Ty Clark III.<\/a> \u201cVery sharp,\u201d Dickert said Friday. He added that they know the presumed starter can be physical. But he still needs to be explosive in order to be the go-to guy.<\/p>\nQB1<\/h3>\n
When it comes to the offense, all questions and answers are going to go back to the quarterback position. Dickert talked about how Lopez has gone from South Alabama to UNC and now Wake, and he was asked how that transition from UNC to Wake Forest was going. \u201cHe\u2019s at a higher academic institution,\u201d Dickert said with a slight laugh that indicated he thought his line was funny, but he also meant it. \u201cGio really knows who he is, as a person, as a man, and he really knows what he wants.\u201d Dickert was asked about any adjustments with the quarterback being a southpaw. \u201cThe lefty punter that we have is throwing me off more than the lefty quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meeting the New QB<\/h3>\n
Lopez met with the media for the first time since becoming a Demon Deacon. \u201cCoach Dickert also played a big part in my decision [to go to Wake Forest]. It\u2019s just the culture. The way they run the team, not just the offense, but the team.\u201d Lopez said he felt a difference when he visited Wake. \u201cWe\u2019re in a day now where college football feels like a business. But it feels here like it\u2019s back to playing football and being a family.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave credit to Dickert for a program called First in the Forest, where the team, coaches, and staff are broken up into small groups with time getting to know the granular details about each other. \u201cI feel like that\u2019s a big thing that\u2019s helped me grow as a leader and as a teammate, getting to know these guys on the other side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez’s Transition<\/h3>\n
Listed at 6\u2019-0\u201d (but a little shorter in reality), Lopez still makes a presence. On a left arm that is full of tattoos, there is one that stands out above the others. The words \u201cKeep Moving Forward\u201d are there in bold lettering just above the elbow. It is next to a tattoo of his grandmother. \u201cShe always used to say that to me when stuff was not going my way,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I live by, and she always texted me that. It keeps me level-headed.<\/p>\n
He was also practicing in dark pink cleats. They are not a tribute or a statement of anything, no matter how much they stand out on the field. \u201cI just like the cleats,\u201d he said. \u201cI got a little trash from Coach Dickert, but I like them.\u201d<\/p>\n
And what of Dickert\u2019s statement about Lopez now being at a better academic institution? \u201cAt the other school, you\u2019re in classes with 120, 130 people. You don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re so bought into the teacher,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re almost like at a TED Talk.\u201d He said the relationship with the educators at Wake is different. \u201cBut in a classroom here, you\u2019ve got 15, maybe 20 people. Teachers know you on a first-name basis, and you just feel bought into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And all that UNC gear he had last season? \u201cIt just disappeared. I don\u2019t know where it went, but I know I don\u2019t own any anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Main Image: Tony Siracusa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The process has begun at Wake Forest with a roster overhaul, this year\u2019s transfer quarterback, and everyone trying to find their place in Spring camp. Day 1 of Wake Forest Spring Camp The Demon Deacons started camp on Friday with the workouts in helmets. All eyes were on the quarterback spot. There really is no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":85936,"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":[7,2,17,35643],"tags":[35963,35964,35961,9582,35962],"class_list":["post-85932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc","category-featured","category-news","category-wake-forest-demon-deacons","tag-chase-tyler","tag-deuce-blades-ii","tag-gio-lopez","tag-jake-dickert","tag-kam-shanks"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85932","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=85932"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85937,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85932\/revisions\/85937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}