The pieces are now in place for Week One of the Wake Forest football season. The starting quarterback has been named. The head coach has had his first game week press conference in Winston-Salem. Now it is time to move on to the actual season and answer the many questions. That starts with what Wake Forest should expect out of Robby Ashford.
Jake Dickert made official on Monday afternoon what had already leaked out the night before. Ashford is the starting quarterback for the season opener against Kennesaw State on Friday night. And presumably going forward.
What Wake Forest Should Expect from Robby Ashford
Wake Forest is Ashford’s fourth school in his six-year career. He spent two years at Oregon without playing. From there, it was on to Auburn, where he started nine games in his first year for the Tigers. He played in 10 games the following season at Auburn, but only started one. He was a 50% passer at Auburn for just under 1,700 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Ashford played in 2024 at South Carolina. He made eight appearances but only threw 32 passes (with a 72% completion rate) with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Ashford was getting most of the first-team reps midweek last week at practice. His speed both in tucking and running, and in designed run plays, is a big factor in the offense.
What Made the Difference?
Five days ago, when the quarterback race had two competitors (sort of), we asked Dickert what he was looking for from either of them to make that final push for the job. He said it was, “Command.” He wanted to see a better command of the huddle, the locker room, and the sidelines from Ashford and Deshawn Purdy, the transfer from Charlotte. So Dickert was asked at Monday’s press conference what the command from Ashford looked like in the last five days that gave him the win in the job race. Dickert avoided specifics, indicating only that they were things that happened behind closed doors with the team, and he was going to keep it that way.
Dickert said what he saw from Ashford was the ability to hit a key element of what the coach has been looking for at camp, creating an identity on offense. “I thought he did the best job of taking care of the football,” Dickert said Monday.
Kennesaw State head coach Jerry Mack has been anticipating that Dickert would choose the more experienced quarterback between the two. When we talked to him on Monday, he was well aware of Ashford. “The speed and athleticism is real,” Mack said. “He’s a Power Four talent both as a quarterback and as an athlete, to be honest with you.” He added that he was impressed that Ashford’s career has all been at high-level college football programs.
“There is a tough, physical guy in there. There is a guy that plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Dickert told the media on Monday in describing his new starting quarterback. He said his expectations for Ashford were to compete, have great body language, and “Stay in the fight no matter what happens.” Those were elements that were sometimes works in progress during camp. “We are just really confident in this decision. I want to make sure everyone understands that.”
The Results
Choosing quarterbacks is walking a thin tight rope in college football these days. Ashford is in his last year of eligibility, barring the NCAA fending off further lawsuits with more eligibility rules changes. Purdy is in his second season and has plenty of college football eligibility still ahead of him. Dickert emphasized numerous times throughout the press conference that he thinks Purdy has “A bright future.”
The other tricky part of the equation comes on Friday night. Throughout camp, Dickert has indicated that there could be some play packages for the backup quarterback, long before we knew who that would be. But on Monday, Dickert made it clear that he did not want to give anyone, mostly Ashford, the impression that there could be some quick hook or change at quarterback after some mistakes. He said he assured Ashford that he would be in the game to fix any mistake he might make.
Leadership
The program has also announced three team captains for the season. Running back Demond Claiborne, defensive back Nick Anderson, and center Devin Kylany, (who followed Dickert to Wake from Washington State), are captains for the entirety of the season. They were voted on by the players on the team. Dickert said Anderson got about 99% of the vote because his teammates hold him in that high regard. There will be a different fourth captain selected each week.
Personnel
The football program released its first depth chart of the season. Anyone who has been through this, regardless of school, will tell you that the depth chart that gets released on Monday can be in the trash by Wednesday. They are not official announcements made with certainty in any way.
But Wake’s was unique this week. Whenever there is uncertainty as to a starter and a backup, the program will delicately place the word “or” between the two names. Monday’s release from Wake was chock-full of “or” classifications. One of the more notable categories was one of the two defensive end spots. There were four players named with three “or” lines separating them. Thirteen of 22 starting positions have an “or” somewhere in the depth of the lineup.
Personnel Departure
Offensive lineman Jacob Dennison has left the program for personal reasons, per Dickert. Naturally, those reasons are to stay private. Dennison entered his name into the transfer portal in the Spring, only to say it was a database mistake.
Dennison is the second offensive lineman to leave the program in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Rodrick Tialavea left Wake Forest. His departure was also noted as being for personal reasons.
Main Image from Tony Siracusa
