Welter: The ACC's future is in flux, but the present looks good for NC State

By Pat Welter

NC State might be the best team in the ACC, but no one wants to talk about that. Conference realignment is the dominant topic everywhere you go this week in Charlotte at ACC Kickoff. In the elevators, the food lines and hotel bars everyone has a take on college football's future.

Normally at these summer media days the coaches are the stars. The media has access to the biggest names in college football in ways they don't normally get. You turn a corner or look to your right while washing your hands in the bathroom and there's someone you usually just see on TV.

Ironically no one is drawing more attention than ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips. His press conference started the day in Charlotte and was standing room only. I bumped into NC State head coach Dave Doeren in the back of the room and asked if I could speak with him for a few minutes. He said after the commissioner speaks. Naturally, I thought. Even the coaches are on the edge of their seats.

Phillips took the stage like an emperor without clothes. The Big Ten and SEC have expanded the size of their conferences and bank accounts, meanwhile the ACC is hanging together by a thread known as the grant of rights that we are supposed to believe can remain intact until 2036.

"Everything is on the table. We understand what that means," Phillips said. "We understand what that revenue means moving forward, but I will also say, as I look at the next few years, I like where we're going."

When I talked to Doeren he agreed.

"We have a grant of rights and it protects us until 2036 unless someone wants to drop $120 million to walkout, I think we are pretty good," Doeren said. "Obviously we'd love to see different things that we can do and the television revenue aspect change. I know the commissioner is working hard with that with ESPN, but I feel great about where we are at."

You can debate and probably disagree with Doeren and Phillips about the health of the ACC, but it's hard to argue against the state of Doeren's program. In a college football world that also includes NIL recruiting inducement and the transfer portal Doeren kept the key pieces of his 2021 team together including all ten of his assistants.

"This is a really united group of individuals, that are hungry," Doeren said.

For State the optimism starts at quarterback. Devin Leary threw 35 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions last season, breaking Philip Rivers school record for touchdown passes. He's smart, polished, and detailed. He lives and plays like a pro and it's not by accident. He talks to NC State greats like Rivers, Russell Wilson, and Mike Glennon for advice.

"He told me if you want to be a pro you have to live your life like a pro," Leary remembered Glennon telling him. The advice stuck.

"After Mike told me that I'm reaching out to him asking how do you live like a pro, how do you prepare your body? How do you watch film and off the field how do you carry yourself?" Leary said. "It reflects in the facility and on the field once you evaluate yourself off the field."

Defensively NC State was missing seven starters at times last season. Linebacker Isaiah Moore is back healthy after tearing his ACL, Drake Thomas evolved into a force of nature in his absence. According to a study by ESPN, NC State returns 88% of its production on defense. The opportunity that lies in front of them is not lost on Moore who suffered his season ending injury versus Miami.

"We all came to NC State to do something that's never been done before," Moore said. "For the brand of NC State it would do wonders for it, we are always trying to get better as a group."

The ACC name might not carry the same weight it used to, but its championship still means a heck of a lot to a school and a fan base who hasn't experienced a ACC championship since 1979.

"With everything changing and us really not knowing what is going to happen down the line," Leary said. "For us to get that one final shot of competing for an ACC championship will be very remarkable."

Jim Phillips looked like the house on fire dog meme up there discussing the future of the conference. "This is fine," is a sentiment that little to no one in the room believed. Phillips kept referring to conferences as gated communities. I will say the view from NC State's current real estate isn't a bad place to be.

"If everybody is healthy and we can keep them on the field we've got a shot to win, it we do," Doeren told me.

I asked him to clarify what he meant by win it, the conference, or the national championship? "Everything," he said.