No. 12: Nikita Whitlock, NG, Wake Forest
Previous ranking: No. 23
Making the case for Whitlock: Whitlock was often a one-man wrecking crew inside for Wake Forest, filling up the stat sheet across the board despite a frame (5-foot-11, 250 pounds) that could be considered less than imposing for ACC offensive linemen. All the Wylie, Texas, native did was notch 19 tackles for loss, good for the fourth most in the league. His 6.8 tackles per game (82 total) were tied for 18th most in the ACC, and his nine total sacks were tied for eighth most.
Whitlock made his presence felt in other areas, too, breaking up three passes, tallying seven quarterback hurries, forcing two fumbles and blocking two kicks. He was named first-team All-ACC by the media, and second-team by the coaches, who also had him fourth in the conference's defensive player of the year voting. If not for the other-worldly performance of Pitt's Aaron Donald, another undersized interior defensive lineman, we'd have probably been hearing much more about Whitlock nationally this season.
No. 25 Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech
No. 24 Jack Tyler, LB, Virginia Tech
No. 23 Tyler Boyd, WR, Pitt
No. 22 Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Florida State
No. 21 Denzel Perryman, LB, Miami
No. 20 Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB, Boston College
No. 19 Ryan Switzer, WR/PR, North Carolina
No. 18 Bryan Stork, C, Florida State
No. 17 Jeremiah Attaochu, DE, Georgia Tech
No. 16 Anthony Harris, S, Virginia
No. 15 Kelby Brown, LB, Duke
No. 14 Kareem Martin, DE, North Carolina
No. 13 Telvin Smith, LB, Florida State