Wake Forest Athletics
Post-Scrimmage Quotes
4/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 8, 2006
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On the spring game:
"For us, it's a practice. It's a scrimmage. We were mixing guys in and out. We wanted to give guys a few reps. We weren't really trying to give everyone an equal amount. I thought both sides of the ball had some moments and did some good things. We probably didn't have as much intensity defensively that we're going to need to have in the first game. Offensively, I thought we had too many procedure penalties to be effective. We can't start a lot of drives first-and-15. But overall, I thought we had fun and that's what we were after this spring as much as anything."
On what areas impressed him the most this spring:
"The enthusiasm. Our kids enjoyed coming to practice. They had a lot of fun. We competed as much as we could without getting anyone beat up. More than anything else, on both sides of the ball, we've got guys who really love playing the game. We had a lot of enthusiasm. It's just fun to be around these kids."
On any disappointments about the spring:
"We didn't put in as much offense and defense in, but that was by design. We started out with the goal of evaluating our players. We feel pretty good about that right now. We stayed pretty healthy. If we could start over again, I don't think we could have had 15 practices that turned out any better than these have."
On the atmosphere at the on-campus facility rather than Groves Stadium:
"It was kind of fun. Coach (Bill) Faircloth said, `hey, maybe we ought to keep doing this.' It was kind of like a picnic atmosphere and I think the fans enjoyed being close to the players. You can't get that in a stadium environment so maybe it'll be something that catches on and something that we'll continue to do."
On the quarterback situation:
"It's absolutely Ben Mauk's job. He's our quarterback and we want it to stay that way. The other quarterbacks understand that. He's had a great spring. He's performing like a veteran quarterback right now. That's what we need - a couple great years out of Ben Mauk and then we'll turn to those other guys."
On how Mauk has improved:
"The one thing Ben has done is calm down a lot. He doesn't have happy feet. He's not looking to run around all the time. The thing I think he does best right now is when everything falls apart, he knows it's his job to get back to the line of scrimmage. We have to limit the number of eight and 10 yard sacks. We took a lot last year."
On the performance of redshirt freshman quarterback Riley Skinner:
"Riley is a good player. There's no question about that. It's a good feeling. Ben's the guy, we want Ben to be the guy and we need him to be the guy. We need to let Riley and Brett Hodges learn all those lessons that Ben has learned. But, it's comforting to know we have some young guys who can play."
On the wide receivers:
"Well, I think the wide receiver group is my biggest concern. We need some guys to step up. I thought those guys played pretty good today. I'm not sure how well we blocked. We'll look at that next week. We need some guys to separate themselves from the pack. We've got a lot of good receivers right now, but nobody has really stepped forward. That's what we need in August."
On the Ghee brothers, freshman cornerback Brandon and senior safety Patrick:
"They've got a good, brotherly relationship off the field, but on the field they're all business. There's not a lot of clowning around out there. When they come out to practice, it's exactly the way you'd want it to be. We don't have a guy with a better attitude and work ethic than Patrick. And we're seeing the same thing out of Brandon. If works as hard as Patrick, he's going to be a heck of a player.
On the development of the redshirt freshmen:
"We redshirted 21 kids last year. A big part of spring practice was to get a look at those guys. I'm pleased. They've come a long way in just 15 practices. When we get back in August, if we see the same kind of improvement, we'll have a lot of young guys on the field that can help us come time to play Syracuse."
Junior quarterback Benjamin Mauk
On how he approaches being the acknowledged starting quarterback:
"You just have to compete every day. Even if it's your starting job, you have to come out every day as if it's not. That's what I try to do."
On his spring:
"I enjoyed this spring. It's been really good. I've taken more of a leadership role. It's been fun coming out every day."
On the offense:
"When you've got an offensive line like ours, you can definitely move the ball down the field. With running backs like we have, it makes it really easy on the quarterback. The running back is always a viable option on pass plays. We've got to get the ball to those guys as much as we can. It's a good plan from Lobo and I think it'll work.
On Micah Andrews:
"Micah is really good. He showed that last year against Vanderbilt. He's going to continue to do what he's always done to help us win games."
Sophomore cornerback Alphonso Smith
On how he can improve from last year:
"I dropped a lot of picks last year so I'm trying to improve that. The goal is to catch Josh Gattis. To beat Josh Gattis." (laughing)
On the defense's performance this spring:
"We had a lot redshirt guys fill in this spring. We went through some growing pains early as they learned."
On the wide receivers:
"I'll say this about the receivers... this spring, they blocked. They run hard every play. All of them have the attitude -- every single one of them, which I like. Now they're coming at me. When Willie (Idlette) caught the ball, he said, `that was you, 11!' I said, `yeah, yeah.' I like it though. We're going hard."
