Hit or Miss: Highest-ranked QBs ever at each ACC school
With some recent big quarterback commitments like Quinn Ewers to Texas and Gunner Stockton to South CarolinaI thought it would be interesting to take a look at each program's highest-ranked quarterback signee (or in a couple cases, a future signee as they're still just commitments) in Rivals history and give a take on whether we HIT or MISSED on the prospect's ranking. We continue today with the ACC.
Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
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HIT OR MISS: Highest-ranked QB signees/commits for Big Ten teams | SEC
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series
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BOSTON COLLEGE - Christian Suntrip (2011)
Overview: Suntrip was ranked higher than Matt Ryan. He didn’t do much of anything at Boston College. In fact he left the program after a couple years and never appeared in a game.
Judgement: MISSED. He had a lot of potential and was a big-time get but he never came close to cracking the lineup and a coaching change derailed his fit in the offense.
CLEMSON - Trevor Lawrence (2018)
Overview: Lawrence was the best quarterback I’ve ever scouted out of high school and an obvious home run for Clemson. His resume is still growing but winning a national title as a freshman tells all.
Judgement: HIT. There's not much to be said here. He’s truly a generational talent.
DUKE - Thaddeus Lewis (2006)
Overview: Lewis had a great career at Duke and set many records. He passed for more than 10,000 yards and threw for 67 touchdowns. He bounced around the NFL a little bit too.
Judgement: HIT. Lewis couldn’t have had a better career at Duke, although the Blue Devils went 10-38 during his four years. He didn't have a ton of talent around him.
FLORIDA STATE - Jameis Winston (2012)
Overview: Winston was an exceptional talent out of high school and much more mobile than the player we saw in college and the NFL. He led Florida State to a national title and became the No. 1 pick in the draft, so I’d say he panned out.
Judgement: HIT. Winston lived up to all of our expectations at Florida State and is one of the more successful five-star QBs in our history.
GEORGIA TECH - Steven Threet (2007)
Overview: Threet left Georgia Tech before playing a game after a coaching change and then played in 11 games at Michigan before transferring out when Rich Rodriguez came to town. He ended up at Arizona State and had one average year.
Judgement: MISS. Threet had talent for sure and was given a few big opportunities but never lived up to the hype.
LOUISVILLE - Malik Cunningham (2017)
Overview: Cunningham is still the starter at Louisville and was very impressive last season with 22 touchdowns and five picks. He’s off to a good start this year and living up to what we expected as a mobile quarterback who can keep defenses off balance.
Judgement: HIT. He’s still adding to his resume, but so far so good.
MIAMI - Kyle Wright (2003)
Overview: Wright was an elite talent and a huge get from California for Miami while they were recruiting at the top of the nation and coming off national title appearances. Wright passed for more than 5,800 yards but his 38 touchdowns against 31 interceptions spoke to how erratic he was.
Judgement: MISS. Wright is one of the bigger quarterback flops in our history and I still don’t know why. He had it all and the talent around him was amazing.
NORTH CAROLINA - Mike Paulus (2007)
Overview: Paulus was known as the younger brother of two-sport star Greg Paulus which was a lot to live up to, but there were high expectations at North Carolina and he had a big arm. He played only four games for the Tar Heels and transferred to William & Mary where he never lived up to his immense potential.
Judgement: MISS. Paulus is a head-scratcher because he had all he needed to be successful but didn’t put it together.
NC STATE - Mike Glennon (2008)
Overview: Glennon was a tall, lanky QB out of high school with great upside and many thought he’d be Matt Ryan for Tom O’Brien at NC State. He had a very good career with the Wolfpack throwing for 7,411 yards and 63 touchdowns. He has also had a solid NFL career.
Judgement: HIT. Glennon was very good and suffered from comparisons to his predecessor Russell Wilson. But overall he had a career that lived up to the hype.
PITT - Chad Voytik (2012)
Overview: Voytik was ranked a bit ahead of Tyler Palko in Rivals history although Palko is more well known as a recruit. Voytik was a kid with accuracy and smarts coming out of high school and had one solid year at Pitt but transferred after he lost the starting job and never made it at Arkansas State.
Judgement: MISS. He was on his way to a solid career but was beaten out by Nathan Peterman and just didn’t make the impact expected.
SYRACUSE - Tommy DeVito (2017)
Overview: DeVito is the starter for Syracuse and had a solid season last year with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s off to a rough start this year but as a high three-star, he’s been as expected so far.
Judgement: HIT. The jury is still out but as a starter and with a good season last year he can’t be anything but a hit.
VIRGINIA - Kevin McCabe (2003)
Overview: McCabe was an exceptional talent and a huge get for Al Groh at the time but he never really made a dent in college. I liked his ability to extend the play and his downfield accuracy but for some reason it didn’t translate to college.
Judgement: MISS. This is a head-scratcher as I really liked this prospect.
VIRGINIA TECH - Marcus Vick (2002)
Overview: Vick is the biggest name in Rivals recruiting history for the Hokies as he follows his brother Michael to Virginia Tech and was impressive when he did play. However, off field issues did him in and he never came close to making the impact expected.
Judgement: MISS. This is more about lack of discipline than lack of talent, but it doesn’t matter. He just never came close to what we expected.
WAKE FOREST - Kyle Kearns (2015)
Overview: Kearns was a huge get for Wake Forest and had a lot of expectations heaped on him, but as with most players, the Demon Deacons took their time with him. He showed some flashes of ability but was then dismissed from the team and that was that. He completed 13 passes in his Wake career.
Judgement: MISS. A rare four-star for Wake, Kearns was expected to do big things and could have had a couple of good years but he hurt himself off the field.