Coach Jim Grobe has a word of advice for anybody planning to drop by BB&T Field today to watch Wake Forest's football scrimmage, scheduled for 10 a.m.
Don't be late.
"We might only get to go for about 30 seconds if we don't get more people healthy,'' Grobe said Thursday.
Grobe admits that he's not the most popular man on campus these days, at least not among the constituency made up of those playing football. Disappointed by the number of Deacons who have been sidelined this spring by injuries, Grobe has been prodding his players to get back on the field.
Coming off a trying 3-9 season, Grobe was counting on this spring to provide a necessary springboard into the 2011 campaign.
"They don't like me very well,'' Grobe said. "I'm kicking them in the butt about getting out here.
"We've challenged our football team. We're really going to be proud of the guys who don't miss a practice this spring.
"And we've got lot of good ones who are working hard not to.
"And that's not a science. Guys get banged up. That's what our sport is.''
The most prevalent injury has been sore hamstrings, which have caused tight ends Cameron Ford and Andrew Parker, safety Desmond Cooper, cornerback Dominique Tate, linebacker Zachary Allen and running back Josh Harris to miss time. Receivers Chris Givens and Danny Dembry also have been sidelined by knee tendinitis.
The injuries to Ford and Parker have ravaged the tight-end position, with redshirt freshmen Neil Basford and Jonathan Garcia out recovering from surgery. Basford had his shoulder repaired, and Garcia had surgery on an anterior-cruciate ligament he tore in the final week of practice last season.
"The tight-end position has been a disaster,'' Grobe said. "Cam Ford and Andrew Parker are both in and out.
"(Walk-on) Spencer Bishop has been the most durable tight end, but he's still trying to figure things out. What happens is you just don't have any consistency.
"Consequently our defense is owning the offense right now because we can't put together any consistency. I don't know what it is.''
Grobe said it has been all but impossible to evaluate his quarterback play because of all the missed time elsewhere in the offense. Harris, after missing Tuesday, returned to practice on a limited basis Thursday.
"That's a guy who's got special ability,'' Grobe said. "Ability is not a problem. Dependability is going to be the issue.''
One bright spot has been Brandon Pendergrass. After missing the last half of his junior season with a separated shoulder, Pendergrass has participated in the first seven spring practices.
"You'd like to have a tailback you feel like you could give the ball to 25 times a game and not have to worry about it,'' Grobe said.
"But we haven't been that way in a while.''
Reinforcements are expected by the time preseason practices begin in August. The Deacons have two running backs in the freshman class, 6-foot-3, 195-pound DeAndre Martin of Hialeah, Fla., and 5-7, 170-pound Orville Reynolds of Parkland, Fla.
"DeAndre Martin we feel like is a really physical kid,'' Grobe said. "He's a wrestler and a weightlifter and a downhill guy, a guy we think can play safety on defense or running back. We think he can be a physical kid for us.
"And then Orville Reynolds is a jet. He's running great 100 times right now.
"So we've got kind of a downhill thumper and a speed guy, so that's good. But you don't want to have to play those guys. You just might be forced to.
"You just don't know.''
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