Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Football Practice Report - August 11
8/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 11, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Two-a-days -- a time-honored tradition that football players from the pee-wee level to the NFL must endure. The 2008 Demon Deacons got their first taste of the ritual on Monday with a double session on campus at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex.
Wake Forest held a two-hour morning session in shells and then came back in full pads for another two-hour session in the afternoon. It was the first of three double sessions scheduled for this week, with the remaining two set for Wednesday and Friday.
While two-a-days seem to be the rite of passage for every football team, Wake head coach Jim Grobe is not convinced that quantity beats quality.
"You've got to be careful because it's gotten to the point now where I don't know how much benefit there is to having two practices in a day," said Grobe. "We'd much rather have just one really good practice with our team. That's why we went light this morning, and I thought we had a good practice. I think it really helped us from a special teams perspective. After having a day off yesterday, it was probably good to get them back in the flow before we had our pad practice."
With 10 days of practice and a scrimmage now under their belt, Grobe and the coaching staff have started to narrow down their preparation for the season.
"We've been working so many people, we have got to start thinking about developing a two-deep and just working those guys," said Grobe. "We have so many guys in right now, both offensively and defensively, and we don't know how many of them will actually carry into the season. We're really trying to get a lot in, so we're getting too many mental mistakes right now. Probably by Thursday, when we have our scrimmage, we will pretty much decide what the two-deep is and go from there to get those guys ready to play."
On the defensive side of the ball, there seemingly should not be too many decisions to make with nine starters returning. However, one of the starters that must be replaced is defensive tackle Zach Stukes, who was a two-year starter for the Deacs. Stukes started all 13 games in 2007 and finished the year with 28 tackles and a sack.
Junior John Russell returns as the frontrunner to take over the starting assignment at defensive tackle. Russell started three games last year when Stukes was moved out to defensive end to take advantage of his speed. Russell recorded 34 tackles in 2007 as a redshirt sophomore and recovered a pair of fumbles.
The incumbent at nose tackle is Boo Robinson, who is regularly showered with a chorus of boos every time he records a sack at BB&T Field. Robinson had 27 tackles as a redshirt sophomore in 2007 and recorded four sacks and eight tackles for loss.
Ray McCartney, who coaches the interior defensive linemen, couldn't be happier with his returning players.
"I'm very fortunate to have two experienced, veteran players in Boo Robinson and John Russell," said McCartney. "They've played a lot of football here. They were both starters all last year and the year before that, as redshirt freshmen, they played a lot. They have a lot of experience; they're savvy veterans. Both are bigger, stronger and faster than they have ever been before. I'm really excited about both of those kids."
Finding and developing youngsters to fill in for Robinson and Russell is occupying much of McCartney's time during camp.
Michael Carter appears to be the top contender to spell Robinson at nose along with Michael Lockett. Ted Randoph and Dennis Godfrey are working behind Russell at defensive tackle. Godfrey redshirted in 2007 while Randolph switched to defensive tackle from tight end in the spring. Carter had four tackles in 10 games as a redshirt freshman last year. Lockett recorded five tackles in eight games in 2007.
"Michael Carter is the next one in the mix after (Robinson)," said McCartney. "Michael's a redshirt sophomore, and he also got some experience last year as a redshirt freshman. We're counting on him to significantly contribute this fall. He'll be a key, key guy for us.
"We have three different young men who are battling for the fourth slot in Ted Randolph, Dennis Godfrey and Michael Lockett. Michael and Ted are both older, more experienced players as redshirt juniors. However, they haven't seen a lot of game action - some special teams for Ted and a little bit of game time for Michael. They have a lot to prove, and Dennis is still only a redshirt freshman. Both Ted and Dennis moved from tight end. We'll see who shines during two-a-days to get the most playing time out of that threesome."
McCartney is also excited about true freshman Ramon Booi who reported to camp this fall.
"I'm very impressed with Ramon Booi," McCartney said. "We're hopefully going to redshirt him this season, and we're really excited about him. He had a ton of offers and he chose to come with us. He's from the pipeline that Tommy Elrod has developed down at Nease High School in Jacksonville."
Injury Report
The Deacons received some good news today with the return of wide receiver Jordan Williams and linebacker Kyle Jarrett. Both players had missed time with minor injuries.
Wake Forest head football trainer Don Steelman said he also expects receiver Chip Brinkman and fullback Anthony Williams to return to action sometime this week. Both Brinkman and Williams have missed time due to hamstring injuries.
Linebacker Chantz McClinic sat out today's double session after tweaking his hamstring in Saturday night's scrimmage. Also on the defensive side of the ball Andrew Conroy (knee) and Marcus Williams (foot) were sidelined with injuries.
A pair of freshman quarterbacks, Ted Stachitas and Christian Hartford, are also limited due to shoulder injuries. Both have had limited participation in preseason workouts.
