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Deacons light it up
Wake Forest football scrimmage features lots of offense
Journal photo by Bruce Chapman
Riley Skinner gets ready to throw a touchdown pass to Chip Brinkman (left) during Wake Forest’s annual spring scrimmage.
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Published: April 20, 2008
By every measure but one, Wake Forest's annual spring scrimmage on campus yesterday was a rousing success.
An enthusiastic crowd estimated at 4,100 ringed the field, the Deacons put on an offensive show, the rain threatened but held off and there was more talent on display than probably at any time in school history.
"Things have changed a little bit," Coach Jim Grobe said. "Fans have some expectations now, like the players do. I think people feel like every year we've got a chance to be a good football team, so that raised the excitement level.
"I like this environment. I like being over at the practice fields and letting the fans be at ground level with our players. It's a little more up close and personal."
But as a preview for what fans might expect to see next year in terms of tendencies or approach, the scrimmage was a dismal failure.
Grobe said that it always is.
"You probably shouldn't consider anything we do in the springtime as an indication of what we will do in the fall," Grobe said. "Because we really look at everything known to man. Our playbook is probably empty right now, on both sides of the ball, from things we tried this spring.
"And our job over the summer now is to decide who we really are on both sides of the ball, what we're capable of doing and what is kind of going to be our bread-and-butter stuff. We'll come back in August with that mentality."
So Brad Lambert, recently promoted to defensive coordinator, doesn't have to spend the next three months worrying about yesterday's inability to slow down, much less stop, quarterbacks Riley Skinner and Brett Hodges.
Skinner, a two-year starter going into his junior season, completed 15 of 18 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns and Hodges completed 13 of 17 for 181 yards and one touchdown.
There were mitigating factors, the main one being that the first-team defense was rarely on the field as a unit. And two key players, defensive tackles John Russell and Boo Robinson, weren't even in uniform.
Russell missed spring practices while recovering from shoulder surgery. Robinson was healthy, but was being disciplined for the violation of an undisclosed team rule.
The violation will not affect Robinson's status going into August practices.
"It was a prior transgression from a long time ago," Grobe said. "It was just a little reminder, which is what you're supposed to do."
Quarterback Skylar Jones and wide receiver Danny Dembry, two redshirt freshmen, also missed yesterday's scrimmage, Jones with a tender hamstring and Dembry with a high-ankle sprain.
On the other hand, Cameron Ford, a redshirt freshman tight end who has missed much of spring after breaking his hand, played yesterday without catching a pass.
After emphasizing the running game last week in the second scrimmage of the spring, the Deacons aired it out yesterday. Josh Adams, last season's ACC rookie of the year, carried only twice for 1 yard. Brandon Pendergrass, a redshirt freshman who is expected to see extensive action this season, carried three times for 25 yards.
Meanwhile 15 different players caught passes and nine caught more than one.
"It was just a good day offensively, I think," Grobe said. "And I don't really worry about where we're going to be defensively."
Ben Wooster, a junior expected to start at tight end, concluded an impressive spring by catching five passes, two of them for touchdowns. He caught one touchdown pass from Skinner for 35 yards and one from Hodges for 65 yards.
"He's had a really good spring," Grobe said. "We've got several kids who stepped up this spring who make us feel a little bit more comfortable going into next fall.
"One of our concerns was losing Zac Selmon and John Tereshinski and that we could possibly drop off there. Ben still needs to work on his blocking, but he certainly is a nice target for our quarterbacks. He can run and catch the ball.
"I'm really disappointed we didn't get to work Cameron Ford more. I thought J.T. Dixon had a couple of nice plays. So that tight-end position looks a little bit more solid going into the fall."
Redshirt freshman Devon Brown caught five passes for 46 yards, rising senior Chip Brinkman caught four passes for 114 yards and a touchdown and walk-on Matt Hartford caught four passes for 21 yards.
• Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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