2010: Year of the Quarterback in ACC

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- It's July, college football players haven't started practice yet and already, the Christian Ponder-for-Heisman hype machine is in full throttle. Florida State officials have built a web site (CP7forheisman), opened a Twitter account (@cponder7) and started a Facebook fan page (CP7-For-Heisman) devoted to all things Ponder.

There's only one small problem: He might not be the best quarterback in the Atlantic Coast Conference this year.

"I think we've got the guy that's gotta be considered at the top of that list,'' Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said of his quarterback, Tyrod Taylor.

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And why not? The ACC's pass efficiency leader in 2009, Taylor is on the Davey O'Brien Award watch list for top college quarterbacks in the country going into this season.

Of course, Ponder's on that O'Brien watch list, too. So is Jacory Harris of Miami, Russell Wilson of North Carolina State and Josh Nesbitt of Georgia Tech.

That's five quarterbacks from the ACC on the preseason watch list this year, better than the SEC, Pac-10, Big Ten, Big East and just about every other conference in the country except the Big 12, which also received five mentions.

Within the ACC, Ponder already has been voted preseason conference player of the year. But all five quarterbacks received mention in that media poll.

So just call this the year of the quarterback in the ACC.

"There's a lot of kids that are capable of leading their teams to the ACC championship game,'' N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien said.

And some of them didn't even make the O'Brien list. Clemson's Kyle Parker also received votes for ACC player of the year, although he was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by Colorado and was thought to be done with football. That was until he reportedly turned down millions to sign with the Rockies and said this week he was returning to Clemson, putting the Tigers back into the title hunt.

There's also T.J. Yates, who is second on North Carolina's all-time list for passing yards, touchdowns, completions, etc. Yates, despite coming off an uneven season in 2009, is expected to help the Tar Heels challenge for the conference championship, too.

"Since I've been around the ACC, this is the best group of quarterbacks as a group that we've seen,'' Beamer said.

And baseball players, too, apparently. Wilson also was drafted by the Rockies, in the fourth round, and spent time this summer playing for the Tri-City Dust Devils in Washington state. But he is expected back on campus next week as North Carolina State looks to improve on its 5-7 record last year when Wilson threw for 3,027 yards and a conference-best 31 touchdowns.



Gaudy numbers for Wilson, perhaps, but Miami's Harris ranked No. 1 as well. Harris had the most passing yardage in the ACC in 2009, throwing for 3,352 yards, although he'll need to reduce his 17 interceptions from a year ago to remain in the awards hunt.

By the way, it wasn't Ponder, Taylor, Wilson, Harris, Parker or Yates who earned all-ACC first-team honors in 2009. That went to Georgia Tech's Nesbitt, who directed the Yellow Jackets' option offense and rushed for 1,037 yards and 18 touchdowns in addition to passing for 1,701 yards and 10 touchdowns.

"We got some guys that (have) live arms, we got guys that can run a little bit, we got guys who are creative, scramblers, we got guys that are in complex passing games,'' said Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who helped develop Peyton Manning at Tennessee and Eli Manning at Ole Miss. "It's a pretty good variety of players in this league at quarterback. I think that's one of the reasons all the scribes are having a little hard time trying to figure out who's going to win it. A lot of people got a lot of votes and that's probably rightfully so. Because there's a lot of things about everybody's quarterback that's returning that you like.''

It's going to make for some interesting competition within the competition, as the quarterbacks track each other from afar. And there's little doubt they'll be watching.

"I'm pretty sure all of us are going to follow each other,'' Virginia Tech's Taylor said. "Not as tight as people would think. But yes, there's going to be competition through all of this.

"Maybe check on 'em every now and then, just to see how they're going.''

Ponder said he'll be watching the numbers, too. And no doubt trying to top them along the way. Ponder led all ACC quarterbacks last season with 321.8 total yards of offense per game, but had his year cut short by a shoulder injury against North Carolina in the ninth game.

Of all the quarterbacks, Ponder is the one most loudly touted as the ACC's best hope for a Heisman in 2010. And that's just fine with Ponder.

"They came to me in the beginning of the process and asked if I was comfortable with it,'' he said. "I told them yes. I think it's fun and I'm just trying to enjoy this whole process.''

Ponder has given his approval for all of it. That includes the resume and business card tucked neatly into an organizer embossed with the nifty "CP7" logo, handed out to those who attended the annual football media days.

"I like CP7,'' Ponder said. "I think CP7 is pretty catchy to me.''

Apparently, it's only the beginning of the campaign.

"I'm sure there's some more coming,'' he said. "We'll see.''

Taylor, Harris, Wilson, Nesbitt and the rest will see about that, too.