Good evening from @HokieGuru and all of us at All Sports Discussion. We’re continuing our Ask a Blogger Series, but it will be modified as our Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Question of the Week. This will be a bi-weekly series for each of our blogger representatives from the Coastal and Atlantic Divisions until the season starts – and if it goes well, we will continue in when the season starts. Today, we interview six blogger representatives from the Coastal Division. Their bios are below:
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@ztevans: Evans is from Princeton, NC and currently attends the University of North Carolina, graduating in December 2012. He is a staffer on The Daily Tar Heel’s Multimedia desk by day, tweeting too much about sports by night.. NOTE: He is not a sportswriter; he merely tweet/talk about sports from the perspective of a lifelong ACC fan “for fun.” The opinions presented are his alone and do not reflect the views of management or staff at The Daily Tar Heel.
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@DukeBlogMKline: Mike Kline is the Writer/operator of Duke Sports Blog. Fan of all things Duke, including football, yes I said football.
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@vtechfanblog: Justin Clark is a Radford University graduate. He is an avid Hokie fan and blogger that has been writing for Virginia Tech Fan since December of 2009.
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@Category6UM: Josh/Jerry Writers/Operators of Category6UM. Based in Miami, Florida. Went to University of Miami for Undergrad. Let’s go ‘Canes…
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@younglefhander: Adam Brand is a writer for The Victory Formation. He is an Atlanta native who bleeds white and gold.
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@WillsWorldMN: Will Ojanen is a writer for SCACCHoops. He is based in Eagan, Minnesota and is a huge UVA fan.
Now that we’ve introduced you to our blogger panelists, let’s get started with the Question of the Week. Here is the question for our panelists: You’re playing ACC Fantasy Football. Please pick one player from another ACC team (not your own) who would change the dynamic of your team. This is a player that would make such a substantial impact on your team, that your team might make the national title game, win the ACC, win the Coastal, or just improve your record enough that you might be bowl eligible for the first time in years (or might save your coach’s job because enough improvement was made). After you pick the player, please tell us why. Please be wordy because this is the only question lol. Go!!
@ztevans: This question is funny to field as a UNC guy because, well, the only thing Tar Heel fans can take from this season would be warm, fuzzy feelings of a job well done. Phil Steele may have North Carolina 13th in his preseason rankings under new coach Larry Fedora, but no matter what transpires, UNC will not take place in any postseason activities after the fallout of the NCAA Investigation.
I was tempted to go several routes with this. Consider what player would most improve the squad? Troll NC State fans by taking David Amerson? Ultimately, I decided to just have some fun with it and take Sammy.
Sammy, the Clemson wide receiver I only refer to on a first-name basis akin to really good soccer players, was my favorite player to watch in the ACC last season that didn’t wear Carolina Blue. Bringing him into Fedora’s high-octane offense alongside Erik Highsmith would be electric. And I wouldn’t feel as bad every time I tweeted “SAMMY!” which I did roughly 15 times in 2011.
@DukeBlogMKline: Well my first thought was to chuckle a little bit, for as much as I love my Blue Devils and as improved as they have been over the Cutcliffe era there really isn’t one player in the league that I think could make Duke a title contender. However, becoming bowl eligible is more realistic and there may just be one guy that could help in that area. It is a toss up between a great defensive rush end and an explosive offensive player. A great defensive end could get pressure on an opposing quarterback or disrupt their offense something the Blue Devils haven’t been able to do. I believe that due to Duke’s struggles on the offensive side of the ball I’d take Clemson’s Sammy Watkins as a guy who can make big plays in all facets of the game and could give Duke an explosiveness they’ve lacked on offense. And more offense means more points which have not come easily for Duke.
@vtechfanblog: I think there are a lot of ways you can answer this question but first, I think you have to look at your team and ask where is our biggest weakness? Obviously, we have the best QB in the ACC in Logan Thomas. We also have a good corps of receivers, a solid OL, a great front seven, and a maturing secondary. This 2012 team might not be as talented top to bottom as some of our past units but there aren’t a lot of holes.
However, in a post spring practice interview I admitted that Virginia Tech’s group of wide receivers are still questionable heading into this season. Sure there’s plenty of experience there with Dyrell Roberts returning for his fifth year, Marcus Davis back for his fifth year, and DJ Coles returning for his senior season. But, none of those guys are proven, at least not in the way Danny Coale and Jarrett Boykin were a year ago. Also, two of those three guys missed a substantial amount of spring practice so you have to wonder how their timing is going to be with Thomas when the season begins this fall.
Because of that, I would take Sammy Watkins in a heartbeat. He’s an elite receiver that would take our offense to the next level. If there is one type of player the Hokies have never possessed it’s a true game-breaking wide receiver on the outside. We’ve had good possession receivers and some good athletes over the years but none with the talent of Watkins.
@Category6UM: This is an easy one to answer. It would have to be VT QB Logan Thomas. We love the huge arm of Stephen Morris, and the accuracy of Ryan Williams. But neither of those guys are proven commodities at this time. We see Thomas as a dark horse Heisman candidate and expect him to improve significantly on his 2011 19/10 TD/INT ratio. Al Golden has done a fantastic job bringing in talent in his second recruiting class at UM, but the biggest question mark for the ‘Canes coming into 2012 is clearly QB. We can envision Thomas hitting emerging WR Allen Hurns with many a big play as he breaks contain. Additionally watching the 6’6 Thomas work the zone read with diminutive yet explosive true freshman Randy “Duke” Johnson would also be fascinating. It would weaken the Hokies as well, thus giving UM a better chance to win the Coastal.
@younglefhander: For me, the answer is simple. Sammy Watkins. The most glaring weakness on offense for the Jackets is lack of experience at receiver, and Watkins would bring plenty of that, as well as ridiculous big play capability. With 2011 conference leader in yards per touch Orwin Smith at A back, and Sammy Watkins on the outside, I’m positively giddy thinking about all the new wrinkles Paul Johnson would come up with, and all the fun new ways to get the ball to playmakers in space. Sure, the defense could use an impact NT, or maybe an elite corner, but just for the sheer enjoyment factor, I’m going with Watkins. With the video game numbers the offense is sure to put up, a Coastal division title is well within reach, as well as a conference title and BCS berth.
@WillsWorldMN I could go a few different ways here. I think UVA could use an elite receiver like Sammy Watkins of Clemson to make the passing game that much stronger. I could go with an interior lineman like Omoregie Uzzi of Georgia Tech to make one of the top running attacks in the conference that much better. Brandon Jenkins of Florida State would be nice too as he could be a dominant pass rusher for the team. And with not much experience in the secondary, David Amerson of NC State would be nice too. But I think I would lean towards Watkins for two reasons. First, He had over 1200 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns as a freshman. And just imagine what he could do in a year or two if he gets better. He could be a Heisman candidate this year or next year. And second, he averaged 25 yards per kick return last year, and that would fill a huge need as well for the Cavs as well.
We thank our panelists for their time Please stay tuned for further episodes of our Ask a Blogger Series – our Question of the Week.
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