At the ACC kickoff, the preseason media poll has Florida State topping Virginia Tech in the conference title game.
And Clemson's Sammy Watkins edged Logan Thomas for preseason player of the year honors with 25 votes to Thomas' 21.
Day two of the ACC football kickoff began on the links, with coaches and players joining members of the media for 18 holes.
The day's events then moved to pigskin prognostication, with the media picking Virginia Tech and Florida State to meet in the 2012 conference title game.
"I think the SEC has kind of set the bar,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “The other four major conferences right now, everybody needs to pick it up to match them. And I think that's what is going to happen. I think the competition of it all is going to bring everybody up."
Hokie quarterback Logan Thomas said, "We have strong offenses and defenses on both sides of the divisions and hopefully we'll show everybody in the rest of the country what we can do."
The coaches took their turn at the microphone on Monday, including the only fresh face among the bunch. Larry Fedora brings his high energy offense and coaching style to a North Carolina team ineligible for postseason play in 2012. But that isn't slowing down the new man in Chapel Hill.
"Your players feed off the energy that you provide. If we go out to practice and the coaches aren't energetic and they're not getting after it, you can't expect the players to. That's the way we run the entire program now," Fedora said.
2012 is the years of the quarterback in the ACC. Eleven of the 12 schools bring back their starting signal-caller from a year ago. And it's a talented bunch. Six conference quarterbacks are on the watch list for the Davey O'Brien Award, given annually to the top QB in the nation.
Wake Forest quarterback Tanner Price said, "It's fun to get to go out and compete against them because you know you're playing against some of the better quarterbacks in the nation."
Bryn Renner, North Carolina’s quarterback said” "Guys like Logan Thomas, Sean Renfree, Mike Glennon. Guys I grew up with and have a lot of respect for. Being from Virginia we all kind of knew each other and have a close little bond."
In Charlottesville Michael Rocco is the incumbent under center. But he will face stiff competition from Alabama transfer Phillip Sims, who played high school ball alongside the Cavalier's Superman -- Perry Jones.
"It's no animosity in the quarterback room. They're with each other and they are both trying to get better,” Jones said.
Wahoos coach Mike London said, "It's evident that when talk about Phil coming in was the possibility of him even playing this year an older, more mature Michael embraced that and said bring on the competition. Maybe if he'd been younger it might have been a different response."
It's shaking out to be an entertaining preseason in the ACC, when camps open come August.
