These are dizzying times in college football, particularly for the programs that have bowl games coming up. The transfer portal opened on Monday with several hundred confirmed entries. Early signing day is in a couple of weeks. And there is bowl prep. So it is a whirlwind at Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons start thinking about Missouri in the Gasparilla Bowl. The game is on December 23rd at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.<\/p>\n
Head coach Dave Clawson<\/strong> met with the media Tuesday morning from his hotel room on the recruiting trail.\u00a0 The pace is fast as he tries to get a handle on all three elements of a college football coach right now. \u201cRoster management is one of the hardest parts of this job now,\u201d Clawson said. \u201cBecause everything happens at once. The portal opened. The early signing day is two weeks away. You really have no idea what your roster is going to look like for next year.\u201d He added. \u201cThe timing of all these things happening at once is less than ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n Balancing the \u201cnext year\u201d part of the equation against the \u201cnext week\u201d portion is quite the juggling act. As of this publication, Wake Forest has lost six players to the transfer portal. \u201cAny time A player goes in there, that\u2019s one more than I\u2019d like. But I think relatively speaking, we\u2019re probably on the low end [of teams who have lost players to the portal since it opened Monday]. Clawson said in some cases there was no room for the player to come back. If the player had indicated that he was going to leave at the end of the season, Wake made an effort to fill that spot via recruiting.<\/p>\n Still, when it comes to \u201cwhat\u2019s next,\u201d Clawson did not rule out some of the transfer portal players still being on the roster for the Gasparilla Bowl. \u201cIf they\u2019ve done everything right, and they\u2019re still going to class, and they\u2019re practicing and they\u2019re lifting. And in the case of we don\u2019t have room for them to come back, I\u2019m not going to penalize them by not letting them play in the bowl game.\u201d<\/p>\n Clawson left the topic with a bit of intrigue. \u201cOne of the young men in there, we\u2019d like to have him back. But he let us know late that he\u2019d like to come back and we\u2019ve already recruited for the position. And I\u2019m not going to penalize him because he still wants to play college football.\u201d Want to know who the player is? So do we. Clawson said we can check the roster the day of the bowl game to figure out who it is.<\/p>\n He said he will meet with each player who went into the portal to evaluate the above on a case-by-case basis. He has been on the recruiting trail since Sunday, even as the portal opened.<\/p>\n Beyond that, Clawson said he expects to be at or near full strength for the bowl game. He does not anticipate players sitting out. It happens in many bowls, as a way for them to protect their NFL future. Clawson gave a somewhat off-handed comment that starting quarterback Sam Hartman<\/a> could be waiting for a call from an intermediary with a NIL offer to go to another school. The reality is this is very unlikely, and for many reasons. Short of going to another school, Clawson expects Hartman to play in the bowl and not opt out in advance of his NFL workouts. Hartman is one touchdown pass away from the all-time ACC record for a career.<\/p>\n