Leadership Shows: Skinner looks in midseason form during Wake Forest's scrimmage

Wake Forest's first scrimmage of the preseason yesterday at BB&T Field served as further confirmation to Coach Jim Grobe that his team is not ready to beat Baylor on the same field in the season opener on Sept. 5.

But his quarterback is.

Riley Skinner, playing like a veteran quarterback should play, completed 12 of 16 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. In doing so, he didn't steal the show in front of a gathering of a few hundred fans.

As a fifth-year senior who has started 37 games and led the Deacons to 26 victories, Skinner is the show. Center Russell Nenon agreed that the Deacons have a different offense when Skinner steps into the huddle.

"For the past four years, it's been all Riley Skinner," Nenon said. "We just try to help him out a little, but he knows where to put the ball, he knows when there's a guy behind him. It just seems like a walk in the park for him.

"He's a great guy and an incredible quarterback."

The Deacons' first-string offense, expected to carry the team early while a green defense jells and matures, stumbled out of the gates and failed to pick up a first down. But at its next opportunity, three series later, Skinner drove the team straight down the field, completing a 33-yard pass to sophomore Devon Brown and a 26-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman Chris Givens.

The first team's next series resulted in another score when Skinner hit Givens on an inside screen and Givens darted his way through the defense to a 21-yard touchdown.

As promised, Skinner spread his passes around on a day that 13 different Deacons caught passes. Terence Davis, a redshirt freshman, led the way with six catches for 76 yards, Brown caught four for 51 yards, Givens four for 32 yards and two touchdowns, Marshall Williams three for 32 yards, and Jordan Williams two for 18 yards.

"We stalled right off the bat, and went three-and-out, which is something we don't think we should be doing," Skinner said. "We're trying some new stuff and Coach wanted to see how that looks. You're not going to be perfect when you come out and do something you haven't done in a live scrimmage yet.

"But I thought as we went along our offensive line picked up and our whole offense picked up a little bit and we were able to put the ball in the end zone. But there's obviously still a lot of things to get corrected."

The first-string offensive line, which featured Chris DeGeare at left tackle, Joe Looney at left guard, Nenon at center, Jeff Griffin at right guard and Joe Birdsong at right tackle, gained traction as the scrimmage progressed and was dominating the second and third teams by the end.

Brown, who will likely be a highly valuable player this season as a slot receiver, led the Deacons with 32 yards and a touchdown on five carries. Brandon Pendergrass carried three times for 25 yards, Kevin Harris five for 21 yards and Josh Adams six times for 18 yards.

"We're all back," Nenon said of the offensive line. "We have 11 guys with game experience. We were the Achilles' heel last year. We don't accept anything but the best.

"It took us a second to get going, but we've been doing this all camp. Our coaches are going to get us really ready for Baylor. We're going to have a change of heart this year and we're going to pound the ball."

Grobe said he was happy with the receivers and was pleased to see the speed and aggressiveness of his defense. Scott Betros, a redshirt freshman linebacker, led the Deacons with seven tackles. Joey Ehrmann, Tristan Dorty, Kyle Wilber and Zach Thompson all had a sack, Dominique Tate, Nikita Whitlock and Ramon Booi intercepted passes, and Junior Petit-Jean, Kenny Okoro, Ehrmann, Frank Souza, Wilber, Booi and Michael Williams broke up passes.

"I was impressed," Grobe said. "I thought we had a lot of energy, we rallied to the football, we had a lot of jerseys around the ball a lot of time, and I thought we played with a pretty good pad level.

"I feel pretty good. I don't think we can beat anybody yet. We made too many mistakes and had a couple of sloppy things happen, but for a first scrimmage I was pleased.

Tight end Ben Wooster and quarterback Ted Stachitas missed the scrimmage, Wooster with a tight back and Stachitas with an infected foot. Grobe said that Wooster could have played if he were needed.

Michael Williams, a redshirt sophomore, started at cornerback ahead of redshirt sophomore Josh Bush, who spent most of the scrimmage playing safety.

Freshman Jimmy Newman closed practice by kicking a 50-yard field goal.

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