The pre-season watchlist and multi-purpose groups continue to roll out, and less than a month before the start of the season, Pro Football Focus has begun publishing the honors of all conferences. Although there were some notable players missing from the All-ACC team package list, seven achieved the cut, highlighted through a first teammate in attack and defense.
In the offensive aspect of the ball, Joe Sculthorpe the only mention of the first team in the offensive guard. After a season in which he started 11 games and one of the most productive racing blockers in the country, Sculthorpe took the top spot through PFF.
Here’s what Anthony Treash of Pro Football Focus wrote about Sculthorpe:
Sculthorpe’s pass coverage still has a long way to go, however, his paintings in the racing game are the sensible thing to do in school football. He produced the sixth best definitely qualified race lock rate among Power Five guards in 2019, and over the more than two years, the NC State guard has earned the sixth highest race lock score among Power Five guards with at least 400 shots.
Together with Sculthorpe, Ikem Ekwonu (OT) and Grant Gibson (C) won the moment and fourth team for their game last year. It is noteworthy that either of us made the list, given that neither had played the position at the school until last fall. Ekwonu received an All-ACC award as a rookie in 2019, while Gibson made an elegant transition from defensive to middle after Garrett Bradbury left in the NFL.
On the defensive side, Alim McNeill won the first team’s honors as expected, perhaps Phil Steele. After placing a real anchor-nosed tackler last year in Tony Gibson’s 3-3-5 scheme, McNeill recorded 28 tackles, 7.5 missed tackles and 5.5 catches in his current year.
Suffice it to say that PFF has the highest expectations for Bruce Feldman’s new “Freak” for NC State in 2020:
You’re not going to find a more productive nasal take as opposed to running and passing than McNeil. More than 88% of his shots in 2019 were in technology 0, and he is one of two that force five internal defensive linemen to produce scores of more than 75.0 in either facet.
It would have been great if Treash had correctly written McNeill’s last call, however, it is conceivable that he would base it on his freshman T-shirt for NC State. Other than that, it’s a fair assessment of what’s going to happen this fall for McNeill.
Along with McNeill, Tyler Baker-Williams also won the third team’s honors in the “Flex Defender” for PFF after a remarkable season last year. He is expected to start earning money for the Pack this year after sharing his assignments last fall with Stephen Griffin.
None of the supporters of THE NC State, including Payton Wilson, Isaiah Moore and Louis Acceus, got the cut, however, it could have anything to do with PFF only having two supporters on its list.
Completing the list were kicker Chris Dunn and clearing kicker Trenton Gill, anyone who won the third team’s honors. This is a bit unexpected given that either has been nominated as All-Americans through other publications, but they have a chance to go out themselves this fall and finish better.
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