Time to move on in our countdown of the top 25 players in the ACC during the 2012 season.
No. 24 Michael Campanaro, WR, Wake Forest
2012 stats: He led the ACC with 7.9 receptions per game -- ranking No. 8 in the nation and second-best in ACC history -- and finished sixth in the league with 76.3 yards per game. Campanaro ended up with 79 catches for 763 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games, missing two contests with a broken hand. He still ended up with second-team all-conference honors from the coaches and media.
Previous ranking: No. 20.
Making the case for Campanaro: To understand how truly valuable Campanaro is to the Wake Forest offense, consider only one other receiver on the team caught a touchdown pass. That would be Terence Davis with two. And Campanaro had three times more touchdown catches than Davis despite missing nearly three games with a broken hand. Wake Forest's offensive productivity dropped with Campanaro on the sideline. Against Maryland and Virginia, Wake Forest scored a total of 24 points and averaged 227 yards of total offense.
While it's true Wake Forest didn't exactly rebound offensively while Campanaro returned, it did take him a few games to get back into a groove. And there is no doubting he was the most valuable player on the Wake Forest offense, always reliable to come up with the clutch catch. He had two games with double-digit receptions: 13 catches (North Carolina) and 16 catches (Boston College). Those 16 catches tied an ACC single-game record. He also ended the season with at least once catch in 21 straight games.
