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Wake Forest Football 2018 Offseason Discussion

LilburnDeac said:
Wolford is going to be much harder to replace than people think. Losing Wolford is the biggest loss since Skinner graduated. They are the only Wake QB's to win more than one bowl game.
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+1. He was worth the wait. Now it's time for "Hello, Newman".
 
I am looking forward to watching Newman and Hartman these first two games. I expect Newman to be cautious and turnover free. I expect him to error on the side of plodding in order to NOT commit a turnover. In other words, on short drop backs, I could see him sitting down and taking a short sack rather than try and scramble out with the ball swinging around in one hand. I think this is normal for an inexperienced QB , but one who has been in our program for essentially 2 1/2 years. Fear of finding the bench off a turnover.

I don't think that would necessarily mean that is how he'll play in game 8 but how he'll play in games 1-3.

Hartman I expect to get significant snaps in at least two of the three games and I think he'll make a few dynamic plays and a few boneheaded ones. A turnover on a bad read a play or two after an awesome play somewhat due to the adrenaline.

This I think leaves Clawson choosing to go with Newman against BC with a note to him to go for it a little more. I also don't expect us to open up the playbook in the first two games either.

Get to the BC game with our experienced horses - Dortch, Washington, Bachman as well as Cade and Colburn healthy and then get Newman into situations where he can hit those in places they can cause damage. I also don't expect to see him with many option plays until the BC game either. Newman seems like a smart kid, smart player. I am hopeful.

The one mistake I have seen Clawson make IMO, is get too conservative too quickly. It will be interesting if we go up 14-0 or 10-0 against BC as to whether Clawson will go conservative trying to work out a 20-10 win while saving some plays for ND or protecting Newman from having to make big plays for fear of turnovers. If we go down 7-0, he won't have a choice, but I feel like this has been Claws achilles the last few years.

I also think you'll see Hinton get several series against ND over Hartman to save his shirt by at least getting Hinton ready to be backup for the meat of our schedule ...

It is interesting how the one aspect of Clawson's game he has always insisted is a priority has not happened for him at Wake yet. He has never gone into a season with a clear QB1 and a clear QB2.
 
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"Although some Wake homers (and Hintonistas) believed we wouldn't miss a beat losing John Wolford, the nation at large sees it quite a bit differently. And with good reason: Losing a long-time highly capable QB who led the team to two bowl games often has a negative impact the following season. Maybe we get another Riley Skinner story, but that still remains to be seen."

"Wolford is going to be much harder to replace than people think. Losing Wolford is the biggest loss since Skinner graduated. They are the only Wake QB's to win more than one bowl game."

There is no doubt Wolford will be missed, but let's remember he was AWFUL his first 2 years compared to the last 2. While maturity helped I think the bigger story is the growth/depth of OL and skill positions that saw him produce such gawdy stats and we have the same cast that should improve. Also let's not forget that in Wolford's jr. year he only averaged 148 yds passing and had 9 TDs to 10 INts which is not good. Only his feet made his play somewhat palatable in his jr. year. And let's not forget Kendall had beaten out Wolford and knows the system, hence the well deserved optimism if you follow the team.

Now if you want to temper the enthusiasm due to suspension of Kendall and uncertainty of Newman/Hartmann I think that is valid and the bigger ? mark to how quickly will the new guy learn the system. But given how much we dink/dunk it around the field along with an expected continuing improved running game should really help the new guys. I think the biggest thing to watch will be 2nd and 3rd and longs when we are in passing downs and the pressure comes. If we have guys that can be smart with the ball and avoid TOs and "manage" the game I think we will be just fine. You could argue Wolford was barely successful doing that in his jr. year and we still went bowling. And the OL and weapons are better and should give the QB a little more confidence in those downs.

Let's be honest but Wolford had ZERO confidence in his OL in his first 2 years and had major happy feet and for good reason. Not sure he had a whole lot in his jr. year until later in the season as the OL started to finally gel. Our new QB is entering into a completely different situation than John did 4 years ago.
 
Yeah, Wolf's replacement is walking into an absolutely fantastic situation returning the entirety of one of the conference's best OLs and weapons galore. Wolford never had it as good as Newman/Hinton are about to have it
 
wsc8521s said:
Yeah, Wolf's replacement is walking into an absolutely fantastic situation returning the entirety of one of the conference's best OLs and weapons galore. Wolford never had it as good as Newman/Hinton are about to have it
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When Wolford had something close to what Newman and Hartman are stepping into, he put up some pretty gaudy offensive numbers. Except in rare cases, no deficit was too big to overcome. And in many cases, the offense just went out and buried teams.
 
I mean yeah, dude was good. Just saying that we shouldn't severely temper expectations just because he's gone
 
jaybone said:
I am looking forward to watching Newman and Hartman these first two games. I expect Newman to be cautious and turnover free. I expect him to error on the side of plodding in order to NOT commit a turnover. In other words, on short drop backs, I could see him sitting down and taking a short sack rather than try and scramble out with the ball swinging around in one hand. I think this is normal for an inexperienced QB , but one who has been in our program for essentially 2 1/2 years. Fear of finding the bench off a turnover.

I don't think that would necessarily mean that is how he'll play in game 8 but how he'll play in games 1-3.

Hartman I expect to get significant snaps in at least two of the three games and I think he'll make a few dynamic plays and a few boneheaded ones. A turnover on a bad read a play or two after an awesome play somewhat due to the adrenaline.

This I think leaves Clawson choosing to go with Newman against BC with a note to him to go for it a little more. I also don't expect us to open up the playbook in the first two games either.

Get to the BC game with our experienced horses - Dortch, Washington, Bachman as well as Cade and Colburn healthy and then get Newman into situations where he can hit those in places they can cause damage. I also don't expect to see him with many option plays until the BC game either. Newman seems like a smart kid, smart player. I am hopeful.

The one mistake I have seen Clawson make IMO, is get too conservative too quickly. It will be interesting if we go up 14-0 or 10-0 against BC as to whether Clawson will go conservative trying to work out a 20-10 win while saving some plays for ND or protecting Newman from having to make big plays for fear of turnovers. If we go down 7-0, he won't have a choice, but I feel like this has been Claws achilles the last few years.

I also think you'll see Hinton get several series against ND over Hartman to save his shirt by at least getting Hinton ready to be backup for the meat of our schedule ...

It is interesting how the one aspect of Clawson's game he has always insisted is a priority has not happened for him at Wake yet. He has never gone into a season with a clear QB1 and a clear QB2.
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Jaybone, I expect some of that also, BUT Tulane has a really good offense & QB so we will need to score some points. What I look to see is to get the winner of the QB contest start off the 1st Qtr with a lot of safe quick hitters to people like Dortch and see if he can break some. Also pound with Colburn & Carney then maybe change it up on a series and break something outside with Beal. Maybe even throw Beal out at the slot and throw to him. Surratt & Washington can also be great tall options to throw over the DB's with when feeling frisky.
 
One thing all the new QB's will need to do is find their "security blanket" receiver. By that I mean the guy who they can throw too when they really need a completion and they have great confidence that they will get that completion and the yardage needed. Cam was that guy for Wolford. Who will step into that role for each of the new guys? And it doesn't have to be the same guy for each of them.
 
I just can't pass up the opportunity to say: In Wolford's first two years he had ZERO supporting cast. No OL, No WRs, No RBs. RBs didn't have an OL. To expect a QB to produce w/o all those assets is completely absurd. In year 3 Wolford had a little bit better support, but still a deficient OL and unremarkable receivers (but a little improvement). Cam was injured the entire season. In year 4 the OL finally came into its own, the Dortch tide lifted all WR boats, and our RBs began breaking through -- also due to OL solidifying.

To say Wolford "wasn't good" until his senior year is total narrative dictating history.
 
That’s ridiculous. Wolford wasn’t good as recent as the Duke game last year. It’s revisionist history to say he was a great QB who was just hampered by everybody else. He struggled and improved. So did many of his teammates and coaches. And after watching him improve, I’m confident other QBs can as well.
 
I'm sorry Ph. Ask Clawson about Wolford. You know what the answer will be. Because it will be the truth. And it contravenes the Hinton narrative.

Hinton was more effective in the Duke game than Wolford precisely for the reasons I cited above. Up until this past year, Wolford was running for his life as soon as the ball was snapped. Even against Army.
 
It won't happen, but I wish we'd come roaring out of the gate with Newman dominating Tulane, both because that would be awesome and because we could laugh at the numerous inevitable "It must be asked" threads. . . .
 
Lohengrin said:
I'm sorry Ph. Ask Clawson about Wolford. You know what the answer will be. Because it will be the truth. And it contravenes the Hinton narrative.

Hinton was more effective in the Duke game than Wolford precisely for the reasons I cited above. Up until this past year, Wolford was running for his life as soon as the ball was snapped. Even against Army.
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You realize Clawson benched Wolford multiple times. I think he would agree with me that Wolford and his teammates and the coaches improved and we should expect the same in the future.
 
Wolford and the Wake offense looked awesome against Temple in the first half of the military bowl. That was end of his Junior year and quite the harbinger of things to come.
 
PhDeac said:
You realize Clawson benched Wolford multiple times. I think he would agree with me that Wolford and his teammates and the coaches improved and we should expect the same in the future.
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We all agreed with Hinton taking over as QB after Duke. His running ability took the heat off of the rest of the offense. That's why Hinton moved the team at that time. Wolford's "package" was not run first like Hinton's was and Hinton was a more dynamic runner to boot. That was the rationale of most commenters on the board at that time.
 
What Wolford is really good at doing is reading the opponent's defense and making the right decision in the RPO. Wake offense generally seemed to be zigging when the defense was expecting them to zag. That excellent reading required a bit of time that the guys up front gave Wolford this past season. And was seen from time to time during Wolford's junior season. It really seemed to come together in the first half against Temple at the end of Wolford's junior year.

The making the right reads and then the proper decision about where to go with the football is the part of the Wake offense that will take the biggest step back. I suspect that it will take game experience to really get that aspect of the RPO offense really fine tuned. Newman will have had 2 1/2 seasons of practice to work on it. How will he do under "live fire" conditions?
 
Wolford didn't have game tape to watch of a Wake QB making the right decisions in that offense. Newman does.
 
Lohengrin said:
I just can't pass up the opportunity to say: In Wolford's first two years he had ZERO supporting cast. No OL, No WRs, No RBs. RBs didn't have an OL. To expect a QB to produce w/o all those assets is completely absurd. In year 3 Wolford had a little bit better support, but still a deficient OL and unremarkable receivers (but a little improvement). Cam was injured the entire season. In year 4 the OL finally came into its own, the Dortch tide lifted all WR boats, and our RBs began breaking through -- also due to OL solidifying.

To say Wolford "wasn't good" until his senior year is total narrative dictating history.
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This. It’s tough to make good decisions when there are no good decisions to make.
 
John Wolford had 3 300 yard games halfway through his senior season.

His last 7 games he had two 400 yard game and two 300 yard games. Only one of those games was with our best receiver.

To say he didn't improve is silly.
 
I think you will see a lot running plays to start the Tulane game. See if we can dominate and keep the ball away from their offense. We have the line and the backs to run the ball and I think we will until they show they can stop us. Don't put pressure on whoever is the QB. If get a big lead or get behind then we'll open it up. No need to pressure the starting QB if you don't have to. Also, see some RPO to see if either QB can make the reads. Don't panic if we don't show the whole play book
 
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