As the postseason approaches, Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson has his hands full. The transfer portal opened two weeks ago. The Demon Deacons have had a handful of players leave. And Clawson is shopping in the transfer supermarket to see if there is talent that fits his menu needs. National signing day is Wednesday. The coaching staff has been out on the recruiting trail. Oh yeah and Wake Forest is prepping Friday’s Gasparilla Bowl.
Time In Tampa
The Demon Deacons hit Tampa Bay early Monday. The team visited Busch Gardens and took the day off from practice. Clawson said he advocates mixing pleasure with the business of the game. “The fun part of it is our guys earned the bowl, and we want them to enjoy the bowl experience,” Clawson said Monday. “But the best way to enjoy the bowl experience is to win the game.” Clawson said the team got in a handful of Missouri-focused practices before leaving Winston-Salem. They will do two more practices and a walk-through prior to Friday night’s game.
Wake is using the football facilities at Carrollwood Day School, a picturesque waterfront private school in Tampa, as their practice headquarters.
Who’s In and Who’s Out
Like everyone in and out of the postseason, Clawson is trying to maneuver his way through the quagmire that is roster management. Wake has had nine players enter the portal. However, some could play for the Demon Deacons this weekend. Clawson has a policy that even if a player has entered the portal, if they have not committed to another school, and have continued to practice and work out with Wake Forest, he will keep them on the postseason roster.
Running back Christian Turner will not be with the Demon Deacons. He entered the portal and had multiple teams contact him, insisting on visits last weekend. That caused him to miss Wake Forest practices. Fellow running back Quinton Cooley is also in the portal but has been at all practices and will be in the lineup Friday night. Clawson also noted that defensive lineman Jacorey Johns will not play in the bowl.
Even though the Gasparilla Bowl is not one of the marquee postseason games, Clawson said he is proud that the program is in its seventh straight bowl game. “We want to send these guys out with a good feeling,” he said. “You know, you get a bowl trophy, a bowl ring, and it’s important. It’s a big deal.”
Practice Time
Clawson said by game time, the team will have gotten in 10 practices. That is a few less than would normally happen if they did not have to deal with the transfer portal recruiting and signing day at the same time. Part of the process is also getting the team ready to compete and win the bowl game while also using the extra practices to develop some of this year’s reserves in preparation for next Spring’s camp.
“Of the 10 [practices], we took the first six, and in the last 10-15 minutes of every practice all we did was rep our younger players,” Clawson said. The time was devoted to freshmen, redshirts, and players who had not made the travel squad during the season. “You just pour 90 minutes of reps into those guys. And that helps with our development. That’s why it’s important that we become bowl eligible and play in bowl games.” Now that they are in Tampa, it is about game prep. The future will wait for its time.
Product Quality
Clawson said with the time off from the end of the season to the bowl games, and time off from practice for final exams or the holidays, (if you are playing in a post-Christmas game), early bowl games can be a little sloppy. “College football openers and bowl games are games of mistakes. We hope to make less than Missouri.”
Wake has one of the most experienced teams in the country. Coupled with a program that has gone to seven consecutive bowls, the Demon Deacons can be expected to not be so mistake-prone early on. Offensive lineman Je’Vionte Nash will be making his sixth bowl game for Wake Forest. That makes him one of the most experienced postseason players in the country.
While the goal of Monday’s trip to Busch Gardens was to have fun and relax, those terms are relative depending on one’s idea of fun. Clawson’s son, Eric, and his wife Catherine went with the coach. With Catherine’s aversion to roller coasters, Clawson said it was left to him to go on the rides with his son. This seems to be where the fun came to a sudden halt. The one that apparently did Clawson in the worst was Iron Gwazi.
“So right now, I’m suffering from vertigo, dizziness. I thought I was going to puke,” Clawson reported to the media Monday night. “I went on a few more roller coasters than I would choose to, and my wife just laughed at me when I got off them.” Clawson professed himself to be in recovery mode as he got ready for the bowl banquet.
We will have a full preview of the Wake Forest versus Missouri match-up later this week.
