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Clawson

DEACS76 said:
Does anyone blame the S&C staff for a OL that gets constantly pushed around? Are the OLs just going through the motions in the weight room? When they start pushing the DL around, then the RBs will gain some yards, the play action will be respected, the QBs will have time to find those WRs, and the TE could release into his pattern. While some will say that we've skyrocketed from 125th in rushing to 116th, I don't think the line is any better then at any time in the Clawson era. Hinton alone has been the difference.
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I blame the previous staff and specifically Jim Grobe and Ethan Reeve for the crap cake dumpster fire they created.
 
The reality is the other team conditions just as hard as we do. A guy who is 20, 21, 22 and has been in a program for a few years is going to be more football fit than a younger player. We all are frustrated with getting so close with UL but who honestly before the season would have even thought it would be close? We are worlds better than last year. Hopefully next year we are worlds better than this year. I certainly hope Clawson continues to work at his in game management. All of these things take time.
 
DEACS76 said:
I've always stressed development in my posts. 5* OLs are not coming here. 4* OLs are not coming here. The 3*s we have must develop themselves physically. The staff must run a scheme that the OL can succeed with. Clawson has been here 22 months and thing are exactly the same for our OL.
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This. Grobe didn't leave us with any good O-linemen except for maybe Helms, but he got out quick. I think we've got some good linemen, but they're young and need to be developed. You can't just throw 3-Star freshmen linemen into a starting lineup and expect them to be good for at least a couple years. I think Clawson is on the right track. I believe we've got 2 really good ones being redshirted right now in Haney and Gilliam. I think Suhren and Nash will also be really good, but I hope they also will be redshirted. It just takes 2-3 years to develop 3-star talent into solid ACC players. Also, I like that Clawson is recruiting big lineman. Haney is 6'6 330. Gilliam is 6'5 285. Suhren is 6'5 295. Nash is 6'3 305. These are their sizes at 17 & 18. Getting these guys in a weight room combined with good coaching can turn them into a big, solid unit much like what we saw against IU and led to them doing whatever they wanted with our defense. I hated how Grobe recruited a lot of 6'2-6'3 260-270 pound linemen.
 
Clawson's play calling reflects boldness more than temerity about his skill players. I believe he knows this is better for recruiting and is better for the attitude on the team. That being said the deep pass to get the go ahead score against UL was a very strong move. Had it worked the level of belief would have risen several fold. He is not going to be timid, otherwise he would not spend half the night "conversing" with the refs.

In Grobe's final year we were beyond ugly. It was a total program wash out. There were zero bright spots.
The difference last year was that there were signs this program had somewhere to go besides further down. This year is where a state school would usually be after a disaster of a coaching era had come to an end. Guys, it will take more time and then we will still have to play almost perfectly and get some bounces in our direction to achieve signature wins.

If Wake Forest wants this process to move faster then the academic campus will need to accept class credit from some other nearby schools or create an academic track for athletes at WF. We are getting lineman for the type of school we are. When great HS lineman who play in the unheralded world in the trenches can go to the famous football schools then they do. There are many more reasons for this as well. And bad character does not follow lack of academic interest and aptitude which is usually argued at Wake to not create an academic track for the athletes.
 
Complacent Deac said:
Now THIS is how we should schedule every year. Toss in a home game with Troy or the Citadel every other year - NC State or Clemson style.
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Stats has had laughable scheduling. Hard to fault Clemson for scheduling Georgia again the past few years and SC. I would give them a pass for throwing Wofford in there as well.
 
Clawson is undoubtedly moving the program forward. That we are playing so many freshmen and sophomores shows what little he had to work with when he took over from Grobe. The recruiting has been very good since he arrived, and it has typically been year 3 that his teams see marked improvement. Just how it is in college football. You can't turn it around with freshman. And he has always been a coach with stones who will call aggressive plays. Beats the hell out of Grobe and Lobo's play-calling the last few years of their tenure. Defenses have to play honest and expect anything against Clawson. He lets his players play. Much better than Grobe who would get a lead and go ultra-conservative.
 
The thing I am confused with with all the Clawson-hate threads is how could we have done better? He is going to bring in arguably the two best classes of recruits we have ever had, the offense is markedly improved (we still are bad though), he has had the team playing most games very tough, he has helped bring a top notch training facility and field house to Wake. I just don't see how some of you could be so close-minded. We were spoiled with Grobe bringing us to a lot of bowl games, but that was ALMOST A DECADE AGO. Clawson is probably the best coach we could have asked for and he has done a great job here so far. I don't see how we could have hired a coach that would have us in a better position in year 2 or who we could hire now that would do better than him going forward.
 
On offense, when Clawson got here it was like starting a completely new football program. Virtually nothing we had was worth a damn. Best OL on a bad line left. One doesn't build a new program overnight. Only 6 seniors on the team now-- lowest number since the '40s. It'll be a couple of years more.
 
Ed father said:
The issue is that Clawson and staff have to recruit an offensive line..........no one is going to give him an offensive line. The best skill position players are going to underperform in the current situation.
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Actually, much of what Clawson should have now, should have been "given" to him. Clawson doesn't have a group experienced and talented offensive linemen to help lead the unit. Recruiting better his first couple years wasn't going to yield talented upperclassmen for us this year. There wasn't much left from the previous staff and that is a big reason why they were let go. Along those lines, Clawson is expected to bring in better players and no one is saying he is going to be given anything going forward. He is recruiting offensive lineman and we will see if they pan out. We seem to have a passionate staff that is working hard on recruiting. I am not sure what point people think they are making by saying that he won't be given an oline unless you think he should be able to make a group of true freshmen and sophomores into a strong line. As a reminder, he was still the coach at another school when most of the true sophomores were committing.
Clawson still has a lot to prove at this level. No one thinks that will be "given" to him at Wake.
 
Clawson is doing a good job for most part. I hope the offense becomes more creative as our line improves. I really miss the orbit sweeps and trickeration Grobe used for his first 9 years here.
 
Every time we try to run laterally it's blown up and we're thrown for a loss. Do you want to keep losing yardage? They're running between the tackles because (1) we have to try to run the ball; and (2) there's less chance of losing yardage. You can criticize our inability to run laterally, but that facet of offense will have to await better OL play I'm guessing.
 
DeacsOrDie said:
Not really sure why we are acting like "hey Clawson better have a good 3rd year". In 95% of football hires you always judge after the 3rd year. Nothing to see here.
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Except he better have a good third year! I see that! :thumbsup:
 
Hopefully we can bowl next year. Favorable home slate with BC, 'cuse, Tulane, Delaware, Army and Virginia (and Clemson)
 
piratedeac92 said:
This. Grobe didn't leave us with any good O-linemen except for maybe Helms, but he got out quick. I think we've got some good linemen, but they're young and need to be developed. You can't just throw 3-Star freshmen linemen into a starting lineup and expect them to be good for at least a couple years. I think Clawson is on the right track. I believe we've got 2 really good ones being redshirted right now in Haney and Gilliam. I think Suhren and Nash will also be really good, but I hope they also will be redshirted. It just takes 2-3 years to develop 3-star talent into solid ACC players. Also, I like that Clawson is recruiting big lineman. Haney is 6'6 330. Gilliam is 6'5 285. Suhren is 6'5 295. Nash is 6'3 305. These are their sizes at 17 & 18. Getting these guys in a weight room combined with good coaching can turn them into a big, solid unit much like what we saw against IU and led to them doing whatever they wanted with our defense. I hated how Grobe recruited a lot of 6'2-6'3 260-270 pound linemen.
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Grobe's plan was to recruit athletic lineman and put them in the weight room for a couple of years. Then we went pass happy with Skinner and brought in big guys (Intermann, Preble, Goodwin) to pass protect. Then LOBO wanted these behemoths to cut block. Thankfully he went back to throwing the ball. Clawson wants a mobile OL that can get into space on end arounds, traps, screens. The player we have are not doing this well. They seems stiff and slow off the ball. Either they have to lose fat and become more flexible, or change your play calling to fit the talent.
 
1999 Fordham 0–11 0–6 7th
2000 Fordham 3–8 1–5 6th
2001 Fordham 7–4 5–2 3rd
2002 Fordham 10–3 6–1 T–1st L Div I-AA Quarterfinals
2003 Fordham 9–3 4–3 T–3rd
Fordham: 29–29 16–17
Richmond Spiders (Atlantic 10 Conference) (2004–2006)
2004 Richmond 3–8 1–7 5th (South)
2005 Richmond 9–4 7–1 1st (South) L Div I-AA Quarterfinals 8
2006 Richmond 6–5 3–5 T–4th (South)
Richmond Spiders (Colonial Athletic Association) (2007)
2007 Richmond 11–3 7–1 1st (South) L FCS Semifinals 4
Richmond: 29–20 18-14
Bowling Green Falcons (Mid-American Conference) (2009–2013)
2009 Bowling Green 7–6 6–2 3rd (East) L Humanitarian
2010 Bowling Green 2–10 1–7 T–5th (East)
2011 Bowling Green 5–7 3–5 T–4th (East)
2012 Bowling Green 8–5 6–2 2nd (East) L Military
2013 Bowling Green 10–3 8–1 1st (East) Little Caesars*
Bowling Green: 32–30 24–17 *Did not coach in bowl game


Seems to be a pattern of turning programs around in years 3-4-5. Not sure why we wouldn't think that will happen here.
 
he wasn't the head coach in knoxville
 
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