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Wake Forest football 2020 outlook

I don't think our current offensive scheme is designed to go with both Newman and Hartman interchangeably . The rpo as we play it requires a qb that is a threat to run consistently. Our line, by design, gets very little push off the los. The system needs and large qb like Newman who can keep the lbs honest. Hartman just isn't that type of player and would probably get hurt if he carried the ball 10 times in a game. All that said, I really like Hartman and think he is the better passer. Clawson would need to modify the offense a bit to showcase that.

I disagree with this. The Wake RPO does not need a bruiser by design. Wolford ran for nearly 700 yards at almost 5 yds/carry and he was anything but a bruiser.

Jamie succeeds as in the bruiser mold because he can, but not by design.

I think the Syracuse game really highlighted the different ways QBs can operate within the same offense. With Jamie, the RPO functions more as a read-option run offense. He rarely used the pass option. Jamie is much more comfortable throwing the ball to the outside instead of over the middle, which is the typical pass option in the Wake RPO.

Once Sam came in, the play-calling didn't change much, but Sam was throwing within the same system much more frequently. Much has to do with the fact that he's a less comfortable and effective runner, but also because he was more comfortable working the middle of the field in the RPO format.
 
I don't think our current offensive scheme is designed to go with both Newman and Hartman interchangeably . The rpo as we play it requires a qb that is a threat to run consistently. Our line, by design, gets very little push off the los. The system needs and large qb like Newman who can keep the lbs honest. Hartman just isn't that type of player and would probably get hurt if he carried the ball 10 times in a game. All that said, I really like Hartman and think he is the better passer. Clawson would need to modify the offense a bit to showcase that.

I think you are forgetting 2018 when Hartman WAS the RPO QB and DID run relatively successfully. Hartman is a threat to run. In fact, the 4th down play against Michigan State, Hartman scrambled out of two sack possibilities, one a future NFL player and if he had had a few plays under his belt, I think he would have seen the 15 yards in front of him and ran for a 1st down instead of thrown the ball to Claude. He ran A TON in 2018. 107 times in fact in less than 10 games, so about 11 or 12 carries a game. He also took a beating running against ND and one other team, I cannot remember which, and got dance feet in the pocket afterwards. He'll be fine. I just personally think the risk of playing them both (and frustrating both) is less than not playing Hartman another year. You can't ask Newman to come back and then bench him to the #2 spot. IMO. The one thing I have noticed about Newman is that when he's off, he generally doesn't correct that within the same game. He stays off. Now, maybe if Newman comes out and misses a few throws and you put Hartman in for a few series or the rest of the half, he comes back in the 2nd half with a different focus, but so far, when he's off, he stays off. His off is still not bad, but it's not future NFL QB good.
 
I think RB will be more explosive, but less consistent. More negative carries and more 20 yd+ carries.

I don't quite know where we get faster than Strnad at LB, but I keep seeing it mentioned. Dude was a beast.

Safety should be a positive. Same dudes with more experience. Ditto for D line.

Corner is scary.

O-line could be ok. Some of the younger guys that will play have been here a few years.

WR should still be very good. They should dare people to try man coverage.

Newman is one of the 2 or 3 best QBs Wake has ever had. Now that Hartman has put on 20 lbs, he isn't far behind.

Sciba can kick a little.

10-3 if relatively healthy.
 
The fact that most of our wins (UNC, BC, FSU, Duke, Utah State) were basically one score games did not allow us to develop much depth this year. Only the Rice, State and Elon games were blowouts and even then we kept the starters in for 3 quarters. We did not have a lot of opportunities to let the deep 2nd or 3rd string guys get many snaps. We also should look at getting some redshirts in during the nonconference games to get some game experience early in the year to build off of, rather than saving most of them for the last 4 games of the year.
 
10-2/9-3 regular season would have us right back in the Orange Bowl conversation. Don't really see it next year with two entire position groups as massive question marks, but love the optimism.
 
The fact that most of our wins (UNC, BC, FSU, Duke, Utah State) were basically one score games did not allow us to develop much depth this year. Only the Rice, State and Elon games were blowouts and even then we kept the starters in for 3 quarters. We did not have a lot of opportunities to let the deep 2nd or 3rd string guys get many snaps. We also should look at getting some redshirts in during the nonconference games to get some game experience early in the year to build off of, rather than saving most of them for the last 4 games of the year.

Clawson has said that he needs to get younger guys playing more earlier in the year. He’s going to make sure those guys are more prepared than they were this year.
 
The optimism I shared this morning has expired. Really really upsetting news re: Jamie. I feel badly for Sage and our program more broadly.
 
Now can can start predicting how we’ll do with Hartman and Kern at QB.
From what I’ve heard, Kern has a decent arm. Still needs to gain some weigh like Hartman has done.
 
100% would like Jamie, but really don’t see a huge fall off with Sam. Look what he did vs Louisville, Syracuse, and our best win FSU. With Surratt, Greene, and Groulx I really don’t lower the expectation of 7 regular seasons wins with possibility of 8+.
 
I'm a big Newman fan, but losing him doesn't alter the trajectory of the season too much, for me. Hartman is a good QB and his scrambling ability could come in handy with what might be a shoddy offensive line -- I think he's really similar to Ian Book. Lack of depth at QB now becomes a big deal, though.
 
As I said in the first post, I watched the QBs warm up at the Pinstripe bowl and came away really really impressed by Kern's arm. It's simply a pro arm. Not saying he's pro talent, and he is super skinny, but he is a legit 6'2" as well. I feel really really good about him as the #2 next year. I haven't lost my enthusiasm at all for next year.

I thought we were going to enter next season with a bit of conundrum of what to do. We had two legit QB1s. Hartman showed a great deal of poise sticking it out this year after the start he had last year. But truly, he was all id out on the field at the Pinstripe Bowl warming up. He's the Wake Forest version of Baker Maysfield.

We are reading into this that there was some sort of problem between Newman and Clawson and that may be true, but Newman may be doing Hartman a bit of a favor for all we know. I don't think it hurts the program if Newman goes to a top 15 program and starts next year. It does hurt if he goes to Missouri or a school like that.

I hate the term win win, but we got a great deal out of Newman the last two years and he has a Wake degree. Next year was going to be awkward with both. It just was. There are plenty of programs that do figure out how to balance to legit QB1s, but those are usually the Notre Dames, Georgias etc. I hope Newman goes to LSU or OU and starts. That would great for Wake. That said, do folks consider Russell Wilson a NC State grad? Or a Wisconsin grad???
 
100% would like Jamie, but really don’t see a huge fall off with Sam. Look what he did vs Louisville, Syracuse, and our best win FSU. With Surratt, Greene, and Groulx I really don’t lower the expectation of 7 regular seasons wins with possibility of 8+.

Hell I upped my prediction from 7-5 to 11-1 at worst. Hitman is gonna be even better than that senior season that Wolford lucked into having.
 
at Old Dominion Monarchs - W
Appalachian State Mountaineers - W
Villanova Wildcats - W
vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish - L
at Duke Blue Devils - W
at Florida State Seminoles - W
at Louisville Cardinals - L
at NC State Wolfpack - W
Boston College Eagles - W
Clemson Tigers - L
Miami (FL) Hurricanes - W
Syracuse Orange - W

9-3 or 8-4 with Hitman at the controls.
 
Sad to see Jamie go. I will always remember this year's first half of football against UNC to be the best, or at least the most enjoyable, performance by a WFU QB I have experienced. He was unstoppable. He's been great for the program and I wish him best of luck at his next stop.

All aboard the Hitman train. let's go score some points. and stay healthy for crying out loud.
 
The issue is depth. Once Hartman goes down, and he will, we do not have a proven backup. Kerns and Griffis will likely be good with more development, but neither is even close to being ready to step in. If we don’t get transfer QB, we are screwed.
 
The issue is depth. Once Hartman goes down, and he will, we do not have a proven backup. Kerns and Griffis will likely be good with more development, but neither is even close to being ready to step in. If we don’t get transfer QB, we are screwed.

The same could have been said of Sam the summer before he had to start. Some guys step up under pressure of starting. Some guys fold. Sam stepped up big time. At some point in the 2020 season, we may need to find out what Kerns does.
 
will be interesting to see if the RPO loses it's status as the main offensive feature

it's not like Clawson came in as an RPO guy
 
The issue is depth. Once Hartman goes down, and he will, we do not have a proven backup. Kerns and Griffis will likely be good with more development, but neither is even close to being ready to step in. If we don’t get transfer QB, we are screwed.

If someone transfers to Wake for his final year to be Hartman's back up, then he probably sucks. I'll take my chances with Kern. He looked pretty good in limited action.
 
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