a very fair point. i was one that said 8-4 isnt great. i may have to take that back, we did seem to lose a lot.
but it's college football and we are in the acc, not the sec. every team lost significant players.. but your point is valid 8-4 probably isnt in "dissapointment" category..
but i also said that 8-4 comes in many different forms. 4-4 in the acc, i am not celebrating. 6-2, with losses to cincy and wvu, in the hunt to play in the acc game, that's a good year..
I kind of view us as playing for cycles. That 2017 team had Jones, Weaver, Twyman, Hamlin, Ford, Mathis, Pinnock, etc. on the roster... and some of them showed flashes in 2017, but that defense never came into form until 2019. There were guys ahead of them like Dennis Briggs, Shane Roy, Hendrix, etc. who were less talented but better options at the time.
That's kind of where I see this defense now. We kind of know what Green, Danielson, Brima, Bentley, Temple, etc. are. Solid, but All-ACC level? Most likely not. So we kind of need to get a few years of experience in for Okunola, Scott, Neal (though he'll probably redshirt), etc., because they likely offer the best chance for that next waves of studs.
I don't think it's any coincidence that we've won 20 games over the last two years and then find out that Pickett, Addison, and Kancey are all probably 1st round picks, and then Mathis was drafted and Izzy, Dennis, Warren, Hill, etc. will probably soon be joining that group.
You need to load up on upperclassmen studs and make your run when you're a team like Pitt.
