Game week for the Sept. 5 opener against Baylor will start early at Wake Forest, but not until after today's third and final preseason scrimmage set for 10:30 a.m. at BB&T Field.
"We've probably got one more day of looking a lot of people," Grobe said yesterday. "And then we're going to have to thin our (repetitions) down by Wednesday. So that's probably something we'll do (today), continue to let some of the young guys get a look.
"After the scrimmage we have to make some hard and fast decisions. We'll be getting the scout teams and all those type things together starting Wednesday. We'll be in school and we have to get into somewhat of a regular-season mode."
For a team that lost so much to graduation, especially on defense, the Deacons have had a surprisingly stable first-team lineup throughout preseason. The most heated battles remaining for starting positions are between sophomores Michael Williams and Josh Bush at the cornerback spot opposite senior Brandon Ghee, and between sophomore Joe Looney and senior Barrett McMillin at left guard.
Senior tight end Ben Wooster has missed so much practice time with a sore back that he apparently will have to close preseason strong to remain ahead of his competition, sophomores Andrew Parker and Cameron Ford. Parker played last fall in his first season at Wake Forest, catching seven passes for 106 yards, while Ford was limited to five games after spraining his ankle during the third practice of preseason.
"I'll tell you the one position which is really competitive is that tight-end position, since Ben missed so many days," Grobe said. "I thought Andrew Parker started out really, really slow. I thought Cameron Ford was probably practicing better than Andrew Parker, which shouldn't happen because Andrew played all last year.
"Then Andrew's come on really good, and now he and Cameron are butting heads and Ben's trying to work his way back in. So that's been fun. That's been a position that's been really, really competitive."
Two players who have made the coaching staff feel better and better throughout preseason are defensive end Tristan Dorty and strong-side linebacker Jonathan Jones. Neither has started a game, but both have been running first team since last spring.
"I think probably J.J.'s solidified himself a little bit," Grobe said. "He's made us feel like he's maybe a guy who needs to be THE guy at the (strong) linebacker position."
The two first-year players with the best chance to play this season appear to be fullback Tommy Bohanon and defensive tackle Frank Souza. Bohanon enrolled at Wake Forest in December; Souza didn't arrive until this summer.
"It depends on whether you call Tommy a (first-year) freshman or not," Grobe said. "I guess you do. I see Frank Souza as more of a freshman than I do Tommy, but I think he'll play.
"We'll just kind of see about the others. I really like some of the stuff I've seen out of Josh Harris, the running back. He's got a sprained ankle right now. He's missed a couple of days. Up until he sprained his ankle we were looking at those top three guys (Kevin Harris, Josh Bush and Brandon Pendergrass) and thinking that if any of those guys got dinged Josh might be up.
"So we like him."
■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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