One of Wake Forest's fastest players will get off to a slow start this season when receiver Chris Givens is suspended for the first two games.
Coach Jim Grobe said that defensive end Kevin Smith will also be suspended the first two games, against Presbyterian and Duke. Both are practicing, and will be reinstated to the active roster for the third game, at Stanford on Sept. 18.
Grobe declined to identify the off-season transgressions, saying the decision was a result of violations of team policy.
Givens is a 6-0, 195-pound sophomore from Wylie, Texas, who caught 45 passes for 629 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns last season. Smith is a 6-4, 230-pound sophomore who played a backup role in all 12 games last season, finishing with eight tackles.
Givens is listed as second team behind junior Devon Brown. Smith is second team behind junior Kyle Wilber.
Grobe downplayed the suspensions.
"They've been fine, they've been fine," Grobe said. "They're working hard and doing what we want them to do right now.
"They're both good kids."
Although Givens is expected to be a key player for the Deacons this season, the wide-receiver position may be the deepest and most talented unit on the roster. Brown caught 61 passes for 671 yards and six touchdowns and Marshall Williams, a senior this season, caught 60 for 867 yards and six touchdowns.
Grobe is also excited about working younger receivers/backs such as sophomores Terence Davis and Lovell Jackson and redshirt freshmen Quan Rucker and Michael Campanaro into the rotation.
"We're going to ask our wideouts to run the football and catch the football," Grobe said. "We're going to use them a lot of ways."
Grobe said the major concern will be how much practice time to give Givens and Smith.
"Your problem becomes as we go forward, how do you practice him?" Grobe said. "You certainly want him ready for the third game, so when we head out to Stanford you want him ready to go. But at the same time, you know you've got to have the other guys ready to play the first two games. So that becomes the issue.
"We know we've got really good players in Chris and Kevin, and especially when you get closer to game-plan time, you don't want those guys to fall out of the mix and when they come back it's like starting over again. But if you give them too much the guys you put on the field don't get enough.
"So that's the dilemma. I don't know if the impact of not having them play is as great as how we organize it."
The Deacons are also deep at running back, where Josh Harris, a redshirt freshman from Duncanville, Texas, has been cleared to play after missing spring practices because of insufficient academic progress. Harris, whose profile isn't included in the Wake Forest media guide, has improved his standing over the spring and first semester of summer school.
Harris, who has been timed at 4.34 seconds in the 40-yard dash, will compete against senior Josh Adams and junior Brandon Pendergrass for playing time.
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