Wake Forest Athletics
Newcomers Shine In Final Spring Scrimmage
4/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 3, 2004
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Several young players, including a host of redshirt freshman, stole the spotlight in Wake Forest's final spring football scrimmage, held on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Groves Stadium before an estimated 1,300 fans. The team practiced in position groups for an hour, then scrimmaged for an hour beginning at 12 noon.
"What's exciting to me is that we have so many redshirt freshmen that really did some good things today," said Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe. "I like our young guys and the direction we're going. Players like Ben Mauk, Kevin Marion, Micah Andrews and a lot of young offensive linemen and defensive players did some good things today. We'll have to look at the film to see just how good, but I was impressed with the way the young guys competed. They looked like they wanted to earn a position."
Wake Forest's returning offensive starters, including quarterback Cory Randolph, running back Chris Barclay and wide receiver Jason Anderson, all saw action early, but coaches allowed the reserves and newcomers get plenty of reps during Saturday's scrimmage. While Randolph started the game, Mauk, a redshirt-freshman, came in the next series and led the Deacon offense across midfield, where Matt Wisnosky then kicked a 52-yard field goal -- eight yards longer than his current career-best. Just a short time later, Mauk found sophomore Willie Idlette for a 44-yard touchdown strike.
 Willie Idlette caught a 44-yard TD pass from Mauk.  | |
Mauk, who set national high school passing records at Kenton (OH) High School, also took advantage of the playing time to show some versatility. He ended up as Wake Forest's leading rusher on the day, scrambling seven times for 93 yards and a touchdown. His scoring romp of 61 yards was the longest of the scrimmage. Mauk also completed 6-of-8 passes for 102 yards and the TD to Idlette.
"I thought Mauk played really well," Grobe said. "He's come on all spring, actually, although today might be the most consistent he's been. Last fall we saw some talent, but felt like he had a ways to go. He did a great job in the offseason working in weight room and getting in shape. He's obviously running better, he's got the great arm and he's starting to pick up the offense. So it's very encouraging when you have a guy like Cory Randolph who's your quarterback and a guy like Ben Mauk who's pushing him for some playing time. It's just a really healthy situation for us at quarterback right now."
 D'Angelo Bryant ran for 42 yards. | |
Randolph, although he didn't take as many reps as Mauk, showed that the Randolph-to-Anderson connection is still alive and well, as he found his familiar target for a 40-yard completion, his longest of the day. It was also Anderson's lone catch of the scrimmage. In 2003, Anderson was WFU's leading receiver with 44 catches for 751 yards. He also caught six of the team's eight passing TDs last season, all from Randolph.
In addition to Idlette, another young speedster, Kevin Marion, stood out Saturday with four carries for 58 yards (including a 39-yard scoring run) and one reception for six yards (from QB Anders Larson). Marion and Idlette also practiced returning punts and kickoffs prior to the scrimmage, both showing impressive speed.
"Somebody's doing a good job teaching Kevin Marion how to run -- that's some good coaching there," Grobe said, laughing. "We have kids that move around pretty well. One of my concerns coming in was if Mauk would be agile enough to move the football. He looked like a pretty agile guy today. Overall, our team speed in both of the last two classes we've brought in is pretty good. That's going to pay off."
Wake Forest's tight ends got into the action, as both R.D. Montgomery, a senior, and redshirt freshman Zac Selmon caught passes. Montgomery had a nine-yard reception on a slant from Mauk, while Randolph found Selmon for a 28-yard catch.
With Barclay carrying the ball just twice for a total of five yards, 2003 reserves Cornelius Birgs and D'Angelo Bryant made the most of their opportunities, both finishing with 42 yards on the day. Birgs tallied six carries and scored the final touchdown of the scrimmage on an eight-yard run. Bryant had five carries, with a long run of 25 yards, in addition to one reception (10 yards).
Newcomers also got into the action on the defensive side of the ball, although the leading tackler on the day was junior strong safety Dominic Anderson. Anderson returned to the defense this spring after seeing action as a safety in 2002 and suffering a season-ending knee injury as a running back in the 2003 opener at Boston College. He finished the day with a team-best five tackles. Redshirt freshman cornerback Devin Blake recorded four tackles -- all solo stops. In fact, five of the top seven tacklers on Saturday came from the defensive backfield, as strong safety Patrick Ghee also recorded four tackles, free safety Josh Gattis had three stops and a pass break-up and redshirt freshman cornerback Aaron Mason had two solo tackles.
 Dominic Anderson returned from injury to lead the defense with five stops. | |
Senior Caron Bracy, who shifted to outside linebacker this spring after starting at bandit the last two seasons, led a somewhat-revamped linebacking unit with three tackles, including a sack and TFL. At the same position, James Adams, who moved from strong safety this spring, assisted on a sack as well. Senior Brad White, the team's starter at middle linebacker the last two seasons, recorded two tackles from his new position on the outside, while Pierre Easley assisted on two tackles at MLB.
When asked about the linebacker position, Grobe said, "We've obviously helped ourselves. Linebacker was something we were really concerned about heading into spring ball and now I'm not concerned about it, at least one deep. I think some backups have to emerge and prove themselves. I'll be excited to get Jon Abbate back in the mix -- he had some good things going on before he hurt his shoulder (second week of spring practice). But I think moving Caron Bracy to linebacker has really helped us, moving Brad White out to the edge has helped us and Pierre Easley had a really good spring as middle linebacker. We also have James Adams backing up Caron -- that guy is going to play some football for us, he's done some really good things. "
Wisnosky added another field goal of 41 yards to go with his 52-yarder, making good on his only two attempts of the day. He and punter Ryan Plackemeier both went 2-of-2 in extra points as well. Punting was not included in the actual scrimmage.
Mistakes were held to a minimum during the scrimmage, as there were zero turnovers. The offense was called for four penalties for 27 yards (two holds, two false starts), while the defense was flagged just once (5 yards) on an offsides penalty.
"I really thought we were better than I expected," Grobe said. "I thought we'd be sloppy, putting the ball on the ground and making some mistakes. We had some dumb penalties, but overall we really competed pretty hard."
The football team will reconvene in early August for preseason camp, and despite the good things he saw today, Grobe is already thinking about areas that need work this fall. "Our offensive and defensive front," he said. "I don't think there's any question about that. We've got some skill, we've got some kids who can run. But we have to protect our quarterbacks better and I really wasn't too happy with the way we ran the football. I didn't think we were very physical on the offensive line. On the defensive line, we're not physical enough yet -- we're giving too much ground, taking off blocks. We've got to make plays up front. Our fronts are going to be the main concern in the offseason and coming back in August."
The 2004 campaign kicks off with a road trip to Clemson on Sept. 4. The Demon Deacons' open at Groves Stadium on Sept. 18 versus North Carolina A&T. For season ticket information, contact the WFU Ticket Office at 336.758.3322 or 888-758-DEAC.
Scoring Summary
* Matt Wisnosky 52-yard field goal
* Willie Idlette 44-yard pass from Ben Mauk (Wisnosky kick)
* Ben Mauk 61-yard rush (Wisnosky kick)
* Matt Wisnosky 41-yard field goal
* Kevin Marion 39-yard rush (Plackemeier kick)
* Cornelius Birgs 8-yard rush (Plackemeier kick)
Rushing Carries Yards TD Long
Ben Mauk 7 93 1 61
Cornelius Birgs 6 42 1 12
D'Angelo Bryant 5 42 - 25
Kevin Marion 4 58 1 39
Chris Davis 1 12 - 12
Micah Andrews 5 5 - 4
Chris Barclay 2 5 - 3
Alonzo Chisolm 1 4 - 4
Damon McWhite 1 2 - 2
Cory Randolph 3 2 - 4
Anders Larson 1 -4 - -
Passing A-C-I Yards TD Long Sacks
Ben Mauk 6-8-0 102 1 44 1
Cory Randolph 2-5-0 68 - 40 3
Anders Larson 1-5-0 6 - 6 -
Receiving Rec. Yards TD
Willie Idlette 1 44 1
Jason Anderson 1 40 -
Zac Selmon 1 28 -
Cassiel Smith 1 20 -
Nate Morton 1 12 -
D'Angelo Bryant 1 10 -
R.D. Montgomery 1 9 -
Chris Davis 1 7 -
Kevin Marion 1 6 -
Field Goals
Matt Wisnosky 2-2 (52, 41 yards)
Extra Points
Matt Wisnosky 2-2
Ryan Plackemeier 2-2
Penalties
Offense 4 for 27 yards
Defense 1 for 5 yards
Defense UT AT Total Other
Dominic Anderson 4 1 5
Devin Blake 4 - 4
Patrick Ghee 2 2 4
Caron Bracy 2 1 3 Sack (-4 yards), TFL (-1 yard)
Bryan Andrews 2 1 3 Sack (-6 yards), TFL (-1 yard)
Josh Gattis 2 1 3 PBU
Aaron Mason 2 - 2 PBU
Jyles Tucker 2 - 2
Riley Swanson 2 - 2
Napoleon Sykes 2 - 2
Warren Braxton 1 1 2
Cori Stukes 1 1 2 Sack (-5 yards)
Brad White 1 1 2
Pierre Easley - 2 2
Eric King 1 - 1 TFL (-1 yard)
Goryal Scales 1 - 1 TFL (-1 yard)
Zachary Stukes 1 - 1 Sack (-3 yards)
Michael Manfredi 1 - 1
Jerome Nichols 1 - 1
James Adams - 1 1 Sack (-6 yards)
