WINSTON-SALEM – The time between the first and second scrimmages of fall camp — where Wake Forest’s football team is now — often feels like the time when the biggest strides can be made.

That first scrimmage, which was Friday evening, provides something of a baseline; it’s the second scrimmage that separates the men from boys (OK, that’s a little dramatic, but you get the point).

In between the scrimmages, there’s a clear focus of what needs to improve and what needs to be sustained.

“I think you break it down situationally, I think on defense our third-down defense has to get better,” coach Dave Clawson said on Monday. “When the 1s were in there the other day in the scrimmage, we didn’t give up too many explosives but we didn’t get off the field on third down.

“You want to not give up explosives but if you’re going to keep things in front of you, then if you have three, four, five opportunities on a drive to get off the field on third down, you better cash in on one of them.”

Starting with Monday morning’s practice, Wake Forest has seven practices — Thursday night being the second and final scrimmage — left of fall camp.

As much as it feels like Wake’s fall camp only started recently, the Deacons are 17 days away from playing North Carolina A&T in their opener.

“I think a big thing for us is third-down defense. Continuing to find more guys in the secondary who can contribute. I think in some places we’re in really good shape,” Clawson said. “In other places, we just need numbers. We need to say that, ‘these five guys are above the line.’

“And we’re not there yet.”

Third downs were emphasized when the Deacons went to the indoor facility for one period of Monday morning’s practice. That had little to do with the weather and everything to do with simulated crowd noise.

“We went inside today and played the noise for third downs,” Clawson said. “We worked coming out and goal line for the first time.

“You’re in that phase of camp that, there are things you need to work on, but at a certain point we need guys to get their legs back. You come out here and it’s a shorter practice, but it’s very specific work.”

Here were my observations during Wake Forest’s 12th practice of fall camp:

Equipment: Full pads.

Weather: Cloudy early and cleared up by the halfway point; started in mid-70s and ended in the mid-80s.

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

I’m going to put a timer on myself — like, 30 seconds — when looking at my notes and deciding who won the day, and if I can’t come up with an answer, it’s going to be neither.

After my consternation, the offense gets the nod today.

The main decider was that the offense netted three first downs on two instances of “coming out,” which is when the offense has the ball on its 1-yard line. When it was first-team against first-team, Hank Bachmeier threw on first down for 11 yards to Micah Mays Jr. When the 2s were in, it was third-and-9 when Michael Kern scrambled and threw to Nick Ragano for 13 yards, and then a couple of Ty Clark runs netted 13 yards before the period was halted.

The other segments are kind of a wash; Jaxon Mull had an interception, 1-on-1s were even, goal-line situation were kind of split.

QB report: Monday was a Bachmeier day with the first-team.

You get a little bit of everything when Bachmeier takes first-team reps. The ball zings out of his hand and he fits some passes into windows you wouldn’t think are there. He had two great throws to Taylor Morin early in practice.

Bachmeier threw the interception to Mull, though, and I couldn’t tell if he misfired wide or if Morin didn’t cut his route where he was supposed to. I’d lean toward the former.

Enough of my take on the QBs, though.

“On August 29 we’re going to have to roll one guy out there to be the starter. But I’m in no rush. I like what they’re both doing, I’m glad we have them both,” Clawson said of Bachmeier and Kern. “I’d say at that position too, as much as I like where they are, I’m very excited about the way (Jeremy) Hecklinski and Tyler Mizzell look.

“Because you’re trying to figure out, those guys are both sixth-year guys, you’re trying to say, ‘OK, where are we when these guys leave?’ I’m really pleased with Jeremy and Tyler.”

Catch of the day: Wide receiver Ian Ver Steeg.

I’m not sure what it is, but oftentimes the winner in this category has come in the final period of practice.

Ver Steeg, a walk-on receiver entering his third season at Wake Forest, might have had the catch of fall camp with this one. Going down the far sideline on a deep pass from Hecklinski, the Severn, Md., native tipped the ball while falling down and with a cornerback right in his face, somehow managed to track the tipped ball and catch it while falling backward.

It was maybe a 40-yard play, great throw, better catch.

Quote of the day: “A year ago, he’s this skinny kid. They wear long-sleeve shirts because they have no definition. And now they come out here with cutoff shirts and they do that because they can.” – Clawson on his QBs who have bulked up

Hecklinski has added 18 pounds since arriving in January; Mizzell might be the most athletic-looking QB at Wake Forest.

Freshman/newcomer of the day: Defensive back Jaxon Mull.

For the interception, yes. Clearly that was the biggest play of the day — not just for him, but probably for the entire defense.

But he also had a good pass break-up in 1-on-1s against Horatio Fields early in practice. Not to be dismissive, but interceptions take a mistake being made and it’s best not to put too much stock into them; when you have an interception on the same day you get a PBU in 1-on-1s against a projected starter, now you’ve got my attention.

Mull transferred from Purdue, where he did not play for two seasons. He has lined up at cornerback and nickel for the Deacons and it seems likely he’ll see the field in some capacity.

Positional observations: We’re at the point of camp where I think I could get close on a guess of what the first depth chart will look like.

- Mays and Fields were the first-team wide receivers.

- The first-team offensive line, from left to right: DeVonte Gordon-George Sell-Luke Petitbon-Nick Sharpe-Erik Russell.

- Branson Combs had a sack on the first play of third downs when they went inside.

You’re going to find yourself comparing Combs’ impact with that of Jacob Roberts last year. It’s a natural comparison because they’re both linebackers who came from the FCS.

- In the earliest of looks, I think Wake Forest went 3-for-3 in getting future contributors at the receiver positions. Jeremiah Melvin and Ben Grice on the outside, EJ Reid in the slot — all three have the early look of potential starters in the future.

More from Clawson: “You’ve got some younger guys, Jeremiah Melvin, Ben Grice, Deuce Alexander, Micah Mays and all of those guys have four years of eligibility. They just get better every week.”

- Both starting defensive ends — Jasheen Davis and Kendron Wayman — are entering their final seasons. BJ Williams is going to play a lot of snaps in a rotation with them.

And then it’s kind of the next era of edge rushers. That’s a whole lot of potential, short on the experience, right now, with Kerrington Lee, Tyler Walton, Camden Hardy and Josh Harrison in the mix.

News of the day: This is where you’ll be directed to the thread over on the message board.

It’s not often that we have on-record comments about injuries in fall camp. This is one of those times, though.