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The goings and comings as the ACC cranks up for another season.
With the annual ACC football kickoff in Charlotte this week, there are certainly some new – and a few old – faces in attendance. The Tar Heels’ press conferences are not until Thursday, which shows how much this event has expanded since the old days of one and done.
The quarterback battle at UNC will be in full bloom before training camp opens, since Mack Brown has brought Conner Harrell and Max Johnson to the Queen City along linebackers Power Echols and Kaimon Rucker (or should we say Kaimon RUSHER) who anchor the Tar Heels’ defense.
But the biggest name in the entire conference is potential ACC Player of the Year Omarion Hampton, who became a beast last season by easily leading the league with 1500-plus yards for a 130-yard average per game and 15 touchdowns. The Big O was fifth in the country in rushing, by the way.
Mack Brown’s public strategy will be interesting when he takes the microphone. It is the first season since coming back to Chapel Hill that he won’t have a sure-shot NFL quarterback running his team. That’s what makes the battle between Harrell and Johnson so interesting. And don’t forget returnee Jacolby Criswell who looks and talks like he’s the best of the trio.
Brown is the only Hall of Fame coach in the league, although Clemson’s Dabo Swinney will be there someday with a few other possible candidates. When he returned from Texas, Brown was listed in most top 10 national coaching polls. And after four seasons of relative disappointment, he is barely in the top 10 of the ACC rankings, No. 7 by CBS Sports and No. 9 by On3Sports. The two Daves – State’s Doeren and Wake Forest’s Clawson – are higher in both polls. So is the pressure on or off Mack?
For the comings, that dubious distinction belongs to three new members, two from the West Coast and one from the Great State of Texas. Stanford and Cal had to go as the Pac 12 was collapsing around them and SMU wanted to get into a Power 5 conference while a spot was available. All three schools agreed to take next to nothing in shared revenues to start.
Stanford coach Troy Taylor had to cancel a trip to Australia to open the 2025 season because he and Cal coach Justin Wilcox have been scheming and teaming how to negotiate the estimated 44,000 miles their teams will travel this year as members of the ACC. They failed in getting to play at Duke and UNC the same weekend, so they could fly on one very big plane.
Just kidding, or am I?
Featured image via Associated Press/Karl B. DeBlaker
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
I just love it when a man is a “Hall of Fame” coach but can only win around 59 to 60 percent of his games. His record since returning to UNC is the same, his overall record at UNC is the same, and his ACC winning percentage is the same. Every year, UNC has high expectations but every year, it’s the same old, same old (as it is with the same old, same old very nice head coach).
Should he step aside for the good of the program and anoint or at least endorse a younger, more energetic but much less experienced person to take his place? Hmmmm…. That sounds very familiar for some reason. Maybe it’s not such a good idea after all.