Change continues to be the one constant throughout college sports. The transfer portal and NIL changed the game two years ago. Those changes had a different impact last year. And the impact will be different in the upcoming football season. So as the winds of change hit Wake Forest football from the outside, so too must things change on the inside.
That much was clear as Wake opened its Spring camp Tuesday morning. It was not just the 30-degree weather that was jarring. But it was some of the changes in preparation philosophy that caught everyone’s attention.
Head coach Dave Clawson has long differentiated Wake Forest by stressing player development over several years. That meant relying heavily on fourth and fifth-year Wake returnees, while the others bided their time. But no longer. Not in this day and age of change. Clawson is entering his 11th year at the helm of Wake Forest, (63-61 overall record), and had to spend this off-season re-thinking a lot of the old ways.
Even Wake Forest Has To Adapt
Tuesday he stressed that there is still more consistency at Wake Forest than at most other programs. But with that having been said, the change is still stark. The Demon Deacons enter Spring with 19 midyear enrollees. “We’re probably going to have 30 to 35 new players on our roster,” Clawson told the assembled media after practice. “So, before we used to return 80% of our players. Now we are probably returning 70%.”
The most obvious alteration to practice was a couple of sessions of live 11-on-11 drills, running simultaneously on two fields. “We’ve got to find a way to get guys more reps,” Clawson said. “And we’ve got to have more guys get ready. And we brought in all these freshmen and all these transfers midyear, and we’ve got to get them enough reps to see who can play and get them ready. So that’s why we changed the practice format.”
Wake Forest was caught flat-footed in 2023 when Mitch Griffis was pre-ordained as the heir apparent to Sam Hartman. Once the season started, Griffis struggled tremendously with the pace and decision-making in live games. The necessary change at quarterback, and ensuing injuries, gave way to inconsistency at the position. Michael Kern played before suffering a shoulder injury. And Santino Marucci played sparingly. Griffis and Marucci both entered the portal during the off-season. Griffis is now at Marshall.
Details, Details, Details
Clawson explained the need for change by reflecting on last year’s 4-8 record. “Why did we not get to an eighth consecutive bowl? Where were the shortcomings and how do we address those things?” He said he and his staff were very “specific and very intentional,” in how they ran the off-season program in preparation for Spring camp.
Clawson said his review of last season revealed a large number of games where Wake beat themselves. He called it a lack of attention to detail with late-game turnovers and penalties that created insurmountable problems. “Those were not typical Wake Forest issues, that popped up last year.” He said the focus and attention to detail can no longer be taken for granted when 30% of the roster is turning over every year.
So with the new regimen, and the increase in Spring workload for seemingly everyone on the roster, the focus inevitably turns to the quarterback position. Unlike last year, no one is being pre-ordained for anything. Clawson made sure to point out that with everyone getting more snaps, the competition is open.
The Quarterbacks
Hank Bachmeier was a big get for the Demon Deacons in the transfer portal. He is in his sixth year of college football, having spent four years at Boise State and one year at Louisiana Tech. He has played in varying versions of a West Coast offense and an Air Raid offense. At 6-1, 210 pounds he has a live arm that was frequently on display Tuesday. He stopped just shy of giddy when talking about how happy he was to be at Wake Forest for his final year of college football, (coverage of that coming later this week).
Kern grew up inside the Wake Forest program. The slow mesh and the RPO offenses are of second nature to him. He came in for Griffis at Virginia Tech, and likely would have been the starter going forward in 2023 had he not suffered a shoulder injury in that same game. Clawson said Kern has put on 10 pounds in muscle and strength. Kern said some of the weight gain was actually his mother’s good cooking.
But with the two of them running drills side by side instead of waiting their turn, you can visualize what Clawson sees as a priority. That no quarterback play or performance is to be assumed. “Last year we didn’t stay healthy at the quarterback position,” Clawson explained. “I would love to have three playable quarterbacks. There’s people who say ‘Well geeze if you have three, you don’t have one.’ But there’s very few years you get through a whole year healthy.”
The new structure also meant that redshirt freshman Charlie Gilliam and true freshman Jeremy Hecklinski are going to see more live-action work at practice than what has been the case in recent years for quarterbacks down the depth chart at Wake.
Spring camp continues through April 20th.
Not Getting Snaps
Running back Will Towns has taken a medical retirement from college football. He is now a volunteer assistant on the Demon Deacons staff.
Wide receiver Donavon Greene is reportedly fully recovered from last Fall’s Achille’s injury. However, he will not be participating in any of the drills during Spring camp. Clawson said Greene is already a known quantity based on all the football he has played at Wake. So the goal is to keep him healthy going into Fall camp.
