If injuries are inevitable in football, you wind up coming to terms with them and just hope they don’t happen to certain players.

This list is a means of identifying which players Wake Forest could ill afford to lose.

The label of “most-important” with “best” can overlap and in some of these cases, it will. But we’re going beyond the simplicity of “best” and talking about which ones suffering an injury would be most devastating to the Deacons.

One quick note: Mitch Griffis isn’t eligible for this list. Quarterback is the most-important position on the field. It’s too obvious a selection to tab the QB as the most-important player.

Now, onto the list of the top 5 most-important players for Wake Forest:

Position: Cornerback.

Size: 6-foot, 195.

Eligibility: Two seasons remaining.

Career stats: 25 games | 78 tackles, 3 interceptions, 18 passes broken-up, 1 fumble forced, 1 fumble recovery.

Depth behind him: There’s not much reading between the lines required when you see who’s getting cornerback snaps for the last week of fall camp.

It wasn’t Carson.

He was mostly, to borrow a hockey term, a healthy scratch. Wake Forest had DaShawn Jones and Demarcus Rankin lining up with the first-team defense because they are a third-year player who’s started one game and a transfer from Notre Dame College (Division II).

The options at cornerback behind them — Jamare Glasker, Andre Hodge and Travon West — are even less experienced.

What makes him important: Carson is important simply because he’s an NFL-caliber cornerback when healthy. He’s allowed a reception percentage of 51.3% when targeted and allowed as many touchdowns as he has interceptions in his career (per Pro Football Focus).

It’s one thing for him to be far and away the most-experienced cornerback on Wake’s roster; it’s another for that to be the case and for him to be as good as he is.

Position: Defensive tackle.

Size: 6-1, 282.

Eligibility: Two seasons remaining.

Career stats: 30 games | 56 tackles, 11½ TFLs, 1½ sacks.

Depth behind him: There’s a reason Carson and Pointer have the top two spots on this list.

They’re both the only established players — and there’s a difference in establishment, Carson having started 24 games — at their respective positions.

Nick Helbig, a transfer from Wesleyan University (Division III), is behind Pointer. The mixing and matching extends to Bryce Ganious, Justin Williams, Wyatt Crespi and Helbig on the interior of the line.

What makes him important: Fall camp helped answer some of the questions about Wake’s defensive line.

But there are just some things you can’t know until you know — in this case, you can’t know until games are played.

What the Deacons know about their defensive line is that Pointer will get as many reps as he can handle. Wake’s defense was on the field for 969 snaps last season, and Dion Bergan Jr. (534) and Kobie Turner (522) played about the same number of snaps (per PFF).

Until we know the Deacons can get consistent production and penetration out of a combination of the players behind Pointer, it’s a safe bet you’ll see him around or above that 55% number of snaps played.

Position: Running back.

Size: 5-10, 209.

Eligibility: Two seasons remaining.

Career stats: 32 games | 307 carries, 1,353 yards, 14 touchdowns; 14 catches, 102 yards, 1 touchdown.

Depth behind him: There’s a much clearer picture to this than there was about 10 days ago.

Demond Claiborne is likely Wake’s No. 2 running back, as the second-year player has taken a step forward as a complete player. Tate Carney and David Egbe are in the mix as well; this position has developed some nice depth heading into the season.

What makes him important: As easy as it is to see Claiborne’s open-field burst or Carney’s between-tackles running and think they’re ready, you already know what Ellison gives you.

That’s valuable at any time; it’s particularly valuable when you’re breaking in a new starting quarterback — even one as well-versed in the offense as Griffis. The Deacons are reemphasizing the running game this season and having a QB who’s more of a threat to run should free things up for Ellison.

It can’t be overstated how strong of a bond Ellison has with Griffis, either. The two grew up in the same area of Virginia together (Ashburn) and were in the Class of 2020 together.

Position: Receiver.

Size: 5-10, 180.

Eligibility: Two seasons remaining.

Career stats: 36 games | 122 catches, 1,601 yards, 17 touchdowns | 47 punt returns, 423 yards.

Depth behind him: Well … which position?

(therein lies the value)

Morin could be Wake’s starting slot receiver, with Ke’Shawn Williams as a more-than-capable backup and freshman Deuce Alexander proving he should at least get a look in the first couple of games to see how ready he is.

But Morin could also slide to the outside, where he spent most of his time in the 2021 season, and start opposite Jahmal Banks. That would put some combination of Horatio Fields, Wesley Grimes and Walker Merrill behind him.

What makes him important: It’s kind of spelled out.

Morin is going to be on the field when Wake’s offense takes its first snap against Elon; it’s just a matter of where. He could be in the slot or on the perimeter.

His value is tied to his versatility but it’s not the only factor. Morin has played both positions well. He’s caught more than 50% of his contested-catch targets in every season of his career (PFF); the best percentage (15 of 23, 65.2%) was two years ago when he spent most of his time on the outside.

There’s also the special teams aspect of this. Morin’s 423 punt return yards put him 122 yards shy of fifth place on Wake’s all-time list.

Position: Nickel.

Size: 5-11, 191.

Eligibility: Two seasons remaining.

Career stats: 24 games | 65 tackles, 2 TFLs, 4 passes broken-up.

Depth behind him: This is a tricky one that the defensive depth chart (coming later this week) will shed some more light on.

Basically, Nick Andersen is behind Slocum as Wake’s nickel. It’s not necessarily a problem, but the discussion point is that sometimes the Deacons will want both players on the field, and both are likely to have active roles on special teams.

That’s probably why you’ll see walk-on Jacobi Gilbert take some occasional nickel snaps early in the season as a means of keeping Slocum and Andersen fresh.

What makes him important: It’s pretty much how difficult of a position nickel is.

Playing in the box and having run box responsibilities while also having to cover slot receivers, and sometimes tight ends, makes nickel the most-demanding position on the football team other than QB.

Slocum struggled at nickel last season, but that was when he was pressed into duty after injuries. He’s had a full spring and fall camp to acclimate to the position and all of its responsibilities and has looked more comfortable over the past few weeks.