ESPN still slighting BC in ACC Power Rankings

It is the offseason, but that doesn't slow down ESPN. They continue to fill up their ACC blog with power rankings. Any list or ranking is a good tool as it engages readers and helps improve search engine optimization. The latest poll ranks teams heading into 2015. Not so surprisingly, ESPN ranked BC 11 out of 14 ACC teams heading into next season.

In the power rankings, there is another team tied with BC, leaving only Wake and Cuse as lower than the Eagles. This also isn't surprising. Yet instead of explaining why BC is below so many (new QB, new OL), the recap focuses on Addazio's first two years. Adelson notes his success in beating expectations in Year 1 and Year 2. But she doesn't follow that logic and move him up in this ranking. With his track record, I would have put UVA (with London's hot seats) and Pitt (new staff) behind our Eagles. I also would have used the Power Rankings to question a traditional power. Why not put Virginia Tech low? They've been uneven the past two years. Or give Al Golden's critics fuel by moving BC ahead of the Canes. This is subjective, so ESPN should make it interesting.

In the whole scheme of things, it is good that expectations are so low this year. If BC can show just the littlest aptitude and get to a bowl, it will be viewed as a major accomplishment.

Shinskie update (Did Jags or TOB dream about seven cows and not tell us?)

Indulge my biblical reference for a moment:

GENESIS 41:29-31 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe.

I received confirmation that Shinskie did break rib(s) and is day-to-day. His status for Northeastern won't be known until much closer to game time. The endless offseason continues. Yet I remain hopeful. Like Egypt after Joseph's dream interpretation, I think we stored up enough pieces to ride through this weird plague.

What to do with the surplus of defensive backs?

When practices restart Thursday they will serve two purposes. The primary is bowl preparation. The secondary is preparing for next season. One of the questions for the offseason is what to do with all the defensive backs. BC has a very deep, young and talented group of defensive backs. The drawback of having a deep position is that they cannot all be on the field at the same time. With that in mind, and based on pure speculation, I am going to look at the group and see who might be moved to another position of need.

Assumptions:
1. I am not focusing on safety vs cornerback. Some recent guys have played both (Anam most recently) and some of the current probably could also play both (Gause, Fox)
2. We will probably bring in at least two more DBs (bringing the potential total to 17 on the roster).


Not going anywhere
The following guys are unlikely to move since they’ve established themselves as good contributors and don’t have another position that would make as much sense.
-- Donnie Fletcher
-- DeLeon Gause
-- Roderick Rollins

Linebacker?
The Akins experiment moved him to corner for his senior year. Over his career he showed the advantage of having a fast, coverage LB in Spaz’s scheme. Could these guys also moonlight with McGovern's guys?
-- Dan Mulrooney
-- Wes Davis
-- Stephen Atkinson
-- Marcellus Bowman
-- Okechukwu Okoroha
-- Dominick LeGrande
-- Chris Hayden-Martin

How are his hands?
Although we are deep in the secondary, we are probably going to need some pass catchers shortly. These guys could be good in open space.
-- Donte Elliott
-- Ugo Okpara
-- Chris Fox
-- Isaac Johnson

Running Back?
Running Back might be a tough position sell since many would see Harris and Haden on the depth chart and wonder if they’d ever see the field. Mulrooney and Smith have already had a go around in the backfield and may be used their again.
-- Dan Mulrooney
-- Razzie Smith (assuming he returns for a fifth year)
-- Isaac Johnson

This is all just spitballin' so feel free to leave your own ideas in the comments section.