To get a more complete understanding of why our offense is so bad, I think that it is important to take a detailed look back at the 2010-2012 signing classes and how those classes turned out. Those classes should have provided the rSRs, JRs and rSOPH that you would have expected to be filling out you entire starting lineup and a majority of your two-deep.
The disastrous results from these three classes appear to be attributable to failures in all three pillars of program development: RECRUIT, RETAIN and DEVELOP. Feel free to put your own grades on each pillar.
It is easy to focus criticism on the quality of Grobe’s recruiting, which had clearly been in year-over-year decline, but it doesn’t come close to telling the full story.
Excluding two players that graduated already (Tanner Price and Ben Emert), there were 26 players in the 2010-2012 classes that were either signed for the offensive side of the ball or later converted to offense. Here is a breakdown of how those players have turned out:
Starters: 4
Backups: 7
No longer with the program / currently suspended: 11
Injured: 1 (Zach Gordon)
Busts (failed to make 2-deep): 2
Let’s look at each of the 3 pillars:
RECRUIT - It interesting to note that Grobe recruited almost entirely 3-stars on offense in the 2010-2012 classes. The biggest failure appears to relate to the fact that they did not bring in recruits with the academic and character backgrounds needed to remain eligible at Wake.
RETAIN - The most obvious point here is that there are just as many players that are no longer with the program or suspended as there are players on the 2-deep. Some programs may be able to deal with this type of attrition. I would contend that Wake Forest is not one of them. As a result, the offense has been decimated.
DEVELOP – You can judge for yourself. When you sign 23 three-stars over a 3 year period, you will have some busts for sure, but you also hope to come out with many solid starters and 3-4 guys that are at least borderline NFL prospects. However these 23 3-stars produced only 4 starters (Matt James, Antonio Ford, Dylan Intemann and Jared Crump). Surely some of that shortfall has to be attributable to failure to develop.
In terms of seniors, juniors and redshirt sophomores capable of filling out to the 2-deep, Clawson was given 1 QB (Cameron), 1 RB (Reynolds), 5 OL (Goodwin, Ford, Intemann, Will Smith and Hayworth) and 4 WR (James, Terry, Crump and Williams). Some fans look at that list and tell Clawson “go win at least 4-5 games for us”. I’m not one of them.
Outlook:
There is no way that Clawson can rely on recruiting alone to dig the offense out this mess. Football recruiting at Wake Forest will always be challenging. The best that we can hope for is IMPROVED recruiting and SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED retention and development. Until Wake’s offense is fielding a starting lineup with at least 9 guys in their third, fourth or fifth year in the program, I think things will remain hopeless. He’s also going to need to develop some guys into at least marginal NFL prospects.
Looking forward there are both some warning signs and signs of hope.
Warning sign: The 2014 class was the first post-Orange Bowl class that brought in significant numbers of 2-stars on the offensive side of the ball. That class had 7 three-stars and 6 two-stars. To make matters worse, of the 7 three-stars there are ALREADY three not in the program (Kameron Uter, Jaylen Barbour and Travis Smith.)
Sign of hope: The 2015 class has seven 3-stars, some of whom were highly sought-after by a number of Power 5 programs. The degree to which Hinton, Claude, Archibald, Bargas, Haney and Gilliam are retained and developed will have a lot to say about how far the offense goes in the future.
Personally, I think it will be 2016 before we can field an offense with enough talent and experience to be modestly competitive. Just my view.
THE DETAILS
2010
Neil Basford / 3-star TE – No longer with the program
Daniel Blitch / 2-star OL – No longer with the program
Ben Emert / 3-star FB – Graduated (didn’t redshirt)
Antonio Ford / 3-star DT – STARTER
Dylan Heartsill / 2-star OL – No longer with the program
Matt James / 3-star WR – STARTER
Nick Knott / 2-star RB – No longer with the program
Tanner Price / 3-star QB – Graduated (didn’t redshirt)
Brandon Terry / 3-star WR – BACKUP
2011
Hunter Goodwin / 3-star OL – BACKUP
Dylan Intemann / 3-star OL – STARTER
DeAndre Martin / 3-star RB – No longer with the program
Cody Preble / 3-star OL – No longer with the program
Sherman Ragland / 3-star WR – No longer with the program
Orville Reynolds / 3-star RB – BACKUP
Kevin Sousa / 3-star QB – Bust (failed to make 2-deep)
Airyn Willis / 3-star ATH – No longer with the program
2012
Tyler Cameron / 3-star QB – BACKUP
Jared Crump / 3-star WR – STARTER
Dominique Gibson / 3-star LB – Suspended
Zach Gordon / 3-star TE – Injured
Ty Hayworth / 3-star OL – BACKUP
Anthony Rook / 3-star TE – No longer with the program
Will Smith / 3-star OL – BACKUP
Joel Suggs / 2-star OL - Bust (failed to make 2-deep)
Josh Wilhite / 3-star RB – No longer with the program
Jonathan Williams / 3-star WR - BACKUP
The disastrous results from these three classes appear to be attributable to failures in all three pillars of program development: RECRUIT, RETAIN and DEVELOP. Feel free to put your own grades on each pillar.
It is easy to focus criticism on the quality of Grobe’s recruiting, which had clearly been in year-over-year decline, but it doesn’t come close to telling the full story.
Excluding two players that graduated already (Tanner Price and Ben Emert), there were 26 players in the 2010-2012 classes that were either signed for the offensive side of the ball or later converted to offense. Here is a breakdown of how those players have turned out:
Starters: 4
Backups: 7
No longer with the program / currently suspended: 11
Injured: 1 (Zach Gordon)
Busts (failed to make 2-deep): 2
Let’s look at each of the 3 pillars:
RECRUIT - It interesting to note that Grobe recruited almost entirely 3-stars on offense in the 2010-2012 classes. The biggest failure appears to relate to the fact that they did not bring in recruits with the academic and character backgrounds needed to remain eligible at Wake.
RETAIN - The most obvious point here is that there are just as many players that are no longer with the program or suspended as there are players on the 2-deep. Some programs may be able to deal with this type of attrition. I would contend that Wake Forest is not one of them. As a result, the offense has been decimated.
DEVELOP – You can judge for yourself. When you sign 23 three-stars over a 3 year period, you will have some busts for sure, but you also hope to come out with many solid starters and 3-4 guys that are at least borderline NFL prospects. However these 23 3-stars produced only 4 starters (Matt James, Antonio Ford, Dylan Intemann and Jared Crump). Surely some of that shortfall has to be attributable to failure to develop.
In terms of seniors, juniors and redshirt sophomores capable of filling out to the 2-deep, Clawson was given 1 QB (Cameron), 1 RB (Reynolds), 5 OL (Goodwin, Ford, Intemann, Will Smith and Hayworth) and 4 WR (James, Terry, Crump and Williams). Some fans look at that list and tell Clawson “go win at least 4-5 games for us”. I’m not one of them.
Outlook:
There is no way that Clawson can rely on recruiting alone to dig the offense out this mess. Football recruiting at Wake Forest will always be challenging. The best that we can hope for is IMPROVED recruiting and SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED retention and development. Until Wake’s offense is fielding a starting lineup with at least 9 guys in their third, fourth or fifth year in the program, I think things will remain hopeless. He’s also going to need to develop some guys into at least marginal NFL prospects.
Looking forward there are both some warning signs and signs of hope.
Warning sign: The 2014 class was the first post-Orange Bowl class that brought in significant numbers of 2-stars on the offensive side of the ball. That class had 7 three-stars and 6 two-stars. To make matters worse, of the 7 three-stars there are ALREADY three not in the program (Kameron Uter, Jaylen Barbour and Travis Smith.)
Sign of hope: The 2015 class has seven 3-stars, some of whom were highly sought-after by a number of Power 5 programs. The degree to which Hinton, Claude, Archibald, Bargas, Haney and Gilliam are retained and developed will have a lot to say about how far the offense goes in the future.
Personally, I think it will be 2016 before we can field an offense with enough talent and experience to be modestly competitive. Just my view.
THE DETAILS
2010
Neil Basford / 3-star TE – No longer with the program
Daniel Blitch / 2-star OL – No longer with the program
Ben Emert / 3-star FB – Graduated (didn’t redshirt)
Antonio Ford / 3-star DT – STARTER
Dylan Heartsill / 2-star OL – No longer with the program
Matt James / 3-star WR – STARTER
Nick Knott / 2-star RB – No longer with the program
Tanner Price / 3-star QB – Graduated (didn’t redshirt)
Brandon Terry / 3-star WR – BACKUP
2011
Hunter Goodwin / 3-star OL – BACKUP
Dylan Intemann / 3-star OL – STARTER
DeAndre Martin / 3-star RB – No longer with the program
Cody Preble / 3-star OL – No longer with the program
Sherman Ragland / 3-star WR – No longer with the program
Orville Reynolds / 3-star RB – BACKUP
Kevin Sousa / 3-star QB – Bust (failed to make 2-deep)
Airyn Willis / 3-star ATH – No longer with the program
2012
Tyler Cameron / 3-star QB – BACKUP
Jared Crump / 3-star WR – STARTER
Dominique Gibson / 3-star LB – Suspended
Zach Gordon / 3-star TE – Injured
Ty Hayworth / 3-star OL – BACKUP
Anthony Rook / 3-star TE – No longer with the program
Will Smith / 3-star OL – BACKUP
Joel Suggs / 2-star OL - Bust (failed to make 2-deep)
Josh Wilhite / 3-star RB – No longer with the program
Jonathan Williams / 3-star WR - BACKUP
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