Wake Forest had a first two weeks of Spring camp that was full of anticipation and excitement, and extra effort for the new coaching staff. And then it was gone at the start of week three. The Deacs drew Jake Dickert’s ire Monday with a less than pleasing effort, and he let the team know about it in no uncertain terms at the end of the workout.<\/p>\n
The plain-to-see issue was that best efforts did not come until red zone drills in the last 20 minutes of practice. Dickert lit into the team at the end of practice at a volume that could possibly be heard across the road in the Maya Angelou freshman dorms.<\/p>\n
He told the media afterward that he sensed early on that it was not an A-level performance day for his team. \u201cI could see it at 6:45 (am) in the meetings. And then we get to the pre-practice stretch. And then we get out to the field. It\u2019s just a standards-over-feelings approach.<\/p>\n
He addressed specifics of what rankled him. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was up to the standard of what the new Wake Forest needs to be, point blank, period,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom pre-practice, to flex, to our early compete stuff. We didn\u2019t want to compete until the end. We\u2019ve got no time for that,\u201d he said, clearly still animated over what he had just witnessed over two hours.<\/p>\n
He noted that it took seven practices to have the bad outing. Though he left some doubt as to whether he thought it was a good thing that it took halfway through the camp to get there, or that it was far too soon in camp to have a bad day. He explained that whichever it was, he was not ok with it. \u201cEveryone\u2019s sore. Everyone\u2019s a little beat up. We\u2019re in the middle of camp. This is football. It\u2019s a tough game. You\u2019ve got to dig in every day and bring it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he is looking for team leadership to step up and take over those moments. That often comes from the quarterback position. But there is no leader within the position, much less having one of them be a team leader. Transfers Robby Ashford and Deshawn Purdy, along with redshirt freshman Jeremy Hecklinski have separated themselves from the rest of the quarterbacks on the roster. However, one of the more consistent things about the seven practices has been the inconsistency of the quarterbacks. Within the same practice, you can see passes with pinpoint accuracy, followed by head-scratching throws and decisions.<\/p>\n