How’s the transfer portal impacting Triangle teams thus far?

I don't know if Chip Patterson will be in the building or not, but it is time for our Wednesday conversation with my friend Chip Patterson, CBSSports.com cover three podcast guy.

All right, sir. I want to talk a little bit about spring ball. I know Duke's spring game is coming up and just about everybody, just about the entire ACC is I think pretty much done with spring ball or at least get moving through it. So have there been any takeaways so far through the spring that have surprised you or do people get way too wrapped up in what is a glorified practice? No, I think that you can have a lot to learn.

And there's a couple of different areas that, you know, we've got a diverse audience across this unprecedented statewide platform. So maybe your school checks one, if not many of these boxes, because this is what raises my antenna when it comes to going into a spring game. I want to see, obviously, if there's a new head coach, but I would argue that you learn even less. If it's a head coach, I think you learn more. If there's a new coordinator, if we've got a new offensive coordinator, hello Clemson, you know, if you've got a new defensive coordinator trying to figure out what you're going to get there, those are going to be places that are important. Do you have a transfer quarterback or another transfer of significance? Or in the case of the Miami Hurricanes, do you have a lot of early enrollees? Clemson also fits here too, but you know, Miami has a defensive lineman named Reuben Bayne, who I think is going to be a terrific talent. They've got two offensive linemen who are both five stars, two of the top four offensive linemen in the entire country, both at tackle.

They could be starting for this Miami team. So transfers of note, particularly quarterback, early enrollees who are already on campus, a change at offensive or defensive coordinator. And then of course, you know, if you've got a change at head coach, you're just going to be interested.

So if your school checks one, if not multiple of those boxes, I think there is something that can be learned. At North Carolina, I don't know if there was a lot that I could take away from it. I mean, you can really dive into the, you know, and especially because it was, you know, a thud practice. They didn't want to take anybody down to the ground, avoid injuries, but you've got Drake May, you've got to change it. Offensive coordinator. You've got a lot of turnover at wide receiver.

You like the strength first there. Um, you know, that's, it was, uh, North Carolina is not my biggest, strongest takeaways. I will say that for Clemson, I came out cooler than I was heading into the spring game.

I was expecting cooler, good or cooler, bad, cooler, bad. I was warm on Garrett Riley and his impact on the Clemson tigers offense, particularly with Kade club, Nick being able to finally realize his potential, you know, Texas, uh, Texan and Garrett Riley with the Austin Westlake high school, uh, Kade club, Nick. I mean, it's you're bringing the air raid, the Texas style. Like I thought that two step was just going to get out there and roll. Now they are missing seven scholarship wide receivers. So how good is an air raid offense going to be when you're missing a lot of your dudes? You're missing two projected starters on the offensive lineman. Maybe that contributes to how clunky some of it was, but I had heard very good reviews at the beginning of Clemson spring practice. I was hot on Garrett Riley and what he could do for Clemson's offense. Did not see a lot of that in the spring game on the flip side, Florida state to check in every box. If you thought Florida state was going to contend for an ACC title and have a run, be able to make a run potentially at a college football playoff, not a national title.

They're just not that like they're there. One through 85 does not stack up to a Georgia and Alabama or an Ohio state, but Florida state's got depth and they are, they might Norvell's built that thing up. And the spring game just looked like a group that was taking care of business, a group that was motivated to win the ACC. So especially if you're talking about the conference as a whole, I came out of the Clemson spring game, you know, sliding them down just a little bit. And I came out of Florida state, maybe even bumping them up to where now I've got them staring eye to eye on the top tier.

All right. I want to, I want to get to a more of Clemson and Florida state in a second. But let me just, let me just localize it a little bit with NC state.

So cause you talk about all those boxes, you got to check. So Dave Dorn is still the head coach, but we have a new offensive coordinator and a new quarterback. Those two have familiarity with each other. The offense is going to change. So did you learn anything there? It was so rainy and gross. That day was okay.

That's right. Like I, I felt really bad for, uh, coach Doran and, you know, Robert and I, and everybody who was around that program, you know, been such a, such a nice run for NC state football over the last three, three seasons. Um, but in a year where we're rebooting so much, I just, I looked at it and I was like, yuck, you know, sometimes, sometimes April in the triangle, man, that's what we get.

I think that the goat, Elizabeth Gardner, uh, said that we went like five straight weekends where it rained on either a Friday or a Saturday. And so it's, uh, I, I honestly like North Carolina's wasn't much better. Um, but I think for NC state, I'm just going to have to wait to find that one out. Uh, you know, once we get a little bit more into fall camp and I start talking to people close to the program. Yeah.

Real, real quick about North Carolina. Cause you mentioned, I mean, both wide receivers left both top wide receivers left. Um, what do they look like at that position? Is it, uh, are they, are there transfers that are going to play big roles? How do they get, how do they take advantage of the fact that they have one of the top two quarterbacks or three quarterbacks in all of college football? Well, the good news is, is they did get from the transfer portal. And I thought this would be the case that they would be able to go into the transfer portal.

They see a name of a talented wide receiver and say, Hey, do you want to come catch passes from Drake? Yay. Right.

Incredible sales pitch. Um, a guy named Tez Walker comes from Kent state. And like, I know that that doesn't sound like it should flash, sorry, flash the pun. Um, that doesn't sound like it could flash, but Kent state's offense was really good and has been respected. Kent state's quarterback is now at UCLA.

Kent state's head coach is now the offensive coordinator for Deion Sanders at Colorado. It states other wide receivers at Pence at Penn state. Tez Walker was a part of this. So it was an offense that had a power five offensive coordinators, a head coach, a power five quarterback, and two power five wide receivers. Now, and Tez Walker seems to be checking a lot of boxes. The other name surprised me a little bit, but Nate McCollum from Georgia tech, he is really fit in well. And, and he's been a valuable addition to that wide receiver room. And so I think that they liked the way that the new additions have come along. The fact that they probably go forward deep with wide receivers. They're comfortable about being real difference makers. The thing that stood out to me, I mean, if we would do want to get nitty gritty here a second for the target fans is that Mac Brown said at the beginning of spring practice or near the beginning of spring practice, that they wanted to get the running back rotation pared down, that they have like five or six guys. And I think the quote was something along the lines of, I think we played too many guys, which to me covering the sport makes sense.

You want someone to be able to get into a rhythm. You don't want to feel that urgency. Like every single carry has to be a home run because you're only going to get about five or six of them in a game. And that is going to be a really big question. I mean, look, Drake may was your leading rusher last year. You don't want that for Drake may for the 2023 season.

So who is going to end up emerging to the top of that group? British Brooks had a really solid performance in the spring game and near the end of spring practice. You know, that was kind of a throwback name. We all thought he was going to be next up after, after Carter and Williams Williams left.

Right. Carter, Javonte Williams left. We thought he was going to be the next one up the way he played against Texas A&M in the bowl game. But there's a lot of talent, you know, Marion Hampton, George Pettaway, Elijah Green, like there's some dudes there and trying to figure out who stays, who goes, who might move to slot wide receiver. That's a, that's probably the burning question for me in terms of North Carolina's offense, which again is surrounding one of the best players in all of college football, Drake May. Certainly sounds like you should be pretty good on the offensive side of the ball.

I understood. Most of the time I hear Mac Brown talk, I hear we're a mini NFL, where he's talking about NIL. We need a salary cap, Mac. Just, just relax.

Just relax about NIL. Let me ask you about Duke. 18 of 22 starters, I believe, are coming back for Duke. In past years, when we have said that about a program like Duke, I have always followed that up with, is that a good thing?

But I think it's a good thing for the Blue Devils. I know Mike Elko talked about, you know, kind of protecting, kind of keeping his players here. Because if, if, if you see Duke playing well, you can offer a Duke player.

Like I'm surprised that somebody didn't assault Riley Leonard with a massive NIL offer. Because he's still the quarterback at Duke and he's still one of the best quarterbacks in college. Well, I mean, Duke has resources.

Let us not think that, you know, if you've got the right people in charge and you're able to, you know, push the right buttons that you would not be able to, to be competitive. But I think that, you know, that's, that is the name of the game for Duke football in the modern era is retention is that you want to be, you want to be developmental in the good way. And I, I absolutely got a big kick. Mike Elko was actually on 999, the fan on the OG with Jillio and Joe Ovius. And they asked him about other teams coming to poach his players. And he started with, yeah, well, coming from where I've come from, AK four years in the sec, that guy understands what it's like when people are sniffing around your roster.

I mean, he had some four stars and five stars all up and down that defense when he was a defensive coordinator for the Aggies, he understands what it's like to deal with that competitive environment. And the, what he shared was we get ahead of it. You know, we, we come to our players and say, this is what they're going to be coming for these. This is going to be the lie. This is going to be the truth because so much lying and fabrication when you're trying to convince some of these players to, to leave where they're at your unfulfilled promises and the like, and then Mike Elko can say, and you know, this is what we've done from you.

This is what we can offer you in the future. And so the fact that they've been able to retain such that they have 18 of 22 starters back, I mean, they Riley Leonard is not the only player on that roster who probably could have been able to go and seek a financial opportunities on the open market. But I'm, I'm of the mindset that Duke's 18 starters returning are very, very good for Duke. And that when you, if you want to even like over-hype this, there were games last year that Duke probably should have won if they were better at finishing. And that nine and four could have been 10 and three or 10 and three, maybe even could have been another game even better than that.

Georgia Tech is the one that comes off the top of my head, but I know I can grab one more, but it was, I should have won the North Carolina game too. I mean, the, we could have looked at that. If you looked at each game individually, I mean, Duke could have won the coastal.

They should have won the last year of the coastal. So I, I am of the mindset that all, all of this is good. All of this is like a great foundation. And, and when I was doing this game with, with Bud Elliott, we were just chatting in the minutes leading up to going live in on the cover three podcasts. And if you were to just like not schedule, not predicted order finish, guess the record, but just like a power rating, you know, how do you stack them up one through 14? It's really easy to start throwing teams down. If everybody starts in, okay, Clemson up Florida state up, you know, you look at like Virginia Tech down Virginia down Georgia Tech.

I'll check in you with the year Brent pride down. Like you start, you start sorting these out and throwing them up and down and all of a sudden like Duke lands in a position where we're, I mean, is this sixth best team in the ACC potentially? Like I, I could make, so I, I said Clemson up, Florida state up, I would go wake up. I would go North Carolina up.

So now we're talking, we're talking about a five through probably nine. That's very fluid with some interesting debates, but that means that Duke's in a debate with Miami. That means Duke's in a debate with Louisville. That's, that is, Duke's in a debate with NC state. That is some interesting, interesting company.

That is some interesting, interesting company to, to be keeping right now. And, and that's where Duke football is under my company. By the way, since we no longer have divisions, Duke does play both Florida state and Clemson this year and Notre Dame.

So the schedule, the schedule did not do them any favors, but it's okay because maybe Clemson and Florida state have to play Duke as opposed to get to play Duke, which has been so used so many times in the past. But I don't want to disrespect what David Cutcliffe did because these players who are here are here in large part because of David Cutcliffe. So, um, he deserves a ton of credit for creating, uh, the, the blueprint or the environment that Mike Elko can kind of replenish and restore, uh, back to where it is. And I'm not, Mike Elko deserves ton of credit because it does seem like Duke had stagnated for several years. And then Mike Elko just kind of lit a fire under everybody and is a completely different element last year.

All right. Back to, uh, back to the Florida state Clemson, and I want to throw Miami in here. Uh, just a couple of more minutes with Chip Patterson, cbssports.com, cover three podcast is an absolute must. Um, Florida state and what they were under Bobby Bowden until the end. And this is not even about Jimbo Fisher because what they were under Jimbo Fisher, as it turns out was just kind of that one, that one era just in really the, it was the Jamis Winston part, right?

Bobby Bowden had created something that lasted for almost two full decades in that top four finishes. I'm not asking Mike Norvell to do that in this era at Florida state. Uh, although who knows Florida state is certainly capable of doing great things.

Um, where are they on the timeline about becoming one of the national powers again? They are on schedule for recapturing the ACC, but they are behind the top four of the national college football world. The pace car is loaded up with the most illegal street racing engines. And I don't mean that like actually illegal, but I'm just trying to imagine if you are street racing or if this was a race, like all of the advantages are there with our pace car, our pace car being Alabama, Georgia, Ohio state. And just the, cause it's, it's the on-field results. It is the recruiting success. It is the resources that are being poured into this. Uh, I, I, I'm not going to fact check this, but it's like Georgia's recruiting budget is $4 million in Oklahoma's crazy 500,000.

I guess we are dealing with different ballparks that don't even come down to NIL and it doesn't even come down to paying players above border under the table. There is just a deep down commitment to spending more on coaches, on jets, on trips, on anything, on staffers, on analysts, on anything that we need to do. And Florida state ain't there yet.

And so if you want to talk, Florida state was not dealing with that kind of deficit because the spending had not gotten out of control. The world was different. College football was different. They could own recruiting because they were sitting there in the state of Florida, but now everybody recruits Florida.

Everything is shrunk and it's gotten smaller. It's so much more competitive, but they are on schedule to win the ACC. And this is, you mentioned Jimbo Fisher, cause this is the thing that makes me know that it has changed the D the decay of the Jimbo Fisher era. And one of the worst pieces of the Willie Taggart era, as short as it was less than two complete seasons was that Florida state had a horrendous offensive line, a negative value offensive line. How does a program with multiple national championships located in the state of Florida, close to Georgia, close to Alabama, all the way in Florida, how can you not find future pros?

There are six, five, 330 pound linemen that are right there, like all around you. And what we have right now is a Florida state roster with two competent offensive lines. We have not talked about Florida state going too deep on the offensive line since Bobby Bowden was there. Even Jimbo Fisher's title team, great starters, but do not let one of them get hurt or else they are in big, big trouble.

And that is sustainability. That is competitive depth. And Florida state has it right now. And they've got that opener against LSU in Orlando and maybe two games against Clemson.

The first one's in September. And remember it's who you lose and when you lose. So loser of that game could come right back and be able to get the revenge in a rematch in the ACC championship game. So to me, the college football playoff door is open for what would technically be a top four finish for Florida state. But no, I do not see this program one to 85 being on the same level as Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio state. But it's, uh, it is, it is working its way back to it and final thing.

And you led me to it. We're talking about Clemson bringing in new off a new style of offense and blah, blah, blah. Aren't we kind of, uh, just ignoring the real problems for Clemson over the last really, I think the last three years, and this goes back even to the end, the la the last year of Trevor Lawrence. And that is, they haven't been great at wide receiver and they haven't been great on the offensive line. And if they're not better in both of those areas, Kate club, Nick's not gonna save them.

They're dealt. They'll just be, they'll be good, but they can't be great unless those two areas get cleaned up. And the shame is they've been doing all this on the opposite side of one of the best defenses in the country, right? And they're gonna be so good along the defensive line once again. And like their secondary, which was a big weakness last year, they had to play a lot of young guys. That group has grown up and I think that we have improved and I think they're going to have an incredible defense once again. Um, that is, that's the big question because Antonio Williams, who was a freshman last year, a little in-state guy, a little bit overlooked in the recruiting process. I thought he played really well down the stretch, but man Dabo is hyping up some guys that look like him. Like he's trying to tell us a bunch of Dabo, Sweeney's out there are a bunch of hard working guys.

They're just going to be able to get it done. But competing at the, at the top level against the Jamie Robinson, like against the, the high end secondaries that you're going to face, everybody's big, everybody's long, everybody's hips transition fluidly now. So you got to have guys that can get separation and guys that can get open. And especially in that air raid offense, guys that are going to turn a three yard slant into a 30 yard gain. And I, I don't know if it's there again, seven scholarship wide receivers who will be on the roster in the fall.

We're not taking part in spring at all. That's going to be a challenge for Garrett Riley, for Cade Klubnick. And for this Clemson offense, when they do get fully healthy, as healthy as they can be to be able to get everybody up to speed. So, cause I mean, they got Duke coming. He ain't no warmup buddy. You ain't, you're playing Duke. You got to get ready to go. So yeah, that's again, I'm cooler on Clemson.

I still think that it's a Clemson Florida state debate at the top of the ACC, but, but the, the gap has, has gotten slimmer based on what I've learned in the last couple of weeks. I can't wait till that, that first game that is going to be, it's going to be a much better game than I think people think chip Patterson, you're the best. Are you coming out here tonight at all? I do not think I'm coming unless, unless, unless we get a late text, I think I'm probably probably going to be watching it at home, but we'll, we'll see about that. I will see you during the playoffs. I appreciate your time, man. Sounds good. You'll be well at chip underscore Patterson on Twitter.

I like, I don't know how you all think I am now caught up on the ACC comings and goings from spring ball. Esta cerveza es para ti.