There is a game to be played Saturday in Winston-Salem. One of the teams allegedly has a “cute” offense, and the other has an offense that in part, makes its own coach sick to his stomach. There are a lot of verbal zigzags to be sussed out this week as Wake Forest hosts Liberty.
Dual Threat Or A Threat To Digestive Well-Being?
The Flames are 2-0 and coming off a win against UAB while using redshirt freshman quarterback Kaidon Salter. He is replacing veteran quarterback Charlie Brewer who is out with a broken hand. Salter was 13 of 25 for 202 yards in the win over UAB. His 52% completion rate accounted for zero touchdowns. Still, Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said he is impressed with Salter. “He’s a true dual threat guy,” Clawson said Tuesday. “He was one of the highest recruited quarterbacks in the country a couple of years ago.” Clawson went on to use complimentary adjectives like creative and explosive to describe Salter’s play.
Want to know how Salter’s head coach sees the performance of his first-time signal caller? “After seeing his film, he better improve or we’re going to have to do something else,” Hugh Freeze said this week. Wait. It gets better. “It made me sick watching the film and seeing his progressions.” Freeze’s “upbeat” summation of Salter’s performance was based on the quarterback rarely making it to the second progression before bolting the pocket to run with the ball. He said, his quarterback panicked and ran too much. “That’s got to change fast,” he said. Clawson called that being a dual threat. It apparently bothered Freeze’s digestive tract.
Lucky vs. Good
Freeze said the Flames are lucky to be 2-0. Clawson is more confident in his Demon Deacons’ 2-0 start. “We did get better from week one to week two,” he said. He was particularly happy about the results from the latest dual-threat quarterback wake has had to face in Vandy’s Mike Wright. He had 390 yards passing and 250 yards rushing in the two games prior to playing Wake. The Demon Deacons held him to 35 yards passing and 17 yards on the ground.
Of course, the offense was easy to digest. Sam Hartman was back at quarterback. All he did in his first game of the season was go 18 of 27 for 300 yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers.
So, That Wake Forest Offense Is…
But much like Salter’s game is apparently open to interpretation, it seems the same may be true of the Wake Forest offense. Liberty defensive lineman Dennis Osagiede referred to Wake’s offense as “cute” earlier this week. Actually, let’s put it in full context because he apparently doesn’t think much of Hartman either. “Every quarterback folds under pressure. They have that RPO thing where they hold it & that’s cute & all, but at the end of the day if you put pressure in a guy’s face, he’s going to make some type of indecisive throw.”
Yet his coach says he is having problems preparing for the slow mesh offense. He said his scout team is having a hard time imitating it in order for his defense to learn how to defend against it. “It is a challenge for us,” he said. “No one has stopped them so it’s obviously effective.” He said the hope is to get Wake to settle for field goals and not give up too many explosive offensive plays. “But they are creating those against most everybody they play.”
Clawson’s Take
Not to throw too many zigs and zags into the analysis, but predictably Clawson had his own take on what was being said about his offense. It turns out he was not so offended by Osagiede calling it cute. “That’s a compliment, right? Everyone wanted to be voted in high school like the cutest student or the cutest couple,” he joked. “Compliments come in all shapes and sizes.”
When told Freeze said he was having a hard time preparing to face the slow mesh, Clawson found the claim to be odd. “Which is interesting that he would say that. Because I would say their offense is the closest thing to resembling ours that we have had to defend. A lot of the concepts that we run, the tempo, the full-field RPO’s, they do a lot of those things too,” Clawson said. “This is no walk in the park for our defensive staff.” As much as he admires Freeze’s offense, he joked that he will not call it cute.
Hole To Fill On The Field And In The Locker Room
The defense is going to have a new challenge as it will be going forward without defensive back Coby Davis for the rest of the season. Davis suffered a knee injury in the Wake Forest game. Clawson spoke with a level of emotion about the loss of Davis, who has overcome multiple injuries to continue his now-six-year career at Wake. “It’s just really, really sad,” Clawson said. “Coby came back for his sixth year. He was playing so well. And he’s just a first-class, unbelievable teammate.” Clawson went on to call Davis, “As good of a person as we have had in this program. I feel sick for him.”
Davis could petition for a seventh year and likely get it. But with all the injuries he has suffered during his college football career, no one could blame him if he called it a career. Clawson said if Davis wanted to think about coaching, he would find a place for him on the Wake Forest staff. “we love the young man and everything he stands for.”
Wake is a heavy favorite going into Saturday’s game, whether its offense is cute or complex. It could be natural to look ahead on the calendar and see Clemson coming next week. Clawson has a veteran team that has been down this road before. “If we want to continue to be relevant nationally, we need to win these games.”
