Wake Forest Athletics
Defense Dominates in Final Practice Before Spring Scrimmage
4/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 17, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - - Wake Forest head football coach Jim Grobe on Thursday led the Demon Deacons through their final practice of the spring before Saturday's spring game. The final scrimmage will start at 1 o'clock Saturday at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex on the Wake Forest campus.
Grobe was impressed with his defense on Thursday, a unit that returns nine starters after finishing 27th in the nation in total defense in 2007.
"I thought our defense was cranking up," said Grobe. "It's tough sledding for our offense right now. That defense is pretty aggressive and I thought they won the day today."
During Thursday's one hour and 45 minute practice, the Deacons spent considerable time working on the red zone offense.
Saturday's final scrimmage will be more of a fun conclusion to spring drills rather than a cut-throat, job-on-the-line type of contest.
"More than anything, (we want to) let the kids have fun," said Grobe. "Let them run around, let the fans see our guys. I think our fans are going to be excited to see the talent level we have. Hopefully, have a good, healthy scrimmage and at the end, have everybody walk off the field with a smile on their face. More than anything, we want to have fun. We'll look (at the tape) as a staff but we're not really looking at it as a way to make the team. We're just trying to let the guys compete and have a little fun."
Throughout the spring, Grobe and his staff have concentrated on preparing the less experienced players on the squad prepare for the 2008 season. That will be the case on Saturday as well.
"It doesn't take any smart person to figure out Aaron Curry can play, Alphonso (Smith) can play, Stanley Arnoux can play, Boo Robinson can play," Grobe said. "You can go right down the list. We've got a ton of guys we know can play pretty good. So we don't have to have those guys out there for two hours on Saturday. We're going to let them play a little bit because they would be upset if they didn't get a chance."
With good depth at nearly every position, Grobe isn't concerned about having players fighting for a starting spot in next year's line-up.
"What's funny is that we call for ones and twos but you never know who the ones and twos are because the coaches mix guys in and out," Grobe said. "So we're kind of hodge-podge with the units right now but we'll try to let the young guys have more reps than the older guys on Saturday."
Grobe joked about his personal goals for Saturday's scrimmage.
"I'm going to see how much fried chicken I can eat. It drives me crazy, I'm out there on the field and I can smell all the food."
