Going off the board to find ACC's 2017 statistical leaders

What if we'd told you this time last year that the ACC's top receiver would be a transfer from Maryland playing for a first-year coach at Syracuse (Amba Etta-Tawo)? Or that a QB not named Deshaun Watson would run for 1,500 yards and 21 touchdowns (Lamar Jackson)? Or that first-year starters at Virginia Tech (Jerod Evans), Florida State (Deondre Francois) and North Carolina (Mitch Trubisky) would all throw for at least 3,300 yards and 20 touchdowns?

The point is, the biggest surprise at the end of the year is that we weren't expecting so many surprises at the start. The unexpected actually happens quite often, and it'll likely be the case in 2017, too. With that in mind, we're looking outside…