It’s hard enough for a coach to assess the value of a scrimmage. Was that a great play by the defense or a miss on an assignment by the offense? But it is even harder when some key elements on both sides of the ball are missing from scrimmage. What Dave Clawson saw Thursday was a need for Wake Forest to get healthy quickly.
Receiver Donavon Greene, running back Demond Claiborne, defensive back Capone Blue, and defensive lineman Kendron Wayman did not play in the scrimmage. None of them have major injuries that should be season-threatening. It is mostly a matter of smaller issues that come about after a month of camp. But Clawson was clear on their status. “They have little injuries, but they couldn’t have played today [if there had been a game].” Clawson hopes to have all of them back in the fold by early next week. Receiver Walker Merrill also did not play but he has missed extended stretches of camp. As for Greene, he obviously knows the offense at this juncture. But Clawson pointed out how much football he has missed over the last few years with the injuries. He stressed the need to get Greene ready for the start of the season.
While depth is a debatable topic at any position, the key elements above on both sides of the ball are a must-have for Wake Forest this season.
As for the scrimmage itself, it was the standard need for the coaches to watch the film to gauge offense versus defense success and vice versa.
Some plays and players were obvious though. Reserve running back Ty Clark had an impressive performance. “Ty Clark is going to play for us,” Clawson said at the end of the night. “Every year you need three or four running backs. Right now Ty and Kennedy [Fauntleroy] are competing for that three and four spot.”
Claiborne and Tate Carney have the first two spots locked up at running back. Carney was also impressive with a 34-yard run along the far sideline. But Clawson had plenty of good things to say about Clark’s potential. “Ty and Kennedy have both had really good camps, and Ty has really impressed.” Clawson called Clark physically mature but added that the bigger surprise was how quickly he picked up the offense. “I don’t know if we have had a running back pick up the offense so quickly since we’ve been here.”
A notable moment was when a Hank Bachmeier drive was shut down with an impressive goal-line stand. Defensive back Nick Anderson and linebacker Dylan Hazen shut down the middle of the line quickly, keeping Carney out of the end zone. But typical of a team scrimmage, it may not be as simple as it looks.
“I’ve got to watch the film. I don’t know if we missed a block,” Clawson said. “Usually when you get a run-through tackle like that somebody missed a block.” Or it could have just been a great read by Anderson and Hazen. Only the film will tell. A great run with the back making people miss tackles also means your defense missed tackles. Things are rarely black and white in a scrimmage.
Both offenses, run by Bachmeier and Michael Kern moved the ball up and down the field. But both also threw interceptions in the red zone. So then we go back to, was it a good play by the defense or a bad play by the quarterback? In a scrimmage, two things can be true at one time. “We gave up yards but not points,” Clawson said of both defenses.
A key focus for him going back to Spring camp is the defense getting off the field on third down. “We didn’t give up all these explosive plays in the pass game. We gave up yards and we gave up some run game stuff. But I thought we played top-down better. And I thought the red zone defense was good and the overtime period was good.” And the third downs? “We’re going to have to find a way to get off the field on third and fourth down and we did that tonight. I think the offensive yards is going to look good. But there weren’t a lot of points.”
Good for the defense. Questionable for the offense. Like any scrimmage, the beauty is in the eye of what the coach sees in the film.
Wake has two more camp practices before they close off everything to the media and get ready for the first game on August 29th against North Carolina A&T.
Photo from Tony Siracusa
