Dakota’s Notebook: Are ACC Defenses the Best in the Nation?

(Jeffrey A. Camarati/ UNC Athletics)

Note: Art Chansky is gone for a few days, so digital content manager Dakota Moyer will be contributing for the Sports Notebook in his absence.

Is the ACC turning into the country’s premier conference for defense?

For the longest time, the SEC has been the gold standard for defensive football. After all, the South has the nation’s best high school football talent and the SEC routinely brings in great defensive coaches.

But the ACC might be giving the SEC a run for its money.

According to Football Outsiders’ S&P+ rankings, the ACC fielded more Top-50 defenses than the SEC in 2017.

Although the SEC had elite had elite defenses like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and LSU, the bottom of the conference was severely lacking.

Meanwhile, the ACC had a sneaky good year on defense. Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, Boston College, Duke and Virginia all ranked within the Top-50 in defensive S&P+.

Don’t expect this trend to change either. Although the conference loses premier defensive talent like Bradley Chubb from NC State and Derwin James from FSU, ACC are routinely signing blue-chip talent on the recruiting trail.

Want a sneak peak for next year? Here are some names you should know on defense in the ACC.

Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins highlight a Clemson defensive line that should be the best in the nation. Marvin Wilson, Joshua Kaindoh and Stanford Samuels are three sophomores on FSU’s defense that should emerge as starters. Joe Jackson and Shaq Quarterman from Miami are draft eligible and look go become stars in Coral Gables. Finally, Zach Allen is a dark horse name to know for a player who could have a rise to the top of draft boards like we saw from Chubb in 2017.

So what does this mean for North Carolina?

For one, it means that UNC’s rebuilding project on offense gets that much harder. Along with a plethora of injuries, the Tar Heels fielded the nation’s 83^rd ranked offense. The Heels will play four of those teams ranked within the Top-50 in defense last year, so the quest for bowl eligibility

With a quarterback battle between Nathan Elliott and Chazz Surratt that will likely span into fall camp along with replacing four of five offensive line starters, it will be a tall task for UNC to rebound from a disappointing 3-9 2017 campaign.

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