WINSTON-SALEM – First, it was Donavon Greene’s turn.

On the first play of 1-on-1s in Wednesday morning’s practice, Greene fended off Wake Forest cornerback Capone Blue for a one-handed catch.

In a developing and friendly rivalry, that meant it was Blue’s turn when they squared off next—which was the first play of a full-team period.

On that deep pass down the sideline from Michael Kern, Blue dove backward and tipped the ball away from Greene.

“It felt real good, felt real good getting (him) back,” Blue said. “That’s why I said we’re just going to keep on back and forth and we’re going to compete every day.”

There always winds up being an iron-sharpens-iron theme of Wake’s fall camp, involving the Deacons’ best receiver against its best cornerback.

Intrigue this year comes from not knowing who the Deacons’ best cornerback is.

Wake Forest is mostly young and inexperienced at cornerback. That was the case in the spring; it was accentuated when the only returning starter, DaShawn Jones, went into the transfer portal and landed at Alabama.

The early indication is that Blue, a transfer from Kent State who’s entering his sixth season of college football, and redshirt sophomore Jamare Glasker are in line to be the starting duo. Glasker is entering his third season and struggled last year in a reserve role.

But this has been a different Glasker.

“Jamare Glasker, he’s transitioning into being a No. 1. I feel like he’s going to have a really good season this year,” Greene said on Monday. “He put on a lot of weight and really took on the role of being a starting cornerback.”

Indeed, Glasker said he was 175 pounds in the spring. He’s now up to 186, filling out his 6-1 frame better and hoping that translates to being able to play more physical.

“That’s going to affect this year because last year, I was really underweight,” Glasker said. “Hopefully this year, I can really impact and put weight on myself.”

Improvement from Glasker and experience of Blue will go a long way toward impacting Wake’s defense.

Here were my observations during Wake Forest’s third practice of fall camp:

Equipment: Helmets and shoulder pads.

Weather: Clear, low-to-mid-70s, pleasant.

Was today won by the offense, defense or neither: Offense.

I don’t like giving out wins this early in fall camp but this was too clear to ignore.

In the first full-team period, the first play was Michael Kern hitting Taylor Morin for a deep pass (about 30 yards). The only positive play in that series for the defense was a Jasheen Davis sack.

The receivers and tight ends won just about every rep in 1-on-1s. It felt like the offense was sharper in the other full-team segments — though, that’s tough to fully gauge when both practice fields are being used.

I think the only turnover of the day was Charlie Gilliam’s throw to the sideline getting undercut by Maurice Ghee. Otherwise, Kern and Hank Bachmeier kept the ball out of harm’s way.

QB report: Kern took most of the first-team reps and Bachmeier was mostly with the second-team, though there was more overlap than Monday.

Here’s the result of missing a day in between practices — per sources, Bachmeier’s day of taking most of the first-team reps was Tuesday.

Kern was sharp and connected on several deep passes. The one to Morin that started the first full-team segment set the tone early; he also fired several deep balls in 1-on-1s that were excellent throws.

Maybe the most impressive thing I’ve seen from him that I don’t remember seeing in the last five years is his accuracy on the move. He’s had a few rollout throws while moving right that have had some zip; I’ve never thought of that being a strength of his and am curious to find out if I’ve missed something or if he’s worked on it becoming a strength.

Bachmeier had some nice throws, too. Wake Forest is a little more thin at wide receiver than will be the case … maybe next week. That means whoever is taking the second-team reps is throwing to some unexperienced and/or unproven players. But they do get the benefit of Deuce Alexander on the second-team (more on him below).

It’s too early to declare this a two-horse race. But … it seems like there’s a heavy lean toward Kern and Bachmeier. It’ll take quite the surge or unforeseen development out of Jeremy Hecklinski, Tyler Mizzell or Gilliam over the next week to change that.

Catch of the day: Wide receiver Donavon Greene.

That one-handed catch against Blue was awesome.

With his left arm holding off the 6-3 Blue, Greene cradled Kern’s throw into his body on this 1-on-1 rep. Maybe it’s a shame this only would’ve been a gain of about 8 yards, but it was a great battle against two older and physical players.

Quotes of the day: “I had a rep with Donnie yesterday on a deep ball. He ran back and ‘Ratio (Fields) jumped in. I said, ‘Hell no, Donnie getcho ass back out there.’” – Glasker

The context here is that receivers often sub out after running long routes — it’s not how things work in games, but early in fall camp, it’s a way to keep practices moving quickly and maximize reps. The defensive backs don’t often get that luxury, so it’s a point of contention that they have to stay on the field more often than their perimeter counterparts.

Freshman/newcomer of the day: Running back Kennedy Fauntleroy.

If there can be a front-runner for Wake’s No. 3 running back after three practices, it’s Fauntleroy.

The Bridgewater College transfer has looked solid and finally got rewarded near the end of practice when he broke off a long touchdown run. He’s 5-9, 210, and it’d take an injury or two to feel like the Division III transfer will get double-digit carries in ACC games. But the Deacons are bound to need him at some point this season and the early return is that he’s ready for the adjustment.

After his touchdown, running back Demond Claiborne — who doesn’t seem like he’s ever had a bad day on the football field — came running down the field to celebrate with him.

Positional observations: Important to note, again, that it’s the first week and things can change.

- The first-team offensive line had one change from Monday. From left to right, it was: DeVonte Gordon-George Sell-Luke Petitbon-Nick Sharpe-Erik Russell.

Sell was in the spot that Matt Gulbin was Monday.

- Nickels are going to be Demarcus Rankin, Zamari Stevenson, Travon West, Tayshaun Burney, Jaxon Mull and Ghee … and maybe a TBD on any others. It kind of feels like anybody with cornerback skills who isn’t named Blue or Glasker is going to get a look at nickel.

- A random observation from when the offense was inside and practicing against air: You can see why Alexander is in position to contribute regularly entering his second season because he takes every rep seriously and is constantly working on the little things. The backup slot receiver just never seems to waste any time or movement; that’s how Greg Dortch was and how Jaquarii Roberson was for the last few years he was at Wake Forest.

- Two practice reports, two times mentioning the value of future stock in Jeremiah Melvin.

- Wake Forest didn’t have referees at practice today — that’s usually after the first off day, which is Thursday — so it’s always a guessing game about penalties unless a coach gets vocal about one.

But nobody needed a ref to see Rankin commit pass interference on Fields on a crossing pattern. Last I heard, you can’t shove a receiver in the back as he’s jumping.

- This was a … testier practice than I can remember seeing this early in fall camp.

Most of that happened at the end, with one specific incident. Nick Andersen had a helmet-to-helmet hit on Fields that looked awful; I’m sure it wasn’t malicious, but Fields was clearly shaken up. It elicited at least one “what the f---?” from an offensive player.

For the record, one player asked Fields as they were leaving the field if he was OK, to which he said he was fine.

News of the day: This was more interesting to me than it is hard news …

At the end of the joint interview with the cornerbacks, the question was whether they were surprised to see DaShawn Jones transfer after spring practices.

“It was not a surprise for me because he would talk about it all spring, he ain’t feel comfortable here,” Glasker said. “But I understand, you’ve gotta go wherever you feel comfortable.”

Thought that was interesting, given he was a returning starter at cornerback. It’s worth noting Wake’s cornerbacks coach, Chip West, isn’t the same one who recruited Jones to Winston-Salem. West is entering his second season with the program after replacing Paul Williams.