Deacs have holes to fill on defense

Wake Forest took its first step yesterday toward Tampa and the 2009 ACC football championship at the beginning of spring drills.

Whether the Deacons make it that far to play for their second conference title in four seasons will depend, in large part, on what Coach Jim Grobe and his staff are able to get accomplished in the 15 practices of spring.

The main order of business will be to retool a defense that lost seven starters, including three, linebacker Aaron Curry, cornerback Alphonso Smith and safety Chip Vaughn who are all but certain to be drafted by NFL teams.

There's a chance two others, linebacker Stanley Arnoux and safety Kevin Patterson will be drafted as well.

"There's certainly some excitement," Grobe said. "You're talking about guys in Aaron Curry and Phonzo and those guys who have been starting forever. They just gobbled up all the reps from everybody else.

"So all these young kids on defense are chomping at the bit to get the opportunity to go out and play. There's some energy. They've got a lot to live up to."

The Deacons are healthy, with the exception of Boo Robinson, a rising senior who has started 26 games at defensive tackle. Robinson is recovering from a herniated disc, but said he is already feeling better and hopes to be back in drills soon.

Grobe said there will be no rush, given Robinson's experience.

"There's no need to find out if he can play," Grobe said. "We know he can play.

"And it will be good for some of the younger guys to get some more reps."

Grobe said he will need a day or two to assess the physical condition of freshman quarterback Ted Stachitas, who redshirted last season after having surgery on his shoulder on Aug. 15.

"We'll have to keep an eye on Ted Stachitas," Grobe said. "His shoulder is still questionable. I think he's been able to do a little here lately.

"We'll kind of see how he does. After (yesterday) we'll know a lot more about his shoulder."

Stachitas' value to the program rose dramatically last month when Brett Hodges, the backup to starter Riley Skinner the last three seasons, said he will graduate this spring and not return for his fifth season. So finding a second-team quarterback will be a priority.

Grobe said the three candidates are Stachitas, Skylar Jones and Ryan McManus. Jones will be a redshirt sophomore and McManus is a walk-on senior who held last season for field goals and extra points.

"I think it's kind of a fun time right now for Ted and for Sky and Ryan McManus, who has done some really good things for us," Grobe said. "So Ryan, we'll take a look at him.

"But with Brett, there was no doubt who the top two quarterbacks are. Now with Brett graduating, the young guys should be real excited."

Kevin Harris isn't the fastest running back on the Deacons' roster, but he started out spring practices ahead of Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass after his performance in the EagleBank Bowl against Navy. Making his first start since the 2006 season, before he was moved to fullback for a while, Harris gained 136 yards to lead the Deacons to a 29-19 comeback victory over the Midshipmen.

"He earned his shot," Grobe said. "He earned it against Vanderbilt (in the regular-season finale) when he came in there in the second half. So it's kind of his job now to lose. We'll start out with Kevin.

"Brandon had an OK freshman year. I don't think it was a great one, but it was OK. And I think he will play a lot better. And Josh had his sophomore slump year to get out of the way, so that's gone now. Hopefully he'll play better.

"We'll just kind of see how things go. But those three certainly are capable of giving us a real deep backfield and they're all capable of playing good football and giving us a chance to win."

Grobe said that safety Alex Frye and defensive tackle Michael Carter are back on the team after being suspended for the EagleBank Bowl for a violation of team rules.

The NCAA mandates that teams practice three days in shorts, T-shirts and helmets and one day in helmets and shoulder pads. The schedule this week is yesterday and today in shorts, T-shirts and helmets and Thursday in helmets and shoulder pads.

"Saturday will be our first day in full pads," Grobe said. "You've got to have three days in helmets, so we'll throw a helmets day in somewhere down the road -- usually a teaching day. If we feel like the younger guys are having some problems we may go back with the helmets.

"A lot of times we don't even get the practice back. If we're far enough along when we get to 12 or 13 practices in the spring, we won't go out and just do a helmets day to waste time."

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