Wake Forest Athletics
Football Practice Report No. 7
8/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 14, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest football team completed its first full week of practice with a two hour session on a warm Friday afternoon at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex.
For the third-straight day, the Deacs practiced in full pads and ran through a bevy of position drills, 7v7 and 11v11 situations. Neither side of the ball gained the upper hand today but head coach Jim Grobe thought both sides gave a good effort.
"I thought we did all right today, said Grobe. "I thought the offense was up a bit there early on but then the defense got after the offense there towards the end of practice. The defense also had the upper hand in some of our situations today but overall it was a pretty balanced practice."
"We still have some work to do though," Grobe continued. "We're not where we want to be but we came out worked hard today. We probably weren't as crisp as we were on other days but it's that time of the year where we can tend to be a bit sluggish."
Despite the sluggish practice, there were still a couple of bright points on the day. In one of the final position drill segments, senior quarterback Ryan McManus lofted a perfectly thrown lob pass into a tight square on the throwing net in the corner of the endzone which produced a loud cheer from the rest of the group.
Linebacker Gelo Orange also had a couple of good plays in the last 11v11 situations and later Riley Skinner found freshman wide receiver Gray Mazzone for a long gain down the middle of the field.
The Deacons will now take to BB&T Field on Saturday for their first controlled scrimmage of the camp. Coach Grobe is not only looking forward to seeing how the competition for a starting spot plays out in a game situation but he is also excited about getting a look at the young guns.
"We know who the guys are that can play so we won't have to spend a lot of time looking at them but we want to focus on those positions where there is still good competition," said Grobe. "We're also going to try to find some time to get the rookies in there and let the freshman play a little bit. I think we have a handful of freshman right now, either because of their abilities or because of our situation depth-wise, that may get a chance play some this year. We're not going to make any decisions yet but we want to get an early look at them."
The controlled scrimmage will begin at 2 pm Saturday afternoon at BB&T Field. After the scrimmage, fans are encouraged to stay and attend Fan Fest, which begins at 5 pm.
Fans that cannot attend the scrimmage can join WakeForestSports.com's interactive live blog to keep up with the action. Just click on www.WakeForestSports.com.
Players Mentioned
