As he assesses his football team halfway through preseason camp, coach Jim Grobe of Wake Forest sees a bunch of players anxious and raring to play Syracuse in the Sept. 1 opener.
Which would be great — if they were ready.
"One of the guys asked me, 'What do we have to do to get better, Coach?' " Grobe said Wednesday. "And I said, 'Just keep doing what you're doing. You've got to keep working hard.'
"We're to the point that everybody, coaches and players included, would like to be playing a game right now, but we're not ready to do that. So we've just got to keep persevering and keep working through it.''
The team is more intact as players who missed Monday's first scrimmage with injuries have returned to practice. Senior linebacker Kyle Wilber, probably the team's strongest candidate for All-ACC honors, returned Tuesday from a tight hamstring that sidelined him all last week.
"He got into the mix pretty good,'' Grobe said. "We had a couple of physical drills that he was involved in. He didn't seem to be too rusty from contact.
"But we're still making a lot of calls that he's involved in, a lot of different coverage thoughts and run thoughts, so we've got to get him back in the mix. The thing is, even for a guy as good as Kyle Wilber, any of our better, older players, they need work, they need practice, they need reps. Do it and do it and do it. You repeat it all the time.
"Consistency is your key.''
The best news might have been the play of junior receiver Terence Davis. Although Wilber was expected back soon, there was reason to worry that Davis might have structural damage in a foot that kept him sidelined last week and wearing a protective boot. But an MRI revealed only a sprain, and Davis, who already has bounced back from a torn knee ligament that wiped out his 2009 season, was back in practice Tuesday.
Davis did little Tuesday but appeared to be full-speed Wednesday.
"His foot's still sore,'' Grobe said. "Thank goodness he didn't have a break or anything goofy.
"I thought he'd come back in pretty slow, and I saw him run kind of a deep route early this morning, and he made a couple of nice plays in the two-minute drill. I like what he's doing right now, and it's good to get him back out here.''
All the Deacons contending for starting positions should be back on the field today, if sophomore receiver Michael Campanaro returns as planned. Campanaro, who has been sidelined by a tight hamstring, said he expects to be back in pads today.
"Our guys want to be out here,'' Grobe said. " I don't think we've got a guy on our team that wants to miss a practice.
"I think there's a lot of peer pressure on our guys. Our players know that as coaches, we think it's important, and I think our players feel like if they're not practicing, they're letting their teammates down.''
The Deacons practiced twice Wednesday but worked out without shoulder pads in an afternoon session devoted mainly to special teams. They will practice this morning at 9:30 and then have their second scrimmage at 9:30 a.m. Friday at BB&T Field.
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