{"id":73020,"date":"2025-03-18T16:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=73020"},"modified":"2025-03-18T15:51:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T19:51:35","slug":"73020-were-all-freshmen-again-as-wake-forest-opens-spring-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/03\/18\/73020-were-all-freshmen-again-as-wake-forest-opens-spring-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"“We’re All Freshmen Again” as Wake Forest Opens Spring Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is usually a level of excitement surrounding things that are new. So it was easy to anticipate the noise that came from the first day of Wake Forest Spring camp Tuesday. The vibe led to a message repeated by coach and players alike that to a degree, everyone is a freshman again, as Wake Forest opens Spring camp.<\/p>\n

The New Era Begins<\/h2>\n

Wake Forest Opens Spring Camp.<\/h3>\n

The first practice of camp moved inside to the McCreary Field House. It had little to do with the 38-degree temperatures outside according to new head coach Jake Dickert<\/a>. It was about the \u201cFunctionality of the quickness of transition,\u201d Dickert told the media after practice. He called the first couple of days of camp an \u201cinstall\u201d process. Nearly half of the roster is new to Wake. It is an entirely new coaching staff. There is a lot of work to do when it comes to cohesion on the field. The team even had a walk-through practice Monday. Dickert wanted the players to have an idea of what the first day was going to look like.<\/p>\n

There was a discernible uptick in the decibel level of practice as well. With the usual coaches yelling throughout the workouts, players audibly excited, and music pumped in throughout the two hours, it had Dickert\u2019s stamp on it. \u201cThat\u2019s how we practice,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will be periods where it will be deafening loud in here when we get in red zone or we get into third down. I like to practice in a fashion that replicates games.\u201d He said that includes how long they spend on any given drill. He is looking to keep up a constant movement and pace.<\/p>\n

Blending New and Old<\/h3>\n

Linebacker Quincy Bryant<\/a> said of the mix of veteran Deacs , transfers from around the country, and a bevy of new high school signees, \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re all freshmen again.\u201d He described a big energy difference as, \u201cGuys flying around all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant said that with the biggest mix of transfer talent Wake Forest football has ever had and the new players, there is some give-and-take among them. As a redshirt senior, he said he knows he is being looked at as a leader, particularly by guys new to Wake Forest.<\/p>\n

He said the Wake veterans are relying on the players who transferred from Washington State with the new coach as Dickert translators. The on-field verbiage from Dickert and his staff is different than what was used by Dave Clawson for the previous 11 years. \u201cThose guys are huge helps,\u201d Bryant said of the WAZZU transfers helping everyone acclimate to the new head coach.<\/p>\n

Making the Transition<\/h3>\n

\u201cI like to say we\u2019re all new,\u201d Dickert said when asking about melding in the transfers with the Wake Forest returnees and the new high school signees. He said his biggest message over the last two days leading up to the start of camp was, \u201cIf you are still in the mode of like, \u2018What I did last year,\u2019 or \u2018Where I was last year,\u2019 you are so far behind being here right now in this moment.\u201d He added that it is about creating an identity, which he said must happen on the field.<\/p>\n

Defensive back Nick Anderson said while there has to be a coming together of the old and the new, at the end of the day, the end result can only be one way. \u201cNot having it old versus new. This is the new Demon Deacons. We\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senior is on what he called, \u201cI don\u2019t know what, defense number three or four for me.\u201d That means learning the new verbiage yet again. \u201cThey made some changes to their language. They made some changes to our language. Flashcards is the key,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cGet your flash cards going and, in a week, or so you\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Quarterback Battle<\/h3>\n

Naturally, all eyes are on the quarterback battle. The position embodies the Wake Forest team right now. There are veterans who came in from other schools mixed with some Wake returnees looking for their chance. With seven quarterbacks on the Spring roster, it is work enough to make sure everyone gets the snaps needed at each drill for the coaches to have some thoughts going forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to do too much evaluation until we even get to practice six,\u201d Dickert said. \u201cI\u2019m looking for a command. I\u2019m looking for a guy that when he makes a mistake isn\u2019t hanging his head. And how he\u2019s making sure the team is responding to him.\u201d He said with only 11 offensive linemen in camp they have to limit the full team reps in order to keep everyone healthy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Image: Tony Siracusa<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is usually a level of excitement surrounding things that are new. So it was easy to anticipate the noise that came from the first day of Wake Forest Spring camp Tuesday. The vibe led to a message repeated by coach and players alike that to a degree, everyone is a freshman again, as Wake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":73023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[9582,33534,8965],"class_list":["post-73020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-acc","tag-jake-dickert","tag-nick-anderson","tag-wake-forest-spring-football"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73020","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=73020"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73024,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73020\/revisions\/73024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}