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Wake Football Offseason Thread

I didn't see who it was, but that was a nice kickoff return caught at the goal line and returned 90 yds for the score. Incredible speed and shiftiness.

Yeah what are we? Poor? Can't afford a 100 yard field #fireeveryone
 
Fortunately he also had excellent stopping speed :eek: Is that a thing?
 
I didn't see who it was, but that was a nice kickoff return caught at the goal line and returned 90 yds for the score. Incredible speed and shiftiness.

This would appear as a riddle from an outsiders perspective haha.

Riddle: "how does traveling 90 yards after starting from your own goal line result in a touchdown?"

Answer: "_________"
 
They are practicing full time right now in the indoor because both outdoor practice fields are being turned clockwise and are in the middle of that construction phase.

It'll echo some of the previous comments, but we NEEDED a new weight room. Our recruiting staff would actively shy AWAY from our current one because of how horrible it is (compared to most high schools even). It's tiny and you cannot get the entire team in there at once. Add in the fact that some of our players were TURNED AWAY during specific times because "the girls track team was working out." No D1 football player in the ACC should ever be told he can't workout whenever he wants to. Period.

Initially, prior to/when Clawson was hired, the plan was to build the Sports Performance Center and then the Indoor. Didn't take long to realize that we weren't even at the halfway raising money for the SPC, but had enough to get started on the indoor. Clawson needed something to show recruits - he needed shovels in the round and bull-dozers going. He had made promises to his initial recruiting classes and needed evidence to follow up on that. Because all of these renovations were done with football in mind, putting the football weight room inside it's indoor was the smartest move possible.

It kills 2 birds with 1 stone. Yes, you have a little less room to practice, but now you have something you can 1.) show off to recruits and not avoid 2.) have an indoor 3.) have a sufficient weight room. Somewhat of having your cake and eating too. The football offices and on-campus locker room are sufficient right now. They could - and will - be better in the future, but they're something we can live with right now. We couldn't live without a new weight room.

Basketball's weight room is now at the LJVM. (Why we haven't moved all of our offices & basketball-related needs over there is beyond me. Maybe practicing free throws where we play games would help with our FT %, but what do I know? We're planning on building another basketball practice gym on campus).

In the long run, I see a lot of practices being held in the indoor. It's a controlled environment and you can control who is in/who isn't. Clawson isn't a big fan of open-practices, but wasn't going to get rid of them because of the warm fuzzies created by his predecessor. Moving practices indoors will cut down on open-practices - it won't be as convenient to come by/get in.


why are they rotating the fields?
 
Looks like Kyle Kearns was given limited reps today. Only 4 passing attempts.
 
Some thoughts on the first scrimmage. All info is from either the official site or the tweets from Wake Rivals. Les did an outstanding job on Twitter, and provided better info than the official site.

Score one for Wolford. Statistically Wolford seemed to have the better passing day. He had a better completion percentage than Hinton (71 percent to 56 percent), had more yards (128 to 82) and had the longest pass play of the day (approximately 40 yards to Steven Claude). It’s also worth noting that Kyle Kearns wasn’t given many reps and appears to be the clear #3 right now.

Rocky Reid and Cade Carney got a lot of carries. Carney had 61 yards on 17 carries (3.6 yards per carry). Reid had 58 yards on 23 carries, or 2.5 yards per carry. Note that Wake Rivals credited Reid with 68 yards (3.0 yards per carry), however the official site said 58. Reid’s day included one 20-yard run per Wake Rivals. Reid also caught 4 passes. At the start of the scrimmage, Tyler Bell was the RB on the first team, Reid was second team and Carney was third team. However from that stat sheet it looks like Tyler Bell must have sat out a portion of the scrimmage, so it’s possible that Reid and Carney saw some time with the ones. Matt Colburn is out with an injury. Presumably for the entire spring.

It was interesting to note in Clawson’s post-game comments that he stated that there would be a role for a between the tackles RB and implied that perhaps Reid and Carney were competing for that role. I could see that scenario. A committee with one speed back (probably Byrd), one between the tackles runner (Reid or Carney) and one all-around back (Bell), with the most snaps going to the RB that is best in pass protection.

Steven Claude (5 receptions for 63 yards and 1 TD) and Alex Bachman (6 receptions for 51 yards) were the leading receivers. The second team WRs have a big opportunity this spring with Cortez Lewis, Jared Crump and Tabari Hines all sitting out. Claude and Bachman look like they did more to take advantage of the opportunity. It is interesting to note that those two are likely competing for the same role - as the backup behind Jared Crump - a role that could see 30-35 snaps per game. I know that Les at Wake Rivals is very high on Bachman. Bachman is a very interesting guy for me because he was basically a zero star recruit out of high school. Didn’t even play receiver. If guys like Bachman and OL Jake Benzinger become impact players, I swear that I won’t ever doubt another one of Clawson’s under-the-radar recruits again.

Scotty Washington (13 yards receiving) and Chuck Wade (10 yards receiving) had less of impact, although if this is like last year, we may see different receivers step up in different scrimmages.

Few explosive plays. Last season I tracked the number of 20+ yard plays closely. It was an area that Wake struggled mightily in 2014 and then continued to struggle in both spring and summer practices leading up to the 2015 season. During the 2015 season, Wake improved a lot in the number of plays over 20 yards, but very few went for 50 or more. I’ll be tracking both categories this year. During the scrimmage, Les tweeted only 2 plays greater than 20 yards and none greater than fifty. So not that encouraging of a start on that front.

The most interesting play was Kyle Kearns 25 yard run. Obviously I didn’t see the play, but a 25 yard run (Les tweeted it was “up the middle”) is very notable for a 4-star whose biggest knock as a recruit was reportedly his mobility.

The defensive statistical standouts were interesting. Jessie Bates (7 tackles, one TFL) was likely working with the second team. Bates has a big opportunity this spring with Ryan Janvion out. Clawson often mentions his playmaking. Rashawn Shaw’s (7 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL) was likely working with the second team. Shaw was one of the bigger disappointments last season, but his stat line raises hope that he will make a jump from last season. Chris Calhoun (2 sacks) is in my opinion Wake’s best hope for a pass rusher opposite Duke Ejiofor.

Happy Easter!
 
Is there any thought that Kearns will be a transfer? With limited time in spring drills, it doesn't sound good for him long-term.
 
Is there any thought that Kearns will be a transfer? With limited time in spring drills, it doesn't sound good for him long-term.

Kearns is a young guy who probably has a higher ceiling than Hinton or Wolford. He needs to have patience...and reps. Hasn't even been on campus for a full year yet. Arrived for second session of summer school last year.
 
I'd like to see fewer/none negative yardage plays on offense and NO missed FGs. The defense seems to be fine.
 
At the end of Clawson's video interview, he made reference to hopefully getting Rocky Reid back in time for the Spring Game. Is he injured again?
 
http://www.wakeforestsports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/033116aaa.html

Nice interview with Clawson, sounds like Lewinson is back after the dl transfer. Nice to hear we have 10 - 12 d lineman we can rotate in and out.

Really good interview. I'm glad that Lewinson is back. I really like him....and so does the team. Our depth on D line sounds encouraging. Same for TE.
I know we're always optimistic this time of year, but I really think we'll see noticeable improvement on the field and the win column this fall.
 
All that video did was make me go look-up who 37 is. Looks like it is Thomas Dillon. Dude got run over twice in the same run. Good news - bad news. Good news - nice run by Carney. Bad news - it was against our defense and there was some pathetic attempts at tackling. Hopefully that was the 4th team defense.

Ha. I thought the same thing about #37. However, I watched it over and over and was pretty psyched about Carney too. Great cut back and runs with power.
 
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