Twelve days into preseason practices at Wake Forest, Cline Beam and Shane Popham have a leg up in the battle to kick and punt this season.
But neither is far enough ahead of the competition to feel comfortable.
Coach Jim Grobe said yesterday that if he had to play today, he might use Beam to both kick off and kick field goals, and would probably use Popham to punt. But a player who might end up doing all three is freshman Jimmy Newman, in the event that Newman doesn't redshirt to preserve a season of eligibility.
Beam is a senior from Augusta, Ga., who played the last four years on the Deacons' soccer team. He got most of the work in the spring after Popham, a sophomore from Crestview Hills, Ky., missed time with an injured knee on his left leg. Which he uses to plant.
"Thank goodness for Cline Beam," Grobe said. "I think he's been one of the surprises of camp.
"I thought back in the spring that Cline was OK. But if we had to kick today he might be our kickoff guy and our field-goal guy. He's been a pleasant addition. As soon as he reads that about himself he won't be worth a nickel."
Grobe said that it will probably be at least another week until he settles on a regular at any of the positions. But Popham's experience last year gives him a decided advantage at punter.
Popham, who relieved an injured Sam Swank as the punter and kicker last season, was erratic as a kicker last year, when he missed five of 12 field-goal tries and was only 1 for 4 beyond 39 yards. Grobe was more impressed with Popham's work as a punter after watching him average 39.2 yards over 54 punts.
"He's probably going to be a little more composed," Grobe said. "The punt team is your number-one concern. That's the scariest special team in football. And with the punter, the one thing you'd like for him to do is catch the snap. Shane's done a lot of that.
"I think if we had a different punter back there for Baylor we might be a little nervous with it."
The most important decision will likely be whether to redshirt Newman, who was handpicked by Billy Mitchell, the kickers coach. Newman kicked and punted last season for Oxford High School in Oxford, Ala., making seven of 10 field-goal attempts and averaging 37.6 yards a punt.
"Mitch loved Jimmy as a punter when we evaluated him," Grobe said. "We liked his kickoff stuff, but we also liked his punting ability. So that one's going to go on for a while.
"I didn't think Shane was particularly effective last year as a kicker, but I thought he did punt the ball at times pretty good. You'd like to think the incumbent's got a little bit of a leg up.
"But we're going to play the best, and we haven't decided that yet."
Popham kicked a 49-yard field goal in Saturday's scrimmage and Newman closed the session with a 50-yarder. Grobe said that he expects Newman, whose power in his leg belies his youthful looks, to make his mark at Wake Forest, if not this year then in years to come.
"He's got just a natural feel for kicking the ball," Grobe said. "Some guys when they try to hit the ball, they really jerk at it. And you can tell they're really laboring to try to hit it. I think it's probably a little bit like golfers. Some guys go after it like they're chopping wood and other guys are just really, really smooth and it seems like they're effortless in trying to hit the ball. And that's the way Jimmy is.
"Jimmy just has such a nice, fluid swing at the ball, and doesn't seem to labor at all getting it high and getting it deep. He's got great potential."
In Saturday's scrimmage, junior Greg Bechtel snapped and senior Ryan McManus held for extra points and kickoffs.
Note: In yesterday's first practice, redshirt freshman Terence Davis fell to the ground and, after treatment, limped off on an injured knee. Athletics trainer Don Steelman said he probably won't know the extent of the injury until today. Davis, a wide receiver from Lilburn, Ga., led the Deacons with seven catches for 75 yards in Saturday's scrimmage.
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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