WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Wide receiver Jaquarii Roberson, a rising redshirt sophomore, caught a pair of touchdown passes from sophomore quarterback Sam Hartman to highlight the scrimmage portion of Wake Forest’s Friday night football practice at BB&T Field.
Roberson caught scoring passes of three and five yards while redshirt sophomore Christian Beal-Smith rushed for a 12-yard touchdown. Nick Sciba hit a 23-yard field goal attempt to close out the scoring.
Roberson’s first touchdown was set up by a 54-yard pass from Hartman to redshirt sophomore Sage Surratt that took the ball to the three. Roberson set up his second touchdown himself, making a 21-yard grab down to the five before catching a back-corner fade from Hartman for the score.
Roberson had five catches for 55 yards and Surratt finished with three receptions for 69 yards.
Hartman and Jamie Newman split first team reps at quarterback. Hartman finished the night 10 for 15 for 149 yards. Newman completed six of nine passes for 58 yards.
“It’s funny, (Jaquarii) probably had his worst practice yesterday,” said head coach Dave Clawson afterwards. “I got after him, I asked him who was wearing 82 yesterday. I said somebody stole his number. But he showed up today which is good, that’s the response you want. He’s been having a really good camp. Yesterday he didn’t have one of his better practices. Today I thought he came out and looked good, looked quick.”
Redshirt freshman Courtney McKinney was the leading ground gainer with 49 yards on nine carries including the longest run of the scrimmage at 20 yards. DeAndre’ Delaney added 44 yards on 10 carries.
Clawson reduced the scrimmage from an expected 90 plays to about 70 due to having a thin secondary. Safeties Nasir Greer, Coby Davis, and Zion Keith missed the session. All are expected to back at full health by the start of preseason camp.
“We were just trying to get some good work in,” said Clawson. “Right now we’re so thin in the secondary. Those are three of your top four or five safeties. We’re trying to get as much work as we can. It’s the nature of spring and preseason camp. You get thin in one position and it impacts what you want to do.”
In their absence, redshirt junior Traveon Redd shined brightly under the lights at BB&T Field.
“Tra Redd has had his best segment he’s ever had here in terms of every spring football or preseason camp he’s been through,” said Clawson. “He looks quicker, faster, is playing more confident, reacting better, tackling better. I’m really pleased with the progress he’s making. I’m happy with him. I think Luke Masterson continues to develop and he’s a player who gives us a lot of versatility. He can really play four positions: rover, strong safety, free safety and linebacker. That’s invaluable for us.”
The benefits of the scrimmage portion of the practice was the opportunity to get some young players experience in a game simulation. Clawson was pleased with the work of the youngsters.
“Chase Monroe is playing football for the first time and he made some plays which is encouraging,” said Clawson. “And (offensive linemen) Loic Nya and Sean Maginn. That’s the nature of college football. You’ve got a lot of guys who’ve played and you mix them in with the guys who haven’t played before and those are the ones who need the work. And you have to get the work. You’ve got to get out here a couple times in the spring and a couple times in fall camp and play tackle football under the lights or else all those other things will get exposed when they start to keep score.”
Monroe and sophomore Ryan Smenda, both linebackers, each recorded five tackles with Monroe adding three tackles for loss. Defensive end Carlos “Boogie” Basham had 1.5 sacks with Royce Francis and Jack Rielly each contributing a sack.
Wake Forest will hold two more practice sessions next week in preparation for the annual Spring Game on April 6. That exhibition is scheduled for 3 p.m. at BB&T Field.
