The redshirts have come off a number of potentially key players on the Wake Forest football roster.
And so have college football's version of training wheels, the cards a member of the scout team is shown so he'll know where to go and what to do.
So coach Jim Grobe will be watching closely this morning in the first scrimmage of the spring to see which players who sat out last season as redshirts can roll on their own and which ones keep falling over.
The scrimmage, free and open to the public, will start about 10 a.m. at BB&T Field
"I don't think anybody looked better last fall than Matt James running routes against the defense,'' Grobe said, referring to the 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman wide receiver from Raleigh. "But he had somebody show him a card and show him exactly where to go every play. And now he's got to go out there by himself and know what to do.
"We think by the end of the spring he's a guy who can really help us. But early in the spring, he's still struggling with just figuring out where to go and what to do. And how he's got to block well and run routes well and do all those kinds of things.
"So that's the biggest issue of all of our young players.''
Now in the mix for playing time are Colin Summers, Daniel Blitch and Antonio Ford in the offensive line, James and Brandon Terry at wide receiver, Duke Mosby and Daniel Vogelsang in the defensive line, Zachary Allen at outside linebacker and safety Desmond Cooper and cornerback Merrill Noel in the secondary.
Tight ends Jonathan Garcia and Neil Basford and offensive lineman Dylan Heartsill will have to make up for lost time in August after missing spring drills recovering from injuries.
Grobe said he considered playing Heartsill last fall before Heartsill's back sidelined him. In his absence, Summers, a 6-4, 330-pound guard from Raleigh, has moved to the front of the class.
Steed Lobotzke, the offensive coordinator and line coach, said that Ford is talented but raw and is still making the transition from the defensive line, and that Blitch has not been as quick to learn the playbook. But he said that Summers has been impressive enough early that he might challenge redshirt senior Michael Hoag at right guard.
Noel also has been impressive in the early practices, after underwhelming Grobe last fall. With sophomore Dominique Tate back in good standing after missing last fall while academically ineligible, the secondary promises to be one of the deepest groups on the roster.
Noel and Tate will compete with sophomores Kevin Johnson and A.J. Marshall, junior Kenny Okoro and senior Josh Bush for playing time at cornerback, and Cooper will battle sophomores Daniel Mack and Duran Lowe and senior Cyhl Quarles at safety. Bush and Tate will have a chance for playing time at cornerback and safety.
"(Noel) has been really impressive,'' Grobe said. "He's another one, like Dom Tate, who last fall was not good for him. He was in a bad mood all the time because he didn't get to play on the varsity and get to play on Saturdays. There were days when he came out and didn't work very hard, and was really hot and cold.
"But we couldn't have asked more from him the first three days of spring practice. He's made a lot of plays.
"He's been really aggressive, really physical. He looks like he's having a lot of fun at full speed.''
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