Swinney on ACC: "This league is incredibly strong" |
College Football Playoff Chief Operating Officer Michael Kelly had a
discussion with several ACC head coaches at the ACC spring meetings about the conference's national perception and its weak playoff selection committee rankings.
Some of the ire of the ACC coaches stemmed from Florida State being undefeated in the regular season but still was never ranked #1 by the playoff selection committee. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney believes that the ACC is on the rise and should get more national respect than it does based on bowl wins, non conference wins and total conference NFL draft picks. “The run Florida State had was unbelievable, just amazing what they were able to do,” Swinney said to ESPN. “At the end of the day, the first College Football Playoff, the ACC had a seat there. We’ve won three Orange Bowls in a row, we had 11 bowl teams. We got incredible nonconference wins. The Atlantic Division had more draft picks than any division in college football. I don’t hear that being written about. We’re still going to talk about some other division in college football. This mighty division. The fact of the matter is this league is incredibly strong.” The ACC had 47 draft picks this year which was the second-most of any conference this year. Here is the full list of drafts picks by school - Florida State (11) and Louisville (10), were Miami (7), Clemson (5), Boston College (3), Georgia Tech (3), Duke (2), Virginia (2), Virginia Tech (2), Pitt (1) and Wake Forest (1). The ACC had three of the first nine players chosen overall, for the first time since 2009. The ACC also had four of the top 14 for the second straight year and six of the first 19 players selected. ACC Pick Pick No. Rd. Player, School, Position Team 1. 1 1 Jameis Winston, Florida State, QB Tampa Bay Bus 2. 8 1 Vic Beasley, Clemson, DE Atlanta Falcons 3. 9 1 Ereck Flowers, Miami, OT New York Giants 4. 14 1 DeVante Parker, Louisville, WR Miami Dolphins 5. 16 1 Kevin Johnson, Wake Forest, CB Houston Texans 6. 19 1 Cameron Erving, Florida State, C Cleveland Browns 7. 28 1 Laken Tomlinson, Duke, G Detroit Lions 8. 29 1 Phillip Dorsett, Miami, WR Indianapolis Colts 9. 31 1 Stephone Anthony, Clemson, LB New Orleans Saints 10. 35 2 Mario Edwards, Jr., Florida State, DE Oakland Raiders 11. 39 2 Eddie Goldman, Florida State, DT Chicago Bears 12. 48 2 Denzel Perryman, Miami, LB San Diego Chargers 13. 50 2 Ronald Darby, Florida State, CB Buffalo Bills 14. 68 3 Clive Walford, Miami, TE Oakland Raiders 15. 72 3 Jamon Brown, Louisville, OT St. Louis Rams 16. 77 3 Duke Johnson, Miami, RB Cleveland Browns 17. 78 3 P.J. Williams, Florida State, CB New Orleans Saints 18. 79 3 Eli Harold, Virginia, DE San Francisco 49ers 19. 81 3 John Miller, Louisville, G Buffalo Bills 20. 82 3 Lorenzo Mauldin, Louisville, OLB New York Jets 21. 104 4 James Sample, Louisville, S Jacksonville Jaguars 22. 105 4 Jamison Crowder, Duke, WR Washington Redskins 23. 110 4 T.J. Clemmings, Pitt, OT Minnesota Vikings 24. 111 4 Tre’ Jackson, Florida State, G New England Patriots 25. 128 4 Jon Feliciano, Miami, G Oakland Raiders 26. 131 4 Shaq Mason, Georgia Tech, G New England Patriots 27. 132 4 DeAndre Smelter, Georgia Tech, WR San Francisco 49ers 28. 137 5 Grady Jarrett, Clemson, NT Atlanta Falcons 29. 139 5 Rashad Greene, Florida State, WR Jacksonville Jaguars 30. 155 5 Karlos Williams, Florida State, RB Buffalo Bills 31. 165 5 Bradley Pinion, Clemson, P-KO San Francisco 49ers 32 177 6 Deiontrez Mount, Louisville, OLB Tennessee Titans 33 179 6 Max Valles, Virginia, OLB Oakland Raiders 34 181 6 Kyshoen Jarrett, Virginia Tech, S Washington Redskins 35 188 6 Tony Steward, Clemson, ILB Buffalo Bills 36 189 6 Charles Gaines, Louisville, CB Cleveland Browns 37 190 6 Ian Silberman, Boston College, G San Francisco 49ers 38 193 6 B.J. DuBose, Louisville, DE Minnesota Vikings 39 194 6 Nick O’Leary, Florida State, TE Buffalo Bills 40 204 6 Darren Waller, Georgia Tech, WR Baltimore Ravens 41 208 6 Andy Gallik, Boston College, C Tennessee Titans 42 212 6 Anthony Chickillo, Miami, DE Pittsburgh Steelers 43 226 7 Bobby Hart, Florida State, OT New York Giants 44 237 7 Brian Mihalik, Boston College, DE Philadelphia Eagles 45 239 7 Gerod Holliman, Louisville, S Pittsburgh Steelers 46 243 7 Lawrence Gibson, Virginia Tech, OT Dallas Cowboys 47 256 7 Gerald Christian, Louisville, TE Arizona Cardinals
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