ACC defensive linemen who had 150+ snaps in 2024 ranked by their highest PFF grade (2024 grades unless noted, asterisk if they didn't have 200+, as I think 200+ is the more meaningful divide):
Zach Buckey* (Stanford) - 79.2
Aidan Keanaaina (Cal) - 79.0
DeMonte Capehart (Clemson) - 77.4 in 2023 and also had a 70+ season in 2024
Akelo Stone (Georgia Tech) - 77.2 at Ole Miss in 2023
Rene Konga (Louisville) - 76.0
Jordan van den Berg (Georgia Tech) - 75.5
Jayson Jenkins (Florida State) - 75.5 at Tennessee
Jonathan Jefferson (SMU) - 75.0
Stephilyan Green (Clemson) - 74.1
Brandon Cleveland (NC State) - 73.4
Ahmad Moten (Miami) - 72.9
Darrell Jackson Jr. (Florida State) - 72.4 in 2022 at Miami and also had a 70+ season in 2024
Derek Wilkins* (Cal) - 70.4
Kelvin Gilliam Jr. (Virginia Tech) - 69.5
Jordan Guerad (Louisville) - 69.1 and also had an 80+ season at FIU in 2023
Kevin Jobity Jr. (Syracuse) - 68.8 in 2023 and also had a 63+ season in 2024
Aaron Hall (Duke) - 68.3
Matthew Alexander (Georgia Tech) - 68.2 at UCF in 2023 and also had a 65+ season in 2024
Rashard Perry (Syracuse) - 68.1
Daniel Lyons (Florida State) - 67.0
Kwan Williams* (Boston College) - 65.8
Dion Wilson Jr.* (Syracuse) - 65.6
Jahmeer Carter (Virginia) - 65.6
Nate Burrell (Cal) - 65.3
Anthony Franklin (Stanford) - 64.4 in 2023 and also had a 61+ season in 2024
Nick James (Pitt) - 63.6
Preston Watson (Duke) - 62.8
TJ Bollers (Cal) - 62.2
Stanley Saole-McKenzie (Cal) - 60.5
David Anderson (Duke)* - 60.4
Jeffrey M'Ba (SMU) - 60.4 at Purdue
Anthony Britton (Virginia) - 58.2
Zach Rowell (Stanford) - 57.3
Braden Marceau-Olayinka* (Stanford) - 56.8
D'Antre Robinson* (North Carolina) - 56.5 at Florida
Elijah Fuentes-Cundiff (Syracuse) - 53.3 and also had a 63+ 175 snap season in 2023
George Rooks (Syracuse) - 52.5 at Boston College
Isaiah Neal (Pitt) - 51.0
Isaiah Johnson* (North Carolina) - 49.4 at Arizona
Damarjhe Lewis (SMU) - 47.4 at Purdue in 2021
Group of Five transfers:
Deamontae Diggs (Florida State) - 80.0 at Youngstown State in 2023 and 65.2 at Coastal Carolina in 2024
Terry Webb (SMU) - 79.7 at Texas State
Denzel Lowry (Louisville) - 76.8 at Old Dominion in 2023 and also had a 72+ season in 2024
Deante McCray (Florida State) - 75.4 at Western Kentucky
David Blay Jr. (Miami) - 73.5 at Louisiana Tech
Elhadj Fall (Virginia Tech) - 71.5 at Georgia Southern in 2023 but then a sub-60 season in 2024
CJ Mims (North Carolina) - 71.3 at East Carolina
Jacob Holmes (Virginia) - 71.2 at Fresno State in 2023 and also had a 69+ season in 2024
Jayden Loving (Wake Forest) - 66.3 at Western Kentucky in 2023
Pryce Yates (North Carolina) - 59.3 at Connecticut (but 77.5 in 2023)
Keveion'ta Spears (SMU) - 58.3 at Memphis in 2023
Chris Thomas Jr. (Syracuse) - 57.6 at Marshall
FCS transfers:
Arias Nash (Virginia Tech) - 86.1 at Mercer
Dallas Afalava (Wake Forest) - 82.0 at Idaho in 2023 and also had a 68+ season in 2024
Kody Huisman (Virginia Tech) - 80.7 at North Dakota State
Josiah Green (Cal) - 76.0 at Dartmouth in 2023 and a 68+ season in 2024
Chuck Nnaeto (Boston College) - 73.9 at Elon
Brandon Smiley (Wake Forest) - 71.8 at Elon
Jerry Lawson (Louisville) - 70.2 at Abilene Christian
Jahzari Priester* (Virginia Tech) - 66.8 at Hampton
Michael Bumpus (Boston College) - 66.7 at Brown
The big caveat here is that there is no good way to distinguish between DL and edge in some instances, so there are players above who PFF graded as edge players. In retrospect I perhaps should have intentionally looked at front seven as a whole, but that would have been a lot of work and would lose out on the nuance of what returns specifically in the trenches. I don't think there's a perfect way to get around this. The fact is that in football there are front seven players whose categorization as DL or OLB is tricky.
There also some weird cases that will be missed in an exercise like this. For instance, we have Clay Patterson, a guy who had a 76.2 for Yale and two other seasons 66+, one of those 73+. Clearly a two-time FCS 73+ guy is a notable player, but as always there are limits to how much time is reasonable for me to spend on an analysis like this and I cut it off on players who played significant time last year and/or transferred in this past season.
Eyeballing the top of the list of proven Power Four guys leads to an unsurprising impression: Clemson, Florida State, and Louisville as the cream of the conference at DL. Georgia Tech, Syracuse, and Cal look next up.
Stanford looks better here than we looked at OL. Whether to include Buckey is a real judgment call. I usually cut it off at 200 snaps and only did 150 snaps here because I had an intuition that 150 snap DL could progress to big things the next year, but looking at the above there aren't many 150 but not 200 snap guys and it may be a generous thing to Stanford to include Buckey and Marceau-Olayinka. Or maybe them being a disproportionately large share of the 150+ but not 200 snap guys is an indication the Stanford DL was preparing last year and is poised to take a big step this year. That possibility is why I wanted to include 150+ snap guys and not write off some of our key competitors, though again even my approach does not capture somebody like Patterson, another key competitor for us.
In any case, Franklin is definitely more established as a legit ACC player than anything we have on the offensive line.
All that throat clearing out of the way, the reason I do posts like this is to see proven quality. Here are how the ACC teams rank in terms of what I would consider proven quality (64+ in Power Four, 67+ in Group of Five, 70+ in FCS): Florida State (5), Louisville (4), Virginia Tech (4), Cal (3-4, depending on whether to count Wilkins), Georgia Tech (3), Syracuse (2-3, depending on whether to count Wilson), Clemson (2, but big time guys as noted previously), SMU (2), Miami (2), Virginia (2), Wake Forest (2), Stanford (1-2, depending on whether to count Buckey), Boston College (1-2, depending on whether to count Williams), NC State (1), Duke (1), North Carolina (1), Pitt (0).
In terms of the sheer numerical calculation of number of DL who have played 150+ snaps at the major college football level, it's Syracuse (6), Florida State (5), Cal (5), SMU (5), Stanford (4), North Carolina (4), Louisville (3), Georgia Tech (3), Virginia (3), Duke (3), Virginia Tech (2), Clemson (2), Miami (2), Pitt (2), NC State (1), Wake Forest (1), Boston College (1).
At least from this vantage, it looks like we have a lot of credible bodies at DL (and again, this does not include Patterson) and are below average but not bottom of the conference in what our DL have proven. The OL, by way of comparison, is below average but not bottom of the conference in terms of credible bodies and in the bottom tier in terms of proven quality. Bottom line: we can feel better about the DL than OL. This DL should be able to scrap and give the defense a chance. Definitely more reason for optimism in the trenches on defense than offense.
Zach Buckey* (Stanford) - 79.2
Aidan Keanaaina (Cal) - 79.0
DeMonte Capehart (Clemson) - 77.4 in 2023 and also had a 70+ season in 2024
Akelo Stone (Georgia Tech) - 77.2 at Ole Miss in 2023
Rene Konga (Louisville) - 76.0
Jordan van den Berg (Georgia Tech) - 75.5
Jayson Jenkins (Florida State) - 75.5 at Tennessee
Jonathan Jefferson (SMU) - 75.0
Stephilyan Green (Clemson) - 74.1
Brandon Cleveland (NC State) - 73.4
Ahmad Moten (Miami) - 72.9
Darrell Jackson Jr. (Florida State) - 72.4 in 2022 at Miami and also had a 70+ season in 2024
Derek Wilkins* (Cal) - 70.4
Kelvin Gilliam Jr. (Virginia Tech) - 69.5
Jordan Guerad (Louisville) - 69.1 and also had an 80+ season at FIU in 2023
Kevin Jobity Jr. (Syracuse) - 68.8 in 2023 and also had a 63+ season in 2024
Aaron Hall (Duke) - 68.3
Matthew Alexander (Georgia Tech) - 68.2 at UCF in 2023 and also had a 65+ season in 2024
Rashard Perry (Syracuse) - 68.1
Daniel Lyons (Florida State) - 67.0
Kwan Williams* (Boston College) - 65.8
Dion Wilson Jr.* (Syracuse) - 65.6
Jahmeer Carter (Virginia) - 65.6
Nate Burrell (Cal) - 65.3
Anthony Franklin (Stanford) - 64.4 in 2023 and also had a 61+ season in 2024
Nick James (Pitt) - 63.6
Preston Watson (Duke) - 62.8
TJ Bollers (Cal) - 62.2
Stanley Saole-McKenzie (Cal) - 60.5
David Anderson (Duke)* - 60.4
Jeffrey M'Ba (SMU) - 60.4 at Purdue
Anthony Britton (Virginia) - 58.2
Zach Rowell (Stanford) - 57.3
Braden Marceau-Olayinka* (Stanford) - 56.8
D'Antre Robinson* (North Carolina) - 56.5 at Florida
Elijah Fuentes-Cundiff (Syracuse) - 53.3 and also had a 63+ 175 snap season in 2023
George Rooks (Syracuse) - 52.5 at Boston College
Isaiah Neal (Pitt) - 51.0
Isaiah Johnson* (North Carolina) - 49.4 at Arizona
Damarjhe Lewis (SMU) - 47.4 at Purdue in 2021
Group of Five transfers:
Deamontae Diggs (Florida State) - 80.0 at Youngstown State in 2023 and 65.2 at Coastal Carolina in 2024
Terry Webb (SMU) - 79.7 at Texas State
Denzel Lowry (Louisville) - 76.8 at Old Dominion in 2023 and also had a 72+ season in 2024
Deante McCray (Florida State) - 75.4 at Western Kentucky
David Blay Jr. (Miami) - 73.5 at Louisiana Tech
Elhadj Fall (Virginia Tech) - 71.5 at Georgia Southern in 2023 but then a sub-60 season in 2024
CJ Mims (North Carolina) - 71.3 at East Carolina
Jacob Holmes (Virginia) - 71.2 at Fresno State in 2023 and also had a 69+ season in 2024
Jayden Loving (Wake Forest) - 66.3 at Western Kentucky in 2023
Pryce Yates (North Carolina) - 59.3 at Connecticut (but 77.5 in 2023)
Keveion'ta Spears (SMU) - 58.3 at Memphis in 2023
Chris Thomas Jr. (Syracuse) - 57.6 at Marshall
FCS transfers:
Arias Nash (Virginia Tech) - 86.1 at Mercer
Dallas Afalava (Wake Forest) - 82.0 at Idaho in 2023 and also had a 68+ season in 2024
Kody Huisman (Virginia Tech) - 80.7 at North Dakota State
Josiah Green (Cal) - 76.0 at Dartmouth in 2023 and a 68+ season in 2024
Chuck Nnaeto (Boston College) - 73.9 at Elon
Brandon Smiley (Wake Forest) - 71.8 at Elon
Jerry Lawson (Louisville) - 70.2 at Abilene Christian
Jahzari Priester* (Virginia Tech) - 66.8 at Hampton
Michael Bumpus (Boston College) - 66.7 at Brown
The big caveat here is that there is no good way to distinguish between DL and edge in some instances, so there are players above who PFF graded as edge players. In retrospect I perhaps should have intentionally looked at front seven as a whole, but that would have been a lot of work and would lose out on the nuance of what returns specifically in the trenches. I don't think there's a perfect way to get around this. The fact is that in football there are front seven players whose categorization as DL or OLB is tricky.
There also some weird cases that will be missed in an exercise like this. For instance, we have Clay Patterson, a guy who had a 76.2 for Yale and two other seasons 66+, one of those 73+. Clearly a two-time FCS 73+ guy is a notable player, but as always there are limits to how much time is reasonable for me to spend on an analysis like this and I cut it off on players who played significant time last year and/or transferred in this past season.
Eyeballing the top of the list of proven Power Four guys leads to an unsurprising impression: Clemson, Florida State, and Louisville as the cream of the conference at DL. Georgia Tech, Syracuse, and Cal look next up.
Stanford looks better here than we looked at OL. Whether to include Buckey is a real judgment call. I usually cut it off at 200 snaps and only did 150 snaps here because I had an intuition that 150 snap DL could progress to big things the next year, but looking at the above there aren't many 150 but not 200 snap guys and it may be a generous thing to Stanford to include Buckey and Marceau-Olayinka. Or maybe them being a disproportionately large share of the 150+ but not 200 snap guys is an indication the Stanford DL was preparing last year and is poised to take a big step this year. That possibility is why I wanted to include 150+ snap guys and not write off some of our key competitors, though again even my approach does not capture somebody like Patterson, another key competitor for us.
In any case, Franklin is definitely more established as a legit ACC player than anything we have on the offensive line.
All that throat clearing out of the way, the reason I do posts like this is to see proven quality. Here are how the ACC teams rank in terms of what I would consider proven quality (64+ in Power Four, 67+ in Group of Five, 70+ in FCS): Florida State (5), Louisville (4), Virginia Tech (4), Cal (3-4, depending on whether to count Wilkins), Georgia Tech (3), Syracuse (2-3, depending on whether to count Wilson), Clemson (2, but big time guys as noted previously), SMU (2), Miami (2), Virginia (2), Wake Forest (2), Stanford (1-2, depending on whether to count Buckey), Boston College (1-2, depending on whether to count Williams), NC State (1), Duke (1), North Carolina (1), Pitt (0).
In terms of the sheer numerical calculation of number of DL who have played 150+ snaps at the major college football level, it's Syracuse (6), Florida State (5), Cal (5), SMU (5), Stanford (4), North Carolina (4), Louisville (3), Georgia Tech (3), Virginia (3), Duke (3), Virginia Tech (2), Clemson (2), Miami (2), Pitt (2), NC State (1), Wake Forest (1), Boston College (1).
At least from this vantage, it looks like we have a lot of credible bodies at DL (and again, this does not include Patterson) and are below average but not bottom of the conference in what our DL have proven. The OL, by way of comparison, is below average but not bottom of the conference in terms of credible bodies and in the bottom tier in terms of proven quality. Bottom line: we can feel better about the DL than OL. This DL should be able to scrap and give the defense a chance. Definitely more reason for optimism in the trenches on defense than offense.
