Wake Forest could practice another year for tonight's opening game against Presbyterian and, in the estimation of Coach Jim Grobe, it really wouldn't do any good.
So it's time to play.
"I don't think we can get any better practicing, and that's kind of what you look for as a coach." Grobe said. "You want to get to the point where you feel like, ‘We've got to play somebody to get better.'
"And that's where we are right now."
Grobe's 10th team at Wake Forest, with seven first-time starters, will open the season at 6:30 at BB&T Field against a Presbyterian team that finished 0-11 last season. The new starters for the Deacons include Ted Stachitas, a sophomore who earned the challenge of succeeding quarterback Riley Skinner, the school's all-time leader in every significant passing category.
The others are junior Dennis Godfrey at left tackle, junior Michael Hoag at right guard, redshirt freshman Nikita Whitlock at nose tackle, sophomore Ramon Booi at defensive tackle, sophomore Riley Haynes at outside linebacker and redshirt freshman Daniel Mack at safety.
Three first-year freshmen are listed as second team, quarterback Tanner Price and cornerbacks A.J. Marshall and Kevin Johnson. Grobe said that Price has remained highly competitive with Stachitas throughout fall camp and deserved the next opportunity if Stachitas didn't perform up to expectations.
Grobe said he thought that all four of his quarterbacks, Stachitas, Price, Brendan Cross and Skylar Jones, could emotionally handle sharing the position, given that none has ever had significant playing time. Stachitas played a few plays in the second half of last season's 35-7 victory over Elon but didn't throw a pass.
It was mentioned that if the quarterbacks themselves didn't have a problem, the fans and media following the program might.
"Unless you win," Grobe said. "If you win, it's no problem.
"We're not trying to win any beauty pageants or trying to come out of a football game with people thinking we're gurus or anything. We're just trying to play the kids that are going to get a win. That's all we care about. We don't care about any hurt feelings or whatever. We're going to put the guy on the field we think we can win with."
The Blue Hose have 17 starters back from last season, including quarterback Brandon Miley and running back Lance Byrd. Miley completed 151 of 276 passes for 1,736 yards and 11 touchdowns and threw 16 interceptions. Byrd carried 127 times for 700 yards and four touchdowns.
Harold Nichols is in his second year as the head coach of the Blue Hose, which will be playing a team from the NCAA football bowl subdivision for the first time since moving up from Division II.
"They didn't have a good year last year, but it was Harold's first year as head coach," Grobe said. "As he took over a program, Harold's background has kind of been running the option, kind of like Georgia Tech. He was down at Georgia Southern and up at Rhode Island and ran a lot of option.
"I think he did a smart thing when he got in to Presbyterian. They'd been a four-wides, throw-the-ball-a-lot football team, and he just kind of took those kids and kept them in that system. It was a little bit like what we tried to do when we first came to Wake.
"I would assume they're going to be a lot better at it this year. Defensively they like to put some pressure on you and come and get you a little bit. And they do a good job defensively of being a sound four-man-front team. They give you a lot of pressure looks."
GAME NIGHT
• Teams: Panthers at Steelers
• Time: 7:30
• TV/Radio: WFMY Ch. 9 (CBS); WIFM 100.9
dcollins@wsjournal.com
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