CollegeFootballNews.com Preview 2017: All-ACC Team & Top 30 Players
Who are the best and brightest stars of the ACC going into the 2017 season? Welcome to the CFN All-ACC Team & Top 30 Players.
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ACC Team Previews
ATLANTIC: Boston Coll | Clemson | FSU
Louisville | NC St | Syracuse | Wake Forest
COASTAL: Duke | Ga Tech | Miami
UNC | Pitt | Virginia | Va Tech
2017 All-ACC Team & Top 30 Players
– 2017 CFN ACC Preview: It’s A Football Conference Now
2017 CFN Preseason ACC Offensive Player of the Year
QB Lamar Jackson, Jr. Louisville
Of course several new ACC offensive playmakers will emerge this season, but with the loss of UNC QB Mitchell Trubisky, FSU RB Dalvin Cook, and Deshaun Watson – along with a whole slew of other Clemson stars – there aren’t a lot of obvious threats to to push the reigning Heisman winner out of the league’s top offensive spot.
So what can Jackson do as an encore? He could lead Louisville to the ACC title, beat Clemson this time around, and keep the amazing pace set at the start of the season through the entire year, but as long as he does that again, it’ll be up to the rest of the team to do its part. It’ll be tough behind a rebuilding line, but he’ll make everyone around him better – again.
2017 CFN Preseason ACC Defensive Player of the Year
S Derwin James, Soph. Florida State
Can he regain the form that made NFL scouts gush so much two years ago? With 6-3, 211-pound size, he has the right build or the next level, and he’s got the range and ball skills to do everything a defense needs. As long as he’s past the knee injury that knocked him out last season, look out.
However, it’s going to be a battle to be the ACC’s top defensive player with a loaded group of options to choose from.
Virginia’s tandem of S Quin Blanding and LB Micah Kiser will be amazing, the Clemson DT duo of Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins will be amazing, and FSU’s Tavarus McFadden could be America’s top corner.
Boston College’s Harold Landry is an unstoppable pass rusher, but NC State’s Bradley Chubb could be the league’s best defensive end. All, though, will take a backseat to James if he does what he’s supposed to do in the loaded Seminole defensive backfield.
