The ACC Produces More NFL Talent Than On Field Success Suggests. Blame Florida State and Miami.
By Ty Duffy
Florida State and Miami feed from the finest recruiting state in the country. From 2002 to 2008, ten of the fourteen recruiting classes those schools had were ranked in Rivals’ top ten. Gifted athletes, a number of their players become NFL prospects. The schools have combined for 119 NFL Draft picks since 2000, 39 in the first round.
Those two schools were supposed to be flagship programs for the 12-team ACC. They haven’t been. Not because of the talent, but because those schools’ respective head coaches could not use it.
Florida State became a lackluster program as Bowden declined. Despite the talent brought in since 2000, they haven’t finished better than 10-3 and have lost four or more games in a season seven times. Miami had similar struggles, faltering after they joined the ACC. Larry Coker did not sustain his success. Randy Shannon did not translate off the field victories to on the field ones. Consequently, Miami has won seven or fewer games in four of the past five seasons.
If Miami and Florida State play like Miami and Florida State under Al Golden and Jimbo Fisher, the ACC’s success would be commensurate with the NFL talent it produces. The conference would be not as good as the SEC, but a hair better than the Big Ten.
[Photos via Getty]