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NFL Draft 2013: Jonathan Cooper, EJ Manuel, Bjoern Werner Among 34 ACC Players Selected

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EJ Manuel Was One of 34 ACC Players Selected During Last Week's NFL Draft

Former FSU QB EJ Manuel Was One of 34 ACC Players Selected During Last Week’s NFL Draft

The 2013 NFL Draft is officially in the books after 254 selections from the NFL’s 32 franchises. In total, the ACC saw 31 players chosen in this year’s draft — 34, if you include the three draftees from Syracuse (and for argument’s sake, we will here). That number — regardless of which you decide to use — puts the conference behind just behind the more highly-regarded SEC in terms of NFL-bound talent this season. While not the only thing that counts by any means, moving players on to the NFL resonates with potential recruits, and does help all 14 (15) schools in one way or another.

We’ve included various breakdowns below — from school-by-school, to conference comparisons, an NFL team-by-team list, as well as the full list of ACC players chosen between Thursday and Saturday. Also, stop by later on, to see our compilation of the most confusing non-selections from the ACC, and where those players also ended up.

First 10 ACC Players Selected

No. 7 overall (Round 1): Jonathan Cooper, OG/North Carolina, selected by the Arizona Cardinals

No. 16 overall (Round 1): EJ Manuel, QB/Florida State, selected by the Buffalo Bills

No. 19 overall (Round 1): Justin Pugh, OT/Syracuse, selected by the New York Giants

No. 24 overall (Round 1): Bjoern Werner, DE/Florida State, selected by the Indianapolis Colts

No. 25 overall (Round 1): Xavier Rhodes, CB/Florida State, selected by the Minnesota Vikings

No. 27 overall (Round 1): DeAndre Hopkins, WR/Clemson, selected by the Houston Texans

No. 28 overall (Round 1): Sylvester Williams, DT/North Carolina, selected by the Denver Broncos

No. 37 overall (Round 2): Giovani Bernard, RB/North Carolina, selected by the Cincinnati Bengals

No. 40 overall (Round 2): Cornellius “Tank” Carradine, DE/Florida State, selected by the San Francisco 49ers

No. 42 overall (Round 2): Menelik Watson, OT/Florida State, selected by the Oakland Raiders

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NFL Draft 2013 Preview: Mock-Drafting Every ACC Prospect

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Will Former UNC Guard Jonathan Cooper End Up Being a Top-10 Pick?

Could Former North Carolina Offensive Guard Jonathan Cooper End Up Being a Top-10 Pick?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been evaluating every ACC prospect for the 2013 NFL Draft, giving some quick thoughts on players’ skill sets and what round they may be chosen in. With the draft officially starting tomorrow night, we’ll now be mocking up a quick draft, complete with the teams most likely to choose these players. For those who are not projected to be selected, we’ve avoided predictions, since it’s a pointless exercise in predicting undrafted free agency. Interested in full profiles of every ACC prospect? See the list of team previews at the bottom of the piece.

***First Round

8. Buffalo Bills: Jonathan Cooper, OG/North Carolina (Sr.)

19. New York Giants: Bjoern Werner, DE/Florida State (Jr.)

22. St. Louis Rams: Cornellius “Tank” Carradine, DE/Florida State (Sr.)

24. Indianapolis Colts: Xavier Rhodes, CB/Florida State (Jr.)

27. Houston Texans: DeAndre Hopkins, WR/Clemson (Jr.)

30. Atlanta Falcons: Menelik Watson, OT/Florida State (Jr.)

***Second Round

33. Jacksonville Jaguars: Sylvester Williams, DT/North Carolina (Sr.)

41. Buffalo Bills: Ryan Nassib, QB/Syracuse (Sr.)

43. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: EJ Manuel, QB/Florida State (Sr.)

48. Pittsburgh Steelers: Justin Pugh, OT/Syracuse (Sr.)

53. Cincinnati Bengals: Giovani Bernard, RB/North Carolina (So.)

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Notre Dame, ACC Announce Football Opponents Rotation for 2014 Through 2016 Seasons

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Syracuse and Notre Dame Will Face Off Twice in the First Three Years of the ACC Scheduling Arrangement

Syracuse & Notre Dame Face Off Twice in the First Three Years of the ACC Scheduling Arrangement

The big news out of Notre Dame‘s camp today (after yesterday’s announcement regarding the NBC contract extension) is the rotation of ACC football opponents for the 2014 through 2016 seasons. As a quick refresher, the Fighting Irish will play five ACC teams per season going forward, and with 14 conference teams, there’s no simple rotation available. Still, per the release today, the schedule will look like this (dates TBD):

2014

Home: Louisville, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Road: Florida State, Syracuse

2015

Home: Boston College, Georgia Tech
Road: Clemson, Pittsburgh, Virginia

2016

Home: Duke, Miami, Virginia Tech
Road: NC State, Syracuse

… we took a crack at figuring what the schedule would look like about a month ago, and while we swung and missed on several of these (understandably so — there were a lot of options to go with), we did correctly guess that Syracuse would be doubled up on the first rotation. This is likely due to the Meadowlands arrangement that’s already in place, rather than a favoritism toward facing the Orange (if anything, I’m sure ND would rather play BC or Pitt more often than the others).

So while that all appears pretty cut-and-dry, it actually ends up leading to a few more questions: Who gets doubled up on the rotation’s next go-around? Will it have to be a high-profile team (FSU, Clemson, Georgia Tech, VaTech) or one playing at a neutral site? And where will these games be televised? Assuming ESPN, for sure, on these Notre Dame road games. But what of the home games? Are they all just automatically sent over to NBC?

The Irish also have to spend some time clearing room on the 2014 schedule, with one more game left to go after they removed Arizona State. I’d bet the pick there is Rice, but at the same time, the Owls would be one of Notre Dame’s only breaks in what’s otherwise a monster slate of major-conference teams.

Thoughts? Complaints? Sour grapes over Syracuse getting two games in this rotation despite being one of the “new guys?” Share your commentary below.

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NFL Draft 2013 Preview: Louisville Prospects

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After a Strong Senior Campaign, Louisville's Adrian Bushell is Likely to Be Drafted

After a Strong Senior Campaign, Louisville’s Adrian Bushell is Likely to Be Drafted

Leading up to this month’s NFL Draft, we’ll be taking a look at each ACC‘s school’s prospects and where they’re slated to be chosen. While 50 ACC players were invited to the NFL Draft Combine, those not in attendance also have ample opportunity to hear their name called between April 25 through 27.

Louisville has a stockpile of sophomore and junior talent on the roster right now, so while this crop of NFL prospects may look diminutive, it’s because it’s just a precursor of things to come. Coach Charlie Strong’s created an impressive pipeline and a roster that’s aiming to go undefeated this coming season, with or without the two departing seniors below.

Adrian Bushell, CB, Senior (Projected: Fifth Round)

Bushell’s had a long and winding road to get to this point, but in the limited time he’s been a starting collegiate corner (19 games), all he’s done is impress coaches and scouts alike. Despite a smaller frame of just 5’10″ and 186 pounds, he seemingly always manages to get a hand on the football and an arm on a ball-carrier. In 2012, he tallied 14 defended passes, one interception and 62 tackles. Overall, he’s great at keeping receives in front of him, and has become a real deterrent to passes on his side of the field. While he’ll certainly get drafted, his future employer will likely ask him to bulk up just slightly — enough so that he can take the physical punishment of the pro game, but not so much that it hampers his speed.

Mario Benavides, C, Senior (Projected: Seventh Round)

Benavides was widely viewed as a combine snub, something he’s likely used as a motivational chip during his workouts since. The senior has the size (6’3″ and 297 pounds) and speed (5.3 40-yard dash) to be a pro center, but it’s the brute strength piece of the equation that has some scouts unsure. Where he might lack a bit in that department, however, he excels in hand and feet speed — key to keeping the middle of the line clear. There’s talk he may end up positioning himself as a combo guard/center, which will likely increase his value to teams as they search for some offensive line depth late on day three of the draft. Either way, he could use a bit more upper-body strength, but that’s something he can work on once signed with a team as well.

Previously: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech

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Conference Realignment: ACC Made the Right Move Picking Louisville Over UConn

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After a Sugar Bowl Win and a Men's Basketball Title, Louisville Looks Like a Great Addition to the ACC

After a Sugar Bowl Win & a Men’s Basketball Title, Louisville Looks Like a Great Addition to the ACC

It’s been months since the ACC made the bold move to add Louisville over assumed next-school-in-line, Connecticut. And while things can certainly change over the course of the next few years (and hopefully, decades), we wanted to quickly compare the two schools’ returns across their respective athletic teams during the 2012-13 season. This blog, along with many others, was of the opinion that adding Louisville, a property with tremendous upside that the Big 12 was also interested in pursuing, was a better add than UConn then. And over four months later, we’ll stand by that. A look at the athletic year for these two schools so far:

Louisville Cardinals

Baseball: 25-7 (7-2); currently ranked 11th nationally, 1st in Big East

Men’s Basketball: 34-5; National champs, Big East Tournament & regular season champs

Women’s Basketball: 29-9; National runner-up

Field Hockey: 12-8; third in Big East

Football: 11-2; Sugar Bowl champs, Big East champs

Women’s Lacrosse: 8-4; sixth in Big East

Men’s Soccer: 14-6-1; ranked ninth nationally, Big East Red division champs

Women’s Soccer: 10-4-4; third in Big East National division

Softball: 34-6; currently ranked 11th nationally

Women’s Volleyball: 30-4; ranked 17th nationally, Big East Tournament & regular season champs

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Could a Scheduling Alliance Between the ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame Truly Work?

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Under Further Discussion: Is an Alliance Between Notre Dame, the ACC and Big 12 Viable?

Under Further Discussion: Is an Alliance Between Notre Dame, the ACC and Big 12 Viable?

Last week, our own Hokie Mark put together an article on his site, ACCFootballRx, taking a look at how a scheduling agreement between the ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame could conceivably work out. While he does a great job of laying out the specifics, he and I also carried the conversation over to email afterward, to discuss the issue a bit more. In particular, we dove into Notre Dame’s willingness to participate, notes on television deals and West Virginia‘s desires in this proposed situation.

John: First and foremost, would Notre Dame want to partner with the Big 12 as a whole? I get the feeling they’d prefer to keep their primary opponents, five ACC teams and then have the flexibility to schedule the Big 12′s elite teams like Texas and Oklahoma.

Mark: I agree.  That’s why I said I think this would have to fall somewhere between “rotating through all of the teams” and “just play the made-for-TV matchups.” I could see Notre Dame giving the Big 12 a list of teams they’d agree to play, which might look like this: Texas, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. (They’d leave out Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and West Virginia, in my opinion).

That may not go over so well with the four left out, but consider this: (1) WVU is more interested in the ACC scheduling part anyway, so skipping Notre Dame is probably fine with them; (2) Kansas, K-State and Iowa State are just happy to be in a BCS/power conference; (3) at any rate, that creates a 6-4 vote in favor of the deal.

John: Doesn’t the Big 12 need a two-thirds majority for critical decisions? (I thought that was the case, anyway) I mostly agree with your assessments of teams, though I’m not sure Baylor gets lumped in with the other five. Also agree that KU, KSU and ISU are all off the table; plus there’s no way Notre Dame’s scheduling (former head coach) Charlie Weis any time soon.

What kind of impact could we potentially see in terms of television contracts? How much would Notre Dame’s go up by? And each conference’s deals? Would this also put FOX into the bidding (along with ESPN and NBC) for Notre Dame’s contract that expires after 2014?

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College Football 2012 Offensive Scoring Efficiency Ratings

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Oregon's Offense Was High-Powered in 2012, But Was It Efficient?

Oregon’s Offense Was High-Powered in 2012, But Did It Score More Efficiently Than Others?

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been tossing around an idea: what does scoring efficiency look like for every college football team, and does that also correlate to victories? Admittedly, it’s not overly complicated, but nonetheless, certainly took a good deal of number crunching (aka, simple math) to come up with some figures. Additionally, while putting this all together, I thought it would be interesting to see if teams that ran or passed the ball more saw a higher scoring efficiency rate, higher win total or both.

You can feel free to peruse the full data set for all 124 FBS schools here (color-coded for conference affiliation) in this handy Google doc. Included are the total offensive plays run during the 2012 season, total points scored, the efficiency rating (we’ll discuss below), run percentage, pass percentage and total victories.

The crux of this exercise is the scoring efficiency metric, which is actually a pretty simple points-scored-per-play figure. Basically, we’re assuming that efficiency is scoring more points in less plays, while inefficiency is scoring less points in more plays. With that definition in mind, the top 10 most efficient scoring offenses were as follows:

SCHOOL PLAYS POINTS EFF.
Oregon 1059 645 0.609065156
Alabama 898 542 0.603563474
Kansas State 841 505 0.600475624
Louisiana Tech 1054 618 0.586337761
Oklahoma State 1014 594 0.585798817
Florida State 941 550 0.584484591
Georgia 924 529 0.572510823
Texas A&M 1025 578 0.563902439
North Carolina 898 487 0.542316258
Baylor 1072 578 0.539179104

Not a whole lot of surprise here. Some of the nation’s most highly regarded offenses (Oregon, Texas A&M, Baylor, Louisiana Tech) are all present, though admittedly, I’m a bit surprised to see Florida State and Georgia. While I wouldn’t exactly call Alabama an offensive machine, the have a knack for brutal efficiency in every aspect of the game, so it should not come as a shock to see them listed right under the Ducks’ attack, despite running 150 less plays in one more game than Oregon. Also of note, every one of these teams tallied at least eight wins last season, and six had 11 or more. In fact, when looking at the full, sorted efficiency list, the first 25 schools all had at least seven wins on the season, with the first losing team being no. 26, Tennessee (AIR IT OUT, TYLER BRAY!)

And what about the least efficient scoring teams in the country? Your bottom 10:

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