The first of Jacob Roberts’ nation-leading five sacks saw the Wake Forest linebacker follow the path blazed by Jasheen Davis.

That wasn’t lost on Roberts.

“Yeah, we talked about that. A lot of guys on the D-line get after me saying, ‘You took my tackle.’ We’re just out there playing hard,” Roberts said last week.

It’s work that Davis doesn’t mind doing, to be clear.

“Sometimes you’re not able to make every play,” Davis said, “but if you set up teammates, then good things happen.”

Davis’ 18 QB pressures are twice as many as the next Deacon (Bryce Ganious), per Pro Football Focus. The Snellville, Ga., native had 40 QB pressures as a part-time starter last season and is on pace to have nearly double that number this year. The only players in the country with more pressures than Davis, both at 19, are Purdue’s Kydran Jenkins and UNC’s Kaimon Rucker.

Last weekend against Old Dominion, it was everybody’s turn to eat — as the kids say.

Roberts and Davis both had three sacks, earning each of them weekly ACC honors at their respective positions. While Roberts enters the weekend with the national lead for sacks, Davis has 4½, as the fourth-year defensive end becomes a premier pass-rusher. Dylan Hazen, Kendron Wayman and Ganious were each credited with a sack, and Quincy Bryant and Kevin Pointer each had a half-sack, giving the Deacons a program-record 10 in the 27-24 comeback win.

“I feel like on Saturday, it worked hand-in-hand,” Davis said. “We all read our keys and we were able to stay in our rush lanes and when it was time to make a play, the play was made.

“I’m just grateful to have good teammates on the defensive side of the ball that like to swarm to the ball and create havoc.”

In the same way you can see maturity in that answer, you see maturity in the biggest play Davis made against ODU — one that came on somebody else’s sack.

Roberts’ strip-sack in the fourth quarter was scooped by Davis and returned to the Monarchs’ 6-yard line. He felt like he was going to score — “there was no Jumbotron, so I couldn’t see who was behind me” — until he was tripped from behind.

The last time Davis had a fumble recovery was last season’s game against Boston College, in which he fumbled the ball back to the Eagles. Former Deacon Rondell Bothroyd joked after that game that Davis told him on the sideline that he was trying to score.

“Next time if the opportunity presents itself again, I’m most definitely going to try to punch it in,” Davis said this week.