Phil Steele speaketh

I've always wondered what Phil Steele's office looks like.

Some other questions about the famous college football guru:

-- What's it like when he's interviewing a prospective employee?

"Sorry, Jimbob, but when you can't recite Idaho's average yards per play over the last five years, you're just not Steele material."

-- Does the guy have a family? And if so, what's it like when he has to beg off of important family functions?

"Honey, I know tomorrow is our son's wedding. But I'm WAY behind on breaking down game tape so I can come up with my fourth-team All-Sun Belt team."

-- What's he look like?

Here's what a Google image search revealed:


Anyway, Steele recently released his preseason All-ACC first team ... and second team ... and third team ... and fourth team.

Here's the first team:

OFFENSE
QB Christian Ponder, Florida St
RB Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech
RB Montel Harris, Boston College
WR Donovan Varner, Duke
WR Leonard Hankerson, Miami
WR Greg Little, UNC
TE George Bryan, NC State
C Sean Bedford, Georgia Tech
OG Rodney Hudson, Florida St
OG Thomas Claiborne, Boston College
OT Anthony Castonzo, Boston College
OT Orlando Franklin, Miami
KR Torrey Smith, Maryland
PR Greg Reid, Florida St

DEFENSE
DE Robert Quinn, UNC
DT Marvin Austin, UNC
DT Jarvis Jenkins, Clemson
DE Allen Bailey, Miami
LB Luke Kuechly, Boston College
LB Bruce Carter, UNC
LB Alex Wujciak, Maryland
LB Quan Sturdivant, UNC
CB Ras-I Dowling, Virginia
CB Brandon Harris, Miami
SS DeAndre McDaniel Clemson
FS Deunta Williams, UNC
K Matt Bosher, Miami
P Ryan Quigley, Boston College

And here's a link to the entire team.

A few things that stand out:

-- No Clemson players on the first-team offense. No major argument there. I could see Chris Hairston getting some votes at tackle, but I can also see why Steele thought more of Castonzo and Franklin (Hairston made the second team, by the way).

-- Clemson has a total of three players on all four offensive teams: Hairston, third-teamers Antoine McClain and Dwayne Allen, and fourth-teamer Landon Walker.

-- I think Andre Ellington is among the top eight running backs in the ACC. That's based more on projection than production, but I believe he'll be on one of the four teams at the end of the season.

-- Virginia Tech, Florida State and Miami have the most total players on the offensive teams with six apiece. Boston College has the most first-teamers on offense with three.

-- Clemson has much better representation on defense with eight players on the four teams (two on each): first-teamers DMac and Jenkins, second-teamers Bowers and Hall, third-teamers Maye and Gilchrist, and fourth-teamers Branch and Thompson.

-- The only team with better defensive representation is North Carolina, which has 10 total players -- including a staggering FIVE on the first team.

-- Virginia Tech has just one first-team selection (RB Ryan Williams).

-- Check out N.C. State's not-so-studly defense. ZERO representatives among the four defensive teams. Wow.

-- Clemson has one special-teams player on the top four teams, and that's fourth-team PK Richard Jackson.

-- The ACC has some pretty good quarterbacks if Kyle Parker isn't among the top four. No strong arguments against Steele's top four, though (Ponder, T. Taylor, J. Harris, Nesbitt). And don't forget N.C. State's Russell Wilson.

-- We've talked about the ACC's lack of top-tier receivers over the years, and it's hard to see a bunch of first-rounders coming out of the current bunch of wideouts.

On to some links...

On one hand, Clemson's ACC Tournament draw looks pretty favorable. The Tigers swept tonight's opponent (N.C. State) as well as Friday's opponent (Virginia Tech).

But the Wolfies are pretty hot, having won eight of 10 and 10 of 13. And the Hokies won seven of 10 conference series in their impressive season. They were 36-108 in ACC play over the previous five seasons.

In the Independent-Mail, the Tigers are holding out hope of returning to Doug Kingsmore for a regional.

In the Greenville News, Clemson's pitching staff will be put to the test against some heavy hitters.

The Prowl and Growl rubber-chicken circuit was in Lexington yesterday.

Brad Brownell would've much rather been coaching his players, but NCAA rules don't give him that opportunity.

“It’s frustrating, very frustrating, right now,” Brownell said Tuesday morning of his new job. “We’re here in our offices working on things as coaches and most of (the players) are in summer school and hanging out, lifting (weights), and we can’t get together and do some work as a group.

“It’s a crippling feeling in the summer,” he said, “because you feel like an ambassador of the program, talking to different groups and stuff, but you don’t get the chance to do, really, what you came here to do -- work with these kids. To think that over the summer, for the coaches to spend maybe a couple hours a week with the players – that somehow that would be harmful – is just wrong to my way of thinking.”

LW