Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert had some very specific thoughts on his team’s performance after Saturday’s scrimmage. Then he looked at the tape afterwards. And the tape doesn’t lie.
The Tape From the Scrimmage
As we say far too often in the football world, “Upon further review,” Dickert still was not pleased with what happened Saturday. “I thought our competitive endurance isn’t nearly where it needs to be in a gameday-like atmosphere,” he told the media Monday. What he had set as the bar was “Three hours of max compete, communicating with each other. Getting out of your individual competitive silo and becoming a team.”
He acknowledged that there is still competition for playing time. “But we’ve got to make sure as a team, we’re in certain spaces,” he added. “It was a big evaluation day, but our competitiveness as a team to go out there and grind through it wasn’t good enough.”
So, how did he get that message to his team? “Oh, we addressed it,” he assured the reporters. “They saw it in a very direct way.”
The Leadership
But this is also where veteran leadership within the Wake world has to step up. By several accounts, that was Nick Andersen. The sixth-year defensive back was seen on film talking to his teammates throughout Saturday’s scrimmage, as well as after, holding them accountable for their play. “I just expanded on Nick’s points,” Dickert said. “Here’s what the team leader said. Here’s what the captain said.”
Linebacker Quincy Bryant backed up what Dickert said about Andersen and leadership. “Me and Nick did have a conversation toward the end. We talked about where we are as a team. I think there’s much more of a focus on how we feel as a whole team.”
He said they went over details of what they saw and what they thought needed fixing. “He’s much better at talking (to the team). I’m much quieter than Nick.”
Bryant actually revealed that Anderson is the reason he came back for another season. The two made a pact with each other after the last game in 2024 and saw it through, even with the coaching change. “We want to win at Wake because of how much it has done for us,” Bryant said.
The Quarterback Race Shrinks
The quarterback reps at practice are going to see a change. It is back to a two-player race. The starter will be either Robby Ashford, the transfer from South Carolina, or Deshawn Purdie, the transfer from Charlotte. “It’s nothing against Steele (Pizzella),” Dickert said in confirming what we were seeing for ourselves. “We’re going to take a look at those two guys mainly. And then we’ll kind of make the decisions from there.” The timing was somewhat ironic in that Ashford had one of his most productive days of camp on Monday.
What Lies Ahead
Regardless of who is taking the starting snaps, the offense is still a significant work in progress. The lack of a downfield passing threat has been obvious. Dickert gave credit to a secondary that is performing very well in camp, but he said the offense has to find a way to push downfield better.
He also talked about his frustration from Saturday, with the lack of production in the red zone. “We got down there. We moved the ball. But we never finished any drives.”
There are just a couple of practices left before camp finishes with a scrimmage Friday afternoon. Then, the team begins preparations for week one against Kennesaw State. Dickert said the work will get done. “I told them by Hell or high water, we’re going to be a tough football team.” He was already pleased with the step up from Saturday to Monday.
Main Image: Tony Siracusa
