceptions and completed a little over half his passes.  Tech lost David Wilson to the NFL, and Thomas was the teams second leading rusher.  A priority for tech will be finding their primary ball carrier to take pressure off Thomas.  As successful as Thomas appeared he still had some growing pains with progressions and making good decisions.  An off season and more experience will help the talented player separate himself into an elite quarterback this fall.

Chase Rettig: Boston College

Rettig as a sophomore threw for 1900 yards and in his wins the quarterback actually averaged fewer yards per game than in his losses.  The difference where Rettig must improve is accuracy.  He completed 52% of his passes in defeat and 63% of his passes in games BC won.  For BC to keep up with the high profile offenses in the ACC they will need Rettig to be accurate when called upon especially on third down to keep the chains moving and opponents offenses on the side line.

The jury is still out on the quarterbacks at Maryland and Miami.  Stephen Morris is talented at Miami, but with limited action we need more of a body of work to give a better analysis of his game.  Maryland and Boston College are less settled at quarterback than the rest of the league and they better have their signal caller up to speed by the time league play begins.  To have an inexperience quarterback in what looks to be a shootout type league this year Maryland could be the doormat of the league.  Randy Edsall of Maryland cannot afford the turmoil from year one in his program to continue, but the other teams Qbs may have a lot to do with that.

Regardless of who wins the ACC this upcoming season fans are sure to some exciting quarterback duels that will most likely cause league defensive coordinators many nights of lost sleep.

As always you can follow the Haley and MandMsportshow on twitter @MandMSportshow and you can read more articles from Haley at The Water Cooler.