Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Practice Report - August 7
8/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 7, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM - Wake Forest continued its preseason practice on a pleasant Thursday night at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex on campus. The practice, which saw the Demon Deacons wear full pads for the third straight day, lasted just over two hours.
The first part of the workout focused mainly on position drills with the quarterbacks working on timing routes with the receivers and tight ends. The second half of practice featured some 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills with the offense working with the 40-second clock for the second day.
Overall, head coach Jim Grobe was pleased with the practice but he knows it's still early.
"We had a good practice today but I'm still hearing too many corrections," commented Grobe. "Unfortunately, that's how it's going to be this early on. We have guys in summer school and they're trying to get their summer school work taken care of as well as learning the schemes. I think some mistakes are to be expected but we have to continue to keep improving."
The theme of the first week of practices has been the "wave-effect" of the offense and defense. One day the offense seems to have the upper hand and the next day, the defense has a better practice. Grobe knows that's something that the team needs to work on over the next few weeks.
"We're stuck in this rut where one day the defense does well and the next day the offense does well," Grobe continued. "I think we might just need to be a little more competitive about not getting into those good and bad day situations and have a good practice every time out. I don't expect the defense to stone the offense and I don't expect the offense to be successful on every snap but right now we're have a wave of offense one day and defense the next. I think our guys just need to come out and build some consistency in their assignments."
One position that is struggling with consistency, due to a significant loss following the 2007 campaign, is tight ends. Wake Forest was blessed to have two high-quality tight ends in seniors Zac Selmon and John Tereshinski. Selmon was a tremendous blocker who made 12 catches as a senior while Tereshinski finished career fifth among tight ends with 60 receptions.
The top returning tight end is redshirt junior Ben Wooster who played in all 13 games last year and had two receptions including a touchdown catch in the regular season finale at Vanderbilt.
"Ben brings a lot to the table," said tight ends coach Steve Russ. "He's a veteran, this is his fourth year in the program. He knows the defenses, he's very smart. He's an excellent receiver as we saw in spring ball. He does a good job of knowing how to get open in the passing game and he's made a lot of strides in the running game. Part of that is that he's doing a great job in the weight room. He's getting stronger and feeling more comfortable, trusting his technique. He's had to sit behind a couple of good tight ends and was probably a guy who was ready to play a lot more last year but because of the circumstances, he didn't get that opportunity. I think he's excited about making the most out of it."
Cameron Ford, a redshirt freshman from Anderson, S.C., will also be contending for playing time at tight end. Ford played in the Shrine Bowl following his senior year at T.L. Hanna High after catching 28 passes for 626 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2006. "Cam is a young guy that has a lot of ability," said Russ. "He's shown a lot of promise. When you have a young guy, you want to get him as many reps as you possibly can."
Looking to gain experience is true freshman Andrew Parker, an all-state tight end from Jacksonville, Fla. Bartram Trail High. Parker started his high school career as a quarterback but has grown in to a 6-5, 225-pound tight end who was considered among the top 30 prep tight ends in the country last year by one scouting service.
"Andrew is a true freshman that's only been here for five practices but has shown a very good grasp of the passing game," said Russ. "Like most young kids, it's the blocking, not just assignment-wise but technique-wise that is a little bit different than high school. He needs to make some strides in that area but I like what I've seen."
Another newcomer is 6-6 junior Kenneth Coe. A spring walk-on, Coe was an outstanding lacrosse player at Charlotte, N.C. Country Day but did not play football until arriving at Wake Forest. Coe is the tallest of all the tight ends.
Overall, Russ is pleased with all of his tight ends.
"It's a hard-working group," said Russ. "They complement the fullbacks very well and they're enjoyable to coach. We're just trying to get better each day."
