Young and Restless
Clawson said after the game Saturday that the receivers had chances to make contested catches, “And I don’t think we made one of them, other than Deuce for the touchdown.” And there it is. An answer, one answer, was there all along. More
Deuce Alexander and less of the more heralded guys in front of him. Wake has an extensive history of talent at receiver over the years. That includes this year even with the significant loss of
Donavon Greene. But as John Wooden used to routinely say back in the ‘60s, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Perhaps the time to take the training wheels off some of the younger guys was well before you lost three games in a row for the second time this season. Could it have been any worse than the product out there now? At least you could have said, “Hey the young guys are putting in the work and the effort and will us get there.” As opposed to scratching your collective heads about how a bunch of third-, fourth–, and fifth-year players can’t execute the offense, and the defense is crumbling under late-in-the-season pressure.
Clawson said Saturday that some of the veteran players, “Are not in a good place,” when asked about whether they had mentally and emotionally checked out. There is plenty of space available on the Wake sidelines next to the coaches, and plenty of younger, more eager players ready to go. But that is a call Clawson has to make.
He has said over recent weeks that they asked too much of Griffis, and the quarterback room, to run what Hartman did. Maybe. But then why did it take three-fourths of the season to come to that conclusion? He and offensive coordinator
Wayne Ruggiero should have been at this stage after week two. This was not a situation where tinkering was needed. A major overhaul was in order to create an offense the available talent could run.