Wake Forest Football Opens Fall Camp
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest hit the field at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex bright and early Friday morning, anxious to begin preparations for the 2016 football season.
Head coach Dave Clawson was generally pleased with what he saw in the Deacons' first practice of the year that began at 6 am.
"We still have summer school going on and some guys have class," said Clawson. "I think a side benefit of this is we avoid the heat. That helped us get in good work. (But) it's like every practice, there are things you like and things you've got to get cleaned up. I thought the enthusiasm was good, I thought the energy level was good. I think guys wanted to be out here, they were enthusiastic. We just have to clean up some of the execution stuff."
Maintaining a high level of energy at practice will be a goal throughout the 2016 season for the Deacons.
"The key is your ability to sustain it," said Clawson. "Every team in the country goes out there excited day one. Four months from now we want them to be excited too. That means you're having a good year. That's what happens with good teams. The energy level is sustained and it keeps building (and) every practice becomes important. When you're struggling and things aren't going well, energy dies off. My goal is to make sure that the Thursday before the BC game (Nov. 26) we have this same energy level as we did today."
Much of the media attention on the first day was focused on running back. Last year's leading rusher Tyler Bell is sidelined for the initial camp practices and junior Isaiah Robinson is rehabbing an injury suffered late in 2015.
"Even with Tyler Bell there it's wide open," said Clawson when asked to address who might start. "I think probably all the offensive skill positions have been greatly upgraded. We have a lot of young and talented players, whether it's Cade Carney, Tyler Bell, Matt Colburn, Rocky Reid is back off an injury. We're just looking for guys that can sustain a level of performance. They're all going to have their nice plays and their big runs but who are the guys that can go out there snap-in and snap-out and execute the offense? Who can do the best job in pass protection?
"Arkeem (Byrd) is going to have good runs and Cade and all those guys are going to make great plays but who are the guys who can do it snap-in and snap-out consistently? That's the marathon of camp. I'm sure in practice somebody will flash and two practices later, someone (else) will flash. Who is consistently grading out high snap-in, snap-out, every single practice?
"(Running back) is one of those positions you can't have too many," Clawson continued. "I've been in years that we've played our fifth and sixth tailback. That is a position at every level of football if you stay healthy there for a whole year you're very fortunate. I would like to play three regularly, I would like to have a rotation of three. If something happens one to three, you'd like to have a fourth.
"I don't know if we have a guy (other than Tyler Bell) (who will be) capable in three weeks to play 65 to 70 snaps. So that's not our goal. Our goal is to have three guys who can handle between 35 to 40 snaps.
"If we played today it would probably be Cade Carney based on the spring he had. Then again Rocky Reid, Arkeem Byrd, Tyler Bell, Matt Colburn, all those guys will be pushing for time and any one of them could be the starter."
Clawson addressed the overall competitiveness for playing time at all of the offensive skill positions.
"At tight end, Cam Serigne is the starter but my hope is we can play Devin Pike a lot more this year and give Cam more of a break," said Clawson. "Devin had a great offseason. At receiver, there are seven or eight guys. Last year Cortez (Lewis) started and had to play every snap. That hurt his production as the year went on. (Our hope is that) Scotty Washington can play 20, 30, 40 snaps per game. Tabari (Hines), Chucky Wade, Alex Bachman, Steven Claude, Jared Crump, Jalen Latter, those are all good athletes and good football players who, if they practice well, they'll be competing for playing time.
"Naturally, (competition) helps the energy level for practice. Anytime you have a program that the players know that if they don't practice well every day, there's somebody there who can do their job. That's a great motivator. We haven't had that the last two years. Two years ago, (WR) Matt James was going to play, (WR) EJ Scott was going to play. Last year (WR) KJ Brent was going to play, Cortez was going to play. We didn't have depth, we didn't have competition. Now, having that many guys who are capable of playing and I think they all have high-end ability, it helps the energy level at practice. Right now when our ones and our twos are out there, those are all guys who are going to be playing for us.
"This is all building the base and building the program and developing depth," said Clawson. "The exciting thing, all the skill positions, with the exception of Jared Crump, every single one of those guys is a freshman or a sophomore. Of the seven receivers I named, all are freshmen or sophomores except Crump. At running back, all those guys are freshmen or sophomores."
The Demon Deacons will hit the field for practice again on Saturday morning starting at 7 am at the Doc Martin Complex.