{"id":44479,"date":"2022-04-06T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=44479"},"modified":"2022-04-06T06:31:01","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T10:31:01","slug":"44479-from-checkers-to-chess-for-wake-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2022\/04\/06\/44479-from-checkers-to-chess-for-wake-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"From Checkers To Chess For Wake Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The clock is running on getting done what needs to be accomplished during Wake Forest\u2019s Spring camp. The goals for head coach Dave Clawson<\/strong> were clear from the beginning. Improve the defense. Add depth everywhere, but particularly the offensive line and across the defense. And then there is the stated goal to move from checkers to chess.<\/a><\/p>\n

Clawson told us a couple of weeks ago that while installing a new defense under new coordinator Brad Lambert, it was sometimes necessary to slow down the offense in live-action play. That would allow the defense to learn the new schemes and have a view of what success could look like.<\/p>\n

Progression<\/h3>\n

Tuesday Clawson said the game has transformed. The Demon Deacons are now on chess. \u201cWe\u2019re starting now with heavy situational work,\u201d Clawson said. He specified the amount of work the team is putting in on red zone offense and defense. \u201cYou look at all the close games we have played here, and you know a handful of those plays on both sides of the ball can take you from 10-2 or 11-1 to 7-5.\u201d He said that apart from the actual execution, there is the mindset of what success means in that part of the field. \u201cOur players, you know, they know that; the older ones. But the younger ones need to know you\u2019re never just playing football. There\u2019s always a situation. There\u2019s always an objective. You\u2019ve got to be aware of the plays we\u2019re going to run, the coverages we\u2019re going to call, and how those things marry together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Defense Keeping Up<\/h3>\n

How do we know the team has moved from checkers to chess? Clawson said the offense is moving at full speed against the newly installed defensive schemes. In the first two weeks of practice, he acknowledged that the offense was changing up in practice in ways that would allow the defensive players to learn their new assignments and roles under Lambert. \u201cThe offense is going full speed. There\u2019s no delay in what we\u2019re doing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he is pleased with the speed with which the defensive players are picking up their new assignments. He credited the experience of the new defensive coaching staff. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing those guys haven\u2019t seen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some Plays Were Defensive Wins…Some, Not So Much<\/h3>\n

To that point, first-year safeties coach James Adams<\/strong> says the success of the defensive backs has been hit and miss. The success rate against quarterback Sam Hartman<\/a> and the receivers has been far more discernible in the red zone than in the larger field. \u201cFor our guys, we\u2019re throwing a bunch of different situations at them. So, they\u2019re trying to understand leverage, technique, timing, depth, tempo in the different situations,\u201d he said after practice Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019re moving the ball a little bit more and giving them first, second, and third down.\u201d He called the variables between the red zone wins and the less successful open field play a part in the learning process. Adams said they are stressing when to, \u201cBring the roof down a little bit and then when they also need to loosen up and play for the sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams gave his players an A grade in the learning curve. As far as the execution, he wasn\u2019t as quick to give a grade. \u201cEvery day there is something new, which has been good.\u201d He added that one of the best things he could say was the group learning from mistakes.<\/p>\n

Needing A Short Memory<\/h3>\n

Clawson said he was good with the performance of the defensive backs in their battle with the receivers. He called the play, \u201cback and forth,\u201d adding, \u201cThat\u2019s what happens on good teams. In the first period, they had a lot of contested catches, and we\u2019re good at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gave credit to the defensive back unit for tightening up in the red zone drills. \u201cI loved the response,\u201d Clawson said. \u201cSometimes when guys get beat and it doesn\u2019t go well the thing just goes progressively downhill. It takes some grit and some mental toughness to turn it around.\u201d He said, \u201cEvery athlete is going to have a bad play or a bad game. And it\u2019s the guys that can recover from it and learn from it that become outstanding players.\u201d<\/p>\n

It reverts back to Clawson\u2019s theme for the season. It takes a certain \u201cmindset\u201d to move on from checkers and be able to competitively play chess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The clock is running on getting done what needs to be accomplished during Wake Forest\u2019s Spring camp. The goals for head coach Dave Clawson were clear from the beginning. Improve the defense. Add depth everywhere, but particularly the offensive line and across the defense. And then there is the stated goal to move from checkers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":44482,"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":[4817,1135,8854,1249],"class_list":["post-44479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-acc","tag-acc-football","tag-dave-clawson","tag-james-adams","tag-wake-forest-demon-deacons"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44479","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=44479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}