David Hale ranked each team by position

[Alsacs]

When you look at the actual graph. We are legit this year. No worse than 8-4 is acceptable or we have underachieved. I actually think he has DB to low and OL a little high but man outside of LB we are a top 25 team.

 

[RF2044]

Hope he's right about our OL, but it feels vastly inflated to me with so many question marks.

DB is too low.

 

[Eric15]

In 2014ish, I bet we were in the bottom third in possibly every single category. Now not a single unit is in the bottom third.

 

[raf4488]

In 2014ish, I bet we were in the bottom third in possibly every single category. Now not a single unit is in the bottom third.

This is why people should stop worrying so much about what 247 thinks about our classes. We just had 2 true freshman first team All-Americans. I think the coaches know what they’re doing.

 

[Orangejet]

This is awesome and my only objection is with the DB's for we should be higher than eighth.

 

[Alsacs]

Hale is a Cuse alum and his tweet feed is a good follow for ACC news.

https://twitter.com/ADavidHaleJoint

 

[Trueblue25]

Im an Anthony Brown fan but I think Tommy deserves more extended credit here.

 

[Orijinal]

QB and Running Back, WR, ST--spot on

I think DB AND LB is low, but LB is unproven so I understand.

OL, we shall definitely have to see, and DL is maybe a spot too high

 

[Orangejet]

Looking forward at seeing WAKE who comes in at #4 on Hale's list,...way ahead of VT and it will be a great final regular season game for the CUSE.

 

[care taker]

Again all outsiders don’t know much
They get info from other mis informed people
Wake Qb ?? Lol I’m trying to stay humble but I make a small statement here . TD is going to be nationally relevant let alone acc

 

[billsin01]

QB and Running Back, WR, ST--spot on

I think DB AND LB is low, but LB is unproven so I understand.

OL, we shall definitely have to see, and DL is maybe a spot too high

Agree on DL -- hard to believe we are actually better there than Clemson. Am I the only one who has a couple questions on QB? Just if you figure we'll need to use two (b/c almost everyone has to use two these days for injury reasons) and because I know we're all very high on Tommy's potential but we haven't seen a ton of production yet. Don't know -- hope I"m wrong and I absolutely could be, but I'm just not entirely in head first on tommy as of yet.

 

[Trueblue25]

Seeing Louisville in the dumpster is a fresh cup of coffee to my morning every single time.

 

[OrangeDW]

Agree on DL -- hard to believe we are actually better there than Clemson. Am I the only one who has a couple questions on QB? Just if you figure we'll need to use two (b/c almost everyone has to use two these days for injury reasons) and because I know we're all very high on Tommy's potential but we haven't seen a ton of production yet. Don't know -- hope I"m wrong and I absolutely could be, but I'm just not entirely in head first on tommy as of yet.

Agreed. And I’m very high on Tommy.

But last year we had a senior star, with a stud freshman as the backup. Hard to do much better than that.

Hopefully we won’t need the backup this year.

 

[billsin01]

This is why people should stop worrying so much about what 247 thinks about our classes. We just had 2 true freshman first team All-Americans. I think the coaches know what they’re doing.

Probably not the place for this discussion but I agree here. Not because we don't want to start landing Clemson-like classes but because we have, whether by transfer, 5th-year transfer or traditional recruit, increased our talent level significantly. Our S&C and development in general have been big as well. This, clearly, is not reflected in the rankings.

So, ultimately we'll see, but maybe the best way to phrase this in order to not derail the entire thread is that regardless of rankings we have absolutely improved our overall talent level. That's a good thing. Perhaps there's still room for improvement, but I think this staff has earned our trust from a talent eval standpoint.

 

[Rocco]

It's nice to have a winning program again. These coaches and kids have worked their tails off to turn it around. All the kudos to them.

 

[RandomGuy]

Agree on DL -- hard to believe we are actually better there than Clemson. Am I the only one who has a couple questions on QB? Just if you figure we'll need to use two (b/c almost everyone has to use two these days for injury reasons) and because I know we're all very high on Tommy's potential but we haven't seen a ton of production yet. Don't know -- hope I"m wrong and I absolutely could be, but I'm just not entirely in head first on tommy as of yet.

It all seems about right. Coleman Robinson DLine. Have to include the other QBs, too? No questions for 4 of the oline starters(including Alexander). If we're getting into depth, maybe the numbers look different. I'll take it, especially if recruits are looking at this stuff.

 

[721Comstock]

Agree on DL -- hard to believe we are actually better there than Clemson. Am I the only one who has a couple questions on QB? Just if you figure we'll need to use two (b/c almost everyone has to use two these days for injury reasons) and because I know we're all very high on Tommy's potential but we haven't seen a ton of production yet. Don't know -- hope I"m wrong and I absolutely could be, but I'm just not entirely in head first on tommy as of yet.

Huh? Clemson just sent their entire starting D-Line to the NFL.
Granted, their replacements are likely all 4-5* guys, but none were starters for the past 2 years.

We return 2 All-ACC caliber DE's, and some pretty decent DT's.
Only lost 1 starter - not ALL FOUR.

Re: QB - TD already has 2 ACC wins under his belt, and is now in his 3rd year in the system.
It's a small sample size, but it's not nothing either.

 

[Trueblue25]

Josh Black is literally the incredible hulk. That is all.

 

[Eric15]

Again all outsiders don’t know much
They get info from other mis informed people
Wake Qb ?? Lol I’m trying to stay humble but I make a small statement here . TD is going to be nationally relevant let alone acc

I guarantee you the parent of every player/position group on this list thinks they're underrated. That's part of being a parent.

 

[Eric15]

This is why people should stop worrying so much about what 247 thinks about our classes. We just had 2 true freshman first team All-Americans. I think the coaches know what they’re doing.

In fairness, this is just one guys opinion who went to Syracuse. That being said, it has me totally fired up and watching old SU games on YouTube instead of doing actual work, so let the good times roll.

 

[CusefanATL]

OL overrated in this
DB underrated in this
QB could be 1, 2 or 3 by end of year or 8, 9, 10. I LOVE the potential and think he'll be higher but a wildcard at best.
RB should finish year ranked higher

 

[CusefanATL]

This is why people should stop worrying so much about what 247 thinks about our classes. We just had 2 true freshman first team All-Americans. I think the coaches know what they’re doing.

In the law of large numbers, those who have classes ranked higher generally do better than classes ranked lower.

 

[SU94]

Hope he's right about our OL, but it feels vastly inflated to me with so many question marks.

DB is too low.

For those that are worried about our O-Line, ... I suggest finding other things to worry about. We're going to be fine, plus we have solid/strong depth there in case (when?) injuries hit.

Only six P5 teams have more starting experience than our Orangemen, and none of those reside in the Atlantic Coast Conference. You read that right. See the full chart below:

Check out this chart:

2019 Career Starts Offensive Line. – Phil Steele

philsteele.com

 

[Franz69]

I think our D is going to surprise a lot of people this year.

 

[billsin01]

Huh? Clemson just sent their entire starting D-Line to the NFL.
Granted, their replacements are likely all 4-5* guys, but none were starters for the past 2 years.

We return 2 All-ACC caliber DE's, and some pretty decent DT's.
Only lost 1 starter - not ALL FOUR.

Re: QB - TD already has 2 ACC wins under his belt, and is now in his 3rd year in the system.
It's a small sample size, but it's not nothing either.

I'm with you. I'm just saying generally it's hard to believe we are better than clemson on the DL. They have recruited and developed so well there and been so dominant -- not just on a 'really good team' level but on a 'we're going to go beat alabama on the biggest stage of all' level -- and we've just been so far from that kind of talent for so long that I just struggle to believe it. It's just sort of the way, for lack of a better word, of college sports. Duke loses three lottery picks in college hoops but it's hard to feel like you're going to be 'better' than they are in the frontcourt or whatever ... even if you had some really solid kids coming back.

Having said that, I love our DL and if Clemson doesn't quite replace all those guys seamlessly I could see it make some sense.

Agree for the most part on Tommy too. Third-year player is huge, the system itself will help him and he's going to be surrounded by better players than Dungey ever was. So it feels like everything is in place. Just saying his overall numbers (50% completions, 4 TDs, 3 INTs, 6.0 yds/att) and even his numbers in one of the wins (11-16, 144 yds, 1 TD vs. FSU) weren't exactly eye-popping. Not knocking the kid, just saying I'm not 100% sure that he's a top QB in the ACC yet.

Again, I acknowledge I could be completely wrong.