Sports > August 23, 2007

By Matt Six | Staff writer

As fall football practice kicks off, the defending ACC champions have started their quest to return to Jacksonville, Fla., and Miami at the end of the year for another round of postseason play.

However, as with any college athletic team, turnover is inevitable.

Offensively, the team fares decently, with the losses of wide receivers Willie Idelette and Nate Morton being replaced with junior Demir Bolden, who returns from a one-year suspension and junior Kenny Moore, who returns from being the primary running back at the end of the season to his natural position of catching footballs.

Steve Vallos graduated; however, the offensive line promises to be deep. Running backs will be supplanted with the additions of redshirt freshmen Josh Adams and Lucas Caparelli, with redshirt sophomore Kevin Harris back and redshirt senior Micah Andrews hopefully returning from his injury.

However, the other side of the ball will need to step up. While the defensive line and linebackers appear to be promising despite the losses of Jon Abbate to the NFL and Jyles Tucker and Bryan Andrews to graduation, these positions seem to be in good shape for the upcoming season.

The secondary is a major concern though, and this is where players will have to step up to ensure a pair of return trips to Florida at the end of the year. Josh Gattis, Patrick Ghee and Riley Swanson all graduated, leaving redshirt juniors Kevin Patterson, Alphonso Smith and Chip Vaughn as the only veterans in the secondary.

However, it gets more complicated. Patterson, after having a successful season as a starting cornerback, makes the transition to safety, a more physical position than cornerback, as he will be responsible for covering tight ends over the middle and supplementing the run defense.

Vaughn also has question marks due to what ESPN has reported as recent surgery on his ACL, which is keeping him from spring practice sessions.

While Vaughn has a knack for the big play, as seen by his pivotal field goal block in the victory over Duke last September, he hasn’t seen much time in the secondary and his injury in spring practice prevents him from gaining additional exposure to the position.

Newcomers to the secondary will also have to step up and perform. Redshirt sophomore Brandan Ghee, after sitting out a year due to academics, will make his first appearance in a Deacon uniform.

If Ghee can live up to his brother Patrick, then the Deacs’ secondary will help out the defense a lot, and should be able to gain a lot of immediate playing time.

If Ghee, who was rated as the second-best cornerback in North Carolina, has a breakout season, the cornerback position will be in good hands with him and redshirt junior Alphonso Smith, who had a solid season last year after his spectacular freshman campaign.

Redshirt freshman Alex Frye also can provide immediate help at safety alongside Patterson and Vaughn. If Frye can contribute immediately, it would provide much needed depth at safety, where currently Vaughn is the only true safety on the roster.

Players switching positions will also need to provide immediate depth. Redshirt sophomore Jonathan Jones, a former wide receiver, moves to the other side of the ball as a safety, and he has the speed to be able to race down opposing receivers and break up a play deep.

Redshirt senior D’Angelo Bryant has also been practicing in the defensive backfield, and could serve as a valuable backup, especially if he can improve his speed.

As a former safety in high school, Bryant should be able to instinctively play the position.

Should the defensive backfield be able to stay together and perform decently, avoiding allowing the big play and tackling receivers immediately, the 2007 football Deacs should be able to not only compete in the upper echelons of the ACC, but possibly be returning to North Florida the first weekend of December to play at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium for their second straight ACC Championship.