Spring Fling: Grobe likes what he sees in exhibition

Coach Jim Grobe of Wake Forest wasn't sure if he would have enough players, but he was game for a game.

So that's why the Deacons, for the first time in several years, had an actual intra-squad game instead of a scrimmage yesterday at the spring game at Doc Martin Practice Complex on campus.

"I didn't know whether we would do it or not until we came out here," Grobe said. "I know (defensive tackle) John Russell hurt his shoulder in Thursday's practice and Matt Woodlief banged his shoulder up a little bit. So we just came out and said 'Let's try it and see what happens.'

"We liked it well enough. I wouldn't be opposed to next year doing it this way and actually keeping score."

Unbeknownst to Grobe apparently, the media relations department did keep score, with the Black beating the White 24-14. The Black was built around the first-team defense and the White around the first-team offense, though there were players who played for both teams.

Running back Brandon Pendergrass, for instance, carried three times for 30 yards for the White and four times for 40 yards for the Black in what was easily one of the most impressive performances of the day. Backup quarterback Ryan McManus played for both teams and Cline Beam, a former soccer player who walked on to the football team this spring, kicked extra points for both teams and concluded the scoring with a 24-yard field goal for the Black.

Grobe said he wasn't sure if Beam will return for a fifth year to play football, but he looked good yesterday in relief of Shane Popham, who missed the game while recovering from a subluxed left knee sustained last week in practice.

"I thought Cline did some good things," Grobe said. "I hope he'll be able to come back this fall and just compete for a job. There are no guarantees right now, but with Shane not showing much durability, (Beam) could end up in the mix.

"We've got a couple of guys coming in, a kicker and punter, this fall, so they're going to have a nice opportunity. But I like what (Beam) has done, especially the last few days. With Shane down, he's gotten all the opportunities to kick the ball."

Chris Givens, redshirted last fall as a freshman, has been described by Grobe as perhaps the fastest player on the team. He put that speed to good use yesterday, breaking runs of 65 and 24 yards and catching three passes for 39 yards. Classmate Terence Davis caught three passes for 28 yards, tight end Ben Wooster caught three for 76 yards, receiver Danny Dembry caught a 59-yard pass from quarterback Riley Skinner and receiver Jordan Williams, who struggled last season during a sophomore slump, caught four passes for 70 yards.

But, as usual, one of the best players on the field was Skinner, who will be entering his fourth season as a starting quarterback. Skinner completed 15 of 23 passes for 272 yards yesterday, and threw one interception on what was a remarkable defensive play by cornerback Mike Williams.

The Deacons are 26-11 with Skinner starting at quarterback.

"The very best thing about him is he acts like he has never started a game," Grobe said. "That's how hard he works, in the weight room, at practice, in meetings, film study. This is a guy who you would never know has achieved the success he has achieved.

"He acts like he's just one of the guys, trying to get better. And he's getting better. He's doing great things for us mentally right now. Very rarely does he make a mental mistake. He's just a really good leader for us right now. I couldn't be more happy with him."

The surprise of the day was who started along the offensive line for the White.

Spring practice began with a starting lineup of Chris DeGeare at left tackle, Barrett McMillin at left guard, Russell Nenon at center, Jeff Griffin at right guard and Joe Birdsong at right tackle.

Yesterday the starting line for the White was DeGeare at left tackle, Joe Looney at left guard, Nenon at center, Michael Hoag at right guard and Doug Weaver at right tackle, though DeGeare, who has battled the flu this week, became dehydrated and was replaced by Dennis Godfrey.

Griffin , Birdsong and McMillin, all of whom started regularly last season, were on the Black offense. Offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke said he made the move for two reasons, to motivate the older players such as Griffin, Birdsong and McMillin and to find out if the younger players such as Looney, Weaver and Hoag would accept the challenge and play well as first-team players.

Grobe said the competition hardly ended with yesterday's spring game.

"On one hand we've pretty much gone ones against ones this spring," Grobe said. "You've got the three old guys going against the first defense every day. We felt the twos deserved a chance to go against the ones.

"I thought the (Black) offense moved the football pretty good today. I've got a feeling we might see (in the film) that Griffin and Birdsong played pretty well. We're going to keep things competitive. We're going to let those guys compete and (the) best players play."

Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.