Most programs have a multi-week Spring camp and end it with a scrimmage. Wake Forest went in a different direction this year. There were two full practices this week after last Saturday\u2019s Fan Fest\/Spring scrimmage.<\/p>\n
Head coach Jake Dickert wanted to have time to review the film from the scrimmage and still have some practices left to work on some of the elements. There are 15 practices allowed during the Spring window. Dickert had the team working on post-scrimmage elements with practices #14 and #15.<\/p>\n
Dickert joked that he had tried this once before (when he was head coach at Washington State). \u201cI\u2019ve done this one other time, and it was one of the worst practices I\u2019ve ever seen. I lost my sh*t, my cool. You know what I mean. You guys have seen that before.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea does not come without risks. The Demon Deacons came out of Spring with no season-crippling injuries, compared to three from last Spring. Dickert stayed away from full-contact practices this week to protect the health of his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little bit nervous about doing these last two practices after the Spring game. But we identified a bunch of things that we needed to get better at,\u201d Dickert told the media on Wednesday. He said he was happy with the work ethic the team showed over the course of the 15 practices. \u201cThe one word I would use, is that this team is very competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we have been reporting throughout camp, the defense is ahead of the offense<\/a>. \u201cI think the defense, they\u2019re exactly where we want them to be.\u201d He said they have been aggressive and hungry. Most of the camp was without starters Davaughn Patterson and Langston Hardy, and Aiden Hall missed all of camp. Patterson came back to full speed for the last two weeks. Everyone is expected back at full speed by the time Fall camp starts the first week of August.<\/p>\n