2017 ACC Football: Coastal Division Power Rankings week 4

Work in Progress

For a recap of the game against Duke click here.

There is no other way to describe redshirt freshman Chazz Surratt than as a work in progress. The young signal caller has looked well beyond his years this season, and because of that, it is easy to forget he is still a redshirt freshman.

Redshirt freshmen make mistakes.

Case in point Surratt’s first interception of the season. An older quarterback never makes that throw, he takes the sack. Surratt isn’t there yet, he is a work in progress, which is why tossed it with two hands to the Duke defender for an easy pick-six.

Surratt will get there. In fact, he is already making exceptional plays. If you compare his first three full starts to Deshaun Watson’s here’s what it looks like:

Deshaun Watson: 63-of-93 (67 percent) for 968 yards, eight touchdowns and an interception, 38 rushes for 120 yards and three touchdowns

Chazz Surratt: 45-of-70 (64 percent) for 686 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, 30 rushes for 51 yards and three touchdowns

Watson’s stats are better but he also got to play against a UNC defense that allowed 496 yards per game. Surratt also had a negative 32 yards rushing because of a fumble against Louisville.

I am not saying Surratt is the next Deshaun Watson, but Watson had much better weapons than Surratt has, especially since UNC is dropping wide receivers left and right. Add Austin Proehl and Rontavious Groves to a list that already included Thomas Jackson and Dazz Newsome.

The Tar Heels were already starting so many new players this season, losing proven playmakers at the receiving position can only make things more difficult.

UNC is deep at receiver, but they were already young and inexperienced, this just makes them even more of a work in progress.

North Carolina will try to regroup as they travel down to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are looking good and are far from a work in progress this season.