{"id":44190,"date":"2022-03-17T07:00:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=44190"},"modified":"2022-03-16T18:54:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T22:54:42","slug":"44190-a-new-bar-for-wake-forest-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2022\/03\/17\/44190-a-new-bar-for-wake-forest-football\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Bar For Wake Forest Football"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2022 football season brings about a new era for Wake Forest football. How long the era lasts remains to be seen. But the season begins on the heels of a season more successful than any single year in recent memory. The Demon Deacons finished the season 11-3. They won the ACC Atlantic Division with a 7-1 record and won the Gator Bowl. But college sports is a \u201cWhat have you done for me lately,\u201d business. Head coach Dave Clawson<\/strong> recognizes that and says there is a new bar for Wake Forest football.<\/p>\n

New Expectations<\/h3>\n

Clawson met with the media Wednesday ahead of the start of Spring camp on Thursday. He is coming off one of the most successful seasons in his 22 years as a head coach. Certainly, the results from last season were the best in his eight-year Wake Forest tenure, and by monumental numbers. Like any coach, he wants his players to exist in the moment as they get ready for the 2022 season. But in this case, he does so, while asking them to move past the most successful season the school has had since 2006.<\/p>\n

Clawson said the theme for this year\u2019s team is, \u201cMindset.\u201d He knows that after being ranked in the final Top 20 poll in the country last year, the expectations are now different. \u201cNow that we start to get some attention and accolades, we are who we are,\u201d Clawson said. \u201cWe do things the way that we do them. And if we suddenly look at things differently because now people think on the outside that we\u2019re good, that probably won\u2019t end well for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buying Into The Message<\/h3>\n

Part of that challenge is getting a bunch of young men, most of whom engage on social media, not to buy into the pre-season hype that will surely come with a Top-25 ranking. \u201cWe\u2019ll talk about it. We\u2019ll address it. At the end of the day, they have to own it,\u201d Clawson said. He said he is not trying to erase the good vibes that came with last year\u2019s success but get the team to realize there is work to be done if they are to maintain it. \u201cBut if our mindset is that we are still caught in those moments, then we\u2019re not going to grow and get better. I think the days that we sneak up on people are probably over. We are going to start getting better versions of our opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n

While attitude and mindset are a big priority for Clawson, there is much to be done on the field. It helps to have a returning field general like quarterback Sam Hartman<\/a>. He put up the yards last year, throwing for 4,228. But his completion percentage needs to rise into the 60% neighborhood, and his interception numbers have got to drop significantly. While the Demon Deacons are returning nine of 11 starters, they are missing a fundamental part of last season\u2019s success. Hartman is losing his All-American left tackle. Zach Tom graduated and will be in an NFL camp by Summer.<\/p>\n

Filling Gaps<\/h3>\n

Je’Vionte Nash returns for a super senior season and the offensive line has plenty of returning experience. \u00a0It is who comes in behind them that is going to be key. \u201cFor our offensive line to stay at a high level, we need to build depth there,\u201d Clawson said. \u201cThis is a really, really important Spring as we start to build depth at that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, the defense returns nine starters. And those coming back have a new learning curve ahead of them as Brad Lambert<\/strong> returns to Winston-Salem as the new defensive coordinator. Lambert, new linebackers coach Glenn Spencer<\/strong>, and new safeties coach James Adams<\/strong> also met with the media Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Fixes Needed On Defense<\/h3>\n

The Demon Deacons defense was 91st<\/sup> in the country in total defense last year. And the linebacker unit lost DJ Taylor<\/strong> and Luke Masterson<\/strong>. The two combined for more than 120 tackles last season. As Spencer has made his way over from the South Florida staff, he said the key to his unit, like the others, is depth. \u201cThere is a concern with depth at that position, with the amount of guys who have played quality reps, winnable reps,\u201d Spencer said. He added that everyone, regardless of previous experience, is going to go into camp Thursday with a clean slate and have a chance to compete.<\/p>\n

Lambert said he intends to bring back a style of defense where, \u201cWe want the guys to play fast. That is our deal. We want them to attack and play fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a homecoming for Adams, who played at Wake Forest for two years, graduating in 2006. He said the development of the facilities and the growth of the athletic department caused him to need a GPS to get around upon his return. He said what he has seen from the off-season workouts was everyone, as a group, pushing themselves. \u201cThey rose to the challenge of a new coach and a new energy in the room,\u201d Adams said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Raising The Bar<\/h3>\n

With success comes new expectations. Based on last year, and the return of several key starters, the only real question for the 2022 Wake Forest team is depth. As Clawson put it Wednesday, \u201cThe thing I am most excited about last year is I think now it sets a new bar, a new standard for Wake Forest football.\u201d He added, \u201cWe want to take the success of last year and make our program permanently better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2022 football season brings about a new era for Wake Forest football. How long the era lasts remains to be seen. But the season begins on the heels of a season more successful than any single year in recent memory. The Demon Deacons finished the season 11-3. They won the ACC Atlantic Division with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":44191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7],"tags":[8853,1135,8855,8854,4207,1249],"class_list":["post-44190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-acc","tag-brad-lambert","tag-dave-clawson","tag-glenn-spencer","tag-james-adams","tag-sam-hartman","tag-wake-forest-demon-deacons"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}