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Wake Forest Football Recruiting

JuiceCrewAllStar said:
right but it's a bit chicken-egg since Clawson is also picking the players

I'm just wondering if Clawson has stated publicly that he's looking to bring in guys that fit this system or if he's aspiring to a different system that works if he gets his guys
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Fair point. I don't know that he has made a comment either way. My hunch is that we generally recruit guys that can run the RPO concept in any application. The key is really at the OL. Les and others who follow 'crootin a lot more closely could comment on our commitment of recruiting resources to bigger & stronger offensive linemen would know if/when that shift begins. If I had to guess, I would guess that we recruit prototypical lineman aggressively early in classes and then lose out on them. If we can consistently add 4* linemen then I bet we go with more traditional shotgun RPO.
 
Slow mesh RPO takes advantage of quick reacting aggressive defenses. The keyed defenders do something being aggressive and the Wake QB reads that move and makes it "wrong." I don't see that philosophy changing. Get better, bigger linemen and the R becomes a more attractive option.

I expect Wake to continue recruiting smart, mobile QB's. Don't look for statues in the WF backfield.
 
We started running the slow mesh RPO because our OL couldn't block, at all. If we can consistently develop an OL that can run block and pass protect, I'm sure we'll scale it back. I don't think Clawson will ever get rid of it though because of the historical difficulty in attracting top level offensive linemen to Wake.
 
it's all relative, but would guess OL is our best position group re: NFL representation since 2000 or so
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
it's all relative, but would guess OL is our best position group re: NFL representation since 2000 or so
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Maybe, but OL makes up a quarter of your starters. Since 2000 we've had 7 OL drafted and Haynes (2019) and Herron (2020) were the only ones who played together consistently. And I don't think any of those guys has been any more than serviceable in the NFL.

During that same period we've had 9 defensive secondary guys drafted, with a couple of them having pretty good careers.
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
it's all relative, but would guess OL is our best position group re: NFL representation since 2000 or so
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I think you're correct. It's worth noting that most of those are interior linemen. I really trust our talent identification and development in that position group as much as any. Which is what excites me about our ability to land better talent. There are some schools we would compare ourselves to academically who have had tremendous success with building big and talented offensive lines, so I think there's a clear path.
 
I'm not even sure it would need to be scaled back with more talented players. Why not go the opposite route? If your OL can sustain blocks even longer and you could freeze a linebacker for another half second, then that forces DBs to cover a bunch of 4 star receivers that much longer. Can you imagine Alabama level talent running Wake's system? You could go so slow that it warped space and time. They might score 100.

The only reason not to continue to go slower with more talent would be that the WR would be so far down field that the QB couldn't throw it that far.
 
In regards to recruiting big offensive linemen, you also have to consider the fast tempo our offense operates with. Not having offensive linemen that are 330-340+ pounds allows us to do that. Playing offensive linemen that are 6-6 340 or whatever would allow us to block in a more conventional way as opposed to the slow mesh RPO blocking, but it would also force us to slow down quite a bit.
 
Unless we recruit 6-6 340lb OL that can move the way 6-4 305lb OL can which is becoming more and more likely.
There's a reason we recruit 6-2 343lb Sharpe and its probably not because we expect him to slim down just so we can run an up-tempo offense.
 
deacon14 said:
In regards to recruiting big offensive linemen, you also have to consider the fast tempo our offense operates with. Not having offensive linemen that are 330-340+ pounds allows us to do that. Playing offensive linemen that are 6-6 340 or whatever would allow us to block in a more conventional way as opposed to the slow mesh RPO blocking, but it would also force us to slow down quite a bit.
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Until we can consistently block the 330 and 340 pound DTs that smash the interior of our undersized OL, we'll score a lot of points and win a lot of games against mediocre to good teams, but we won't truly be elite. Pitt and Clemson showed exactly how to beat up our offense.
 
DeaconForever said:
Until we can consistently block the 330 and 340 pound DTs that smash the interior of our undersized OL, we'll score a lot of points and win a lot of games against mediocre to good teams, but we won't truly be elite. Pitt and Clemson showed exactly how to beat up our offense.
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How many “elite” teams do you count nationally or in conference? See you in September.
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
right but it's a bit chicken-egg since Clawson is also picking the players

I'm just wondering if Clawson has stated publicly that he's looking to bring in guys that fit this system or if he's aspiring to a different system that works if he gets his guys
Click to expand...

We may be over-thinking this, I'm sure he's just brining in the most talented players he can find.
 
Well this should be good for recruiting. 'Awarded each year to the FBS football coach that best embodies the three pillars of success: scholarship, leadership and integrity.'


 
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Clawson was a finalist last year. Fickell won.
 
Antonio Robinson Jr., a football commit to Wake Forest University and the No. 34-ranked cornerback in the nation, appears to be moving to Northern Kentucky from Miami, Florida.

The recruiting website, 247sports, lists him as playing for Highlands High School this year and as the No. 1 recruit in the state of Kentucky. Rivals.com also lists his high school as Highlands.
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https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/high-school/high-school-sports/2022/07/13/4-star-wake-forest-football-recruit-antonio-robinson-moves-kentucky/10043711002/
 
deacon14 said:
In regards to recruiting big offensive linemen, you also have to consider the fast tempo our offense operates with. Not having offensive linemen that are 330-340+ pounds allows us to do that. Playing offensive linemen that are 6-6 340 or whatever would allow us to block in a more conventional way as opposed to the slow mesh RPO blocking, but it would also force us to slow down quite a bit.
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How long do 350 pds teenagers live?
 
CHillDeac said:
Well this should be good for recruiting. 'Awarded each year to the FBS football coach that best embodies the three pillars of success: scholarship, leadership and integrity.'


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Give me a break on the Integrity pillar for a bunch of guys on that list. Fuck Narduzzi. Hope he breaks his leg and no one helps b/c they think he is coaching his guys on how to fake an injury.
 
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