Dedrick Epps is third on the team in receiving yards; 304 (thanks Icon SMI)

1.  Dedrick Epps – Miami – Epps brought in just over 300 yards receiving and 2 scores last year. As long as he is fully recovered from his knee surgery during the offseason, he should be a viable candidate to do the same thing again this year. Javaris James will be at the helm this year and to build confidence, the tight ends will be used early in games, or late in games if the Hurricanes find themselves down in points.

2. Greg Boone – VT – Boone will make an attempt to be the best TE in the ACC this year. He needs to go out in style as he is a senior and will look to raise his stock so that he can be drafted into the NFL next spring. He came very close to breaking 300 yards last year as he finished the season with 278. Add in the 2 scores and he is considered one of the top TE in the ACC.

3. Ben Wooster – WF – Wooster is my candidate to have the bigger year of the top three so long that QB Riley Skinner looks his way 25+ times again like he did last year. Wooster will be available for lots of yards and scores, but I am more worried that Wake Forrest abandons the passing game this year and really tries to put each game on the shoulders of their 3 viable running backs, which is why I have Wooster at #3. If he puts up the same numbers as last year, you can expect somewhere around 200 yards and 3 scores.

4. Michael Palmer – Clemson – Palmer did not have a ton of yards last year but he did have 3 scores which accounts for something. I would expect him to be considered more of a viable option this year as either QB tries to gain confidence in their young careers.

5. Brett Huffman – Duke – As only a sophomore last year, Huffman had 170 yards and a score which is not bad. It’s not good, but not bad. I would expect Huffman to be part of the bigger game plan this year as WR Eron Riley has gone to the NFL and Duke needs to find guys to throw to. Head Coach David Cutcliffe is a smart guy and has already said he knows he has plenty of talent in Huffman.

In 2008, Caz Piurowski was named offensive Seminole Warrior and the most improved offensive player at the football awards dinner (thanks Icon SMI)

6. Caz Piurowski – FSU – Typically, you can’t believe Jimbo Fisher when he says that he wants to use more his TE each season as it never happens. But for some reason, I believe him this year. I think it is more of a testament that Fisher is not quite sure that he can trust his WR as much so he thinks by employing more schemes meant for the TE that QB Christian Ponder will gain some confidence and then be able to ease himself into each game. Not to mention that the guy is 6’ 7” and has good hands. He is my sleeper TE for the ACC.

7. Lars Anderson – BC – Anderson will be employed much like last year as more of a blocker for all of the running that BC is going to do. Head Coach Frank Spaziani is not going to ask a whole lot out of his 27 year old QB this year, will look to run more than pass, but Anderson will see a couple charity balls thrown his way and maybe will end up with 1 or 2 scores.

8. Richard Gordon – Miami – if Epps does not fully recover, than Gordon will step in easily and probably put up the same type numbers. He is young and inexperienced, but will still be used even if Epps makes a full recovery.  Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple will use all of his weapons wisely and Miami is always known for using their TE and producing some nice ones.

 9. Zack Pianalto – UNC – Pianalto is a question mark for this team. He has the ability, but since UNC had the trio of WR last year, they never had to look to the TE. It could be the opposite this year, but only if they don’t see the similar type production out of the WR this year as they did last year. If the receivers step up, forget about the TE again this year.

10. Beau Reliford – FSU – See Caz Piurowski. Only thing is that he is faster than Caz and has better hands, but he is still raw as he is only a true sophomore.

11. George Bryan – NCST – I feel the same way about Bryan as I do Pianalto. The only thing that has him this far down is that NCST has an experienced group of receivers and a QB that likes to throw to them, Bryan could see some goal line TDs this year, but don’t expect a whole lot of action.

12. Andrew Devlin – Virginia – The only thing that Devlin has going for him is that the Cavs are going to start using the spread offense which means they are going to throw the ball a ton. If the WR do not step up, Devlin could be split out wide or in the slot similar to how Dallas Clarke is for the Indianapolis Colts, but don’t hold your breath.

Kickers

In 2008 Mat Bosher was a Lou Groza Award Semifinalist (thanks Icon SMI)

1. Matt Bosher – Miami – Last year, Bosher had a top 3 season for kickers in the ACC. He is the undisputed leader returning in the ACC and was voted All ACC Team kicker this year.

2. Josh Czajkowski – NCST – He made all but one extra point last year and was in the mid 80% range on field goals. The best thing about Czajkowski is the number of opportunities he is going to have this year. They should resemble what he had last year which was a fare amount of scoring opportunities for a kicker.

3. Steve Aponavicius – BC - In his junior campaign, he had 100% accuracy on extra points and 67% accuracy on field goals with most of the missed field goals coming beyond 40 yards out.

4. Scott Blair – GT (photo left courtesy Icon SMI) - He returns from a sophomore campaign that yielded a 94% extra point accuracy and 63% field goal accuracy. I would expect most of Blair’s points to come from extra points versus field goals, just like it was last year, but he could see more field goal opportunities if the ACC figures out how to stop the run.

5. Casey Barth – UNC – HE was 100% in extra points and 67% in field goals out of 15 tries. I would expect similar numbers this year.

6. Matt Waldron – VT – Tech had 29 field goal tries last year. That alone should be enough to keep Waldron near the top of the conference.

7. Dustin Hopkins – FSU – I like all of the scoring opportunities this true freshman is going to have. I think FSU will move the ball well enough to keep the field goal tries in the 30-35 yard range which should be easy enough for the highest rated kicker in last year’s recruiting class.

8. Shane Popham – WF – Wake Forrest found a decent replacement for career record-breaking Sam Swank in the form of sophomore Shane Popham. Swank struggled to see the field consistently in 2008 which gave Popham a ton of looks. He was not anything to write home about, but did an adequate enough job to hold onto it going into the fall. Popham was 100% on extra points but a measly 58% on field goals. That number should improve this year knowing that he is “the guy.”

9. Richard Jackson – Clemson – Not quite sure how many scoring opportunities he is going to see. My prediction is somewhere around 30 extra points and about 9 field goals. Not a whole lot of scoring here.

10. Robert Randolph – Virginia - Robert Randolph started late in the season as a freshman replacement for the terrible Yannick Reyering who was in the 50% range for field goals. Randolph did not get a whole lot of action, but was considerably better. He was 100% for extra points and 75% for field goals. I am just not predicting a whole lot of scoring opportunities for him.

11. Nick Maggio – Duke - He had a 78% field goal accuracy and 100% extra point accuracy. Only issue here is that the opportunities were not as frequent as it was for other teams in 2008 as he only had 28 extra points and only 14 field goal attempts.

12. Mike Barbour – Maryland – The kicking job is in the air and could be just about anyone at this point. Does anyone remember the open competition that Texas Tech had last year where students could try out for the kicking job? Head Coach Ralph Friedgen may try that this year in Maryland.

Related posts:

1. Your Top 5 WAC Tight Ends
2. CHEATSHEET v1: Top 21 Fantasy College Tight Ends
3. Feast or Famine: Take a Look at Those Tight Ends
4. ACC Bookends
5. ACC Preview: Clemson Tigers

Tags: ACC