Jacket4Life9
Jolly Good Fellow
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Warning: long post, just a thought. Not well written
Someone asked me the other day... "I know the SEC is down, particularly the East, but why? The talent has been fairly constant." After the conclusion of the '17 season, I considered many factors and narrowed it down to two: Coaching changes and general lack of QB talent.
Looking at the SEC holistically, the conference's coaching and QB talent appears to have dipped dramatically. Despite the conference's ability to dominate recruiting each and every year and bring in top defensive lineman, LB's, DB's, most SEC teams have not been able to "hit" on a QB recruit to take their teams to the next level. The frequency of coaching change within the conference is also seeming to affect many teams' success. Gone are the days of Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Bobby Petrino, James Franklin, Mark Richt, and Steve Spurrier coaching their programs to consistent success. Replacing those coaches, respectively, are Jim McElwain (huge downgrade), Ed Orgeron (we'll see), Bret Beliema (downgrade), Derek Mason (okay, but not in same ballpark as Franklin), Kirby Smart (we'll see), and Will Muschamp (downgrade IMO). Also long gone are the days of Heisman QBs such as Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, and other high quality QBs such as Dak Prescott, Zach Mettenberger, and Aaron Murray. This year, Chad Kelley and Jalen Hurts were arguably the best QB's in the conference. In recent years, we've seen teams like Florida, Georgia, and Texas A&M start kids at QB who were previously beaten out at their prior school. Granted, Trevor Knight was better than 75% of SEC QBs, but the fact that Virginia cast-off Greyson Lambert and the ex-Purdue Austin Applebee and journeyman-former-walk-on Luke Del Rio had the opportunity to play for UGA and UF respectively is indicative of the overarching problem within the conference. On top of that, after Nick Saban, there does not appear to yet be a top tier coach in the conference. I'm not saying many of the relatively inexperienced coaches in the conference won't improve (i.e. Kirby Smart), but at the moment coaching appears to be one of the conference's issues.
On the flip side, we have the ACC. Speaking of the conference in a general manner, the QB play was outstanding in 2016. Deshaun Watson, the nation's best QB, played for conference and national champion Clemson. The Heisman Trophy winner, Lamar Jackson, played very well in the same division as Watson. DeAndre Francois appears to be a rising star with a bound of potential at FSU. On the Coastal side, Mitch Trubisky projects to be a first round pick in this years' draft. What's more impressive about his accomplishments is the fact that '16 was his first year starting, in which he replaced an outstanding QB in Marquis Williams. Our very own Justin Thomas was an outstanding field general and QB. Unfortunately, he played in the shadow of the rest of the conferences QB's in more pass-happy systems. Miami's Brad Kayaa never impressed me very much, but to be fair, I watched very few of his games. He is projected to be a 2-3 round pick in the upcoming draft. Pitt's QB, Nathan Peterman, was very solid as well. He is also projected to be drafted in 2017. Jerod Evans, yet another quarterback, though he-much like some of the aforementioned SEC QBs, transferred into VT and only played one season, had a strong year in 2016. I don't recall a year in which the QB talent was better in the ACC.
As far as coaching, the ACC has seen much more stability in my opinion. This is not by accident. Clemson's Dabo Swinney and FSU's Jimbo Fisher have been outstanding, each winning a National Title in the last 5 years. Several of the conference's other teams such as GT, UNC, and Duke, have extremely good coaches in CPJ, Fedora, and Cutcliffe, respectively. Richt is a proven head coach at Miami. Although I hate to admit it, he had a phenomenal career at UGA. He underachieved in his latter years, but he is a great coach nonetheless. Beamer is gone, and Fuente is in. I believe VT has a good one. I am certain that I have left out a few coaches and assistant coaches that have made a difference for their respective teams. I am only trying to analyze a general phenomenon that has reshaped the perception of two of the nation's top conferences, at least for now.
The main point is: many people forget/underestimate how important QB's and Coaching are. Not a coincidence New England has achieved the success that they have with Belichick and Brady. On the NCAA level, you had Dabo and Watson. In each case, the championship winning team contained a strong overall team and I'm sure assistant coaches... but it is clear that an elite Head Man and QB are a recipe for success. This year, IMO, the ACC led the SEC in both categories, thus the result was 10-4 and a National Championship.
Someone asked me the other day... "I know the SEC is down, particularly the East, but why? The talent has been fairly constant." After the conclusion of the '17 season, I considered many factors and narrowed it down to two: Coaching changes and general lack of QB talent.
Looking at the SEC holistically, the conference's coaching and QB talent appears to have dipped dramatically. Despite the conference's ability to dominate recruiting each and every year and bring in top defensive lineman, LB's, DB's, most SEC teams have not been able to "hit" on a QB recruit to take their teams to the next level. The frequency of coaching change within the conference is also seeming to affect many teams' success. Gone are the days of Urban Meyer, Les Miles, Bobby Petrino, James Franklin, Mark Richt, and Steve Spurrier coaching their programs to consistent success. Replacing those coaches, respectively, are Jim McElwain (huge downgrade), Ed Orgeron (we'll see), Bret Beliema (downgrade), Derek Mason (okay, but not in same ballpark as Franklin), Kirby Smart (we'll see), and Will Muschamp (downgrade IMO). Also long gone are the days of Heisman QBs such as Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, Tim Tebow, and other high quality QBs such as Dak Prescott, Zach Mettenberger, and Aaron Murray. This year, Chad Kelley and Jalen Hurts were arguably the best QB's in the conference. In recent years, we've seen teams like Florida, Georgia, and Texas A&M start kids at QB who were previously beaten out at their prior school. Granted, Trevor Knight was better than 75% of SEC QBs, but the fact that Virginia cast-off Greyson Lambert and the ex-Purdue Austin Applebee and journeyman-former-walk-on Luke Del Rio had the opportunity to play for UGA and UF respectively is indicative of the overarching problem within the conference. On top of that, after Nick Saban, there does not appear to yet be a top tier coach in the conference. I'm not saying many of the relatively inexperienced coaches in the conference won't improve (i.e. Kirby Smart), but at the moment coaching appears to be one of the conference's issues.
On the flip side, we have the ACC. Speaking of the conference in a general manner, the QB play was outstanding in 2016. Deshaun Watson, the nation's best QB, played for conference and national champion Clemson. The Heisman Trophy winner, Lamar Jackson, played very well in the same division as Watson. DeAndre Francois appears to be a rising star with a bound of potential at FSU. On the Coastal side, Mitch Trubisky projects to be a first round pick in this years' draft. What's more impressive about his accomplishments is the fact that '16 was his first year starting, in which he replaced an outstanding QB in Marquis Williams. Our very own Justin Thomas was an outstanding field general and QB. Unfortunately, he played in the shadow of the rest of the conferences QB's in more pass-happy systems. Miami's Brad Kayaa never impressed me very much, but to be fair, I watched very few of his games. He is projected to be a 2-3 round pick in the upcoming draft. Pitt's QB, Nathan Peterman, was very solid as well. He is also projected to be drafted in 2017. Jerod Evans, yet another quarterback, though he-much like some of the aforementioned SEC QBs, transferred into VT and only played one season, had a strong year in 2016. I don't recall a year in which the QB talent was better in the ACC.
As far as coaching, the ACC has seen much more stability in my opinion. This is not by accident. Clemson's Dabo Swinney and FSU's Jimbo Fisher have been outstanding, each winning a National Title in the last 5 years. Several of the conference's other teams such as GT, UNC, and Duke, have extremely good coaches in CPJ, Fedora, and Cutcliffe, respectively. Richt is a proven head coach at Miami. Although I hate to admit it, he had a phenomenal career at UGA. He underachieved in his latter years, but he is a great coach nonetheless. Beamer is gone, and Fuente is in. I believe VT has a good one. I am certain that I have left out a few coaches and assistant coaches that have made a difference for their respective teams. I am only trying to analyze a general phenomenon that has reshaped the perception of two of the nation's top conferences, at least for now.
The main point is: many people forget/underestimate how important QB's and Coaching are. Not a coincidence New England has achieved the success that they have with Belichick and Brady. On the NCAA level, you had Dabo and Watson. In each case, the championship winning team contained a strong overall team and I'm sure assistant coaches... but it is clear that an elite Head Man and QB are a recipe for success. This year, IMO, the ACC led the SEC in both categories, thus the result was 10-4 and a National Championship.
