Wake Forest Practice Report No. 10
8/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 16, 2010
In the morning session, the Deacons practiced in full pads in hot and steamy weather. The coaching staff continued to spread the reps around, giving all of the players a chance to demonstrate their skills.
"I think it's important for us to do that, especially with the heat," said head coach Jim Grobe. "We're out here in some hot and humid weather, so we want to make sure that everybody stays healthy. We don't want anybody getting dehydrated, because once you start that, you might be out for a week or two."
"There's going to be a time here, probably in a week or so, where we've got to be stingier with the reps. Not only will we cut back on the reps that the third and fourth teamers are getting, but we'll also be cutting back practice times," Grobe added. "Right now, we're still trying to give everybody a look. With some of the young guys, we've found that every once in awhile there's a kid out there that you think is too far away to help you, and then almost overnight he starts becoming a player. We're still looking for those guys."
In addition to the normal skeleton, blocking and defensive drills, the players had the opportunity to work on kickoffs and field goals. At the end of the morning practice, the coaches pitted the offense against the defense in a hurry-up drill.
"We want to try to get the guys going really fast," said Grobe. "We feel like right now we're not thinking really well offensively or defensively at some positions. Our thoughts are just to increase the pace so that they have to think a little quicker and make them focus and concentrate a little more. We had a bunch of mental busts, but hopefully we can get to the point where we can do that drill and not have as many mistakes."
In the evening session, the coaches lowered the contact level as the players ditched their pads and practiced in helmets, jerseys and shorts. That did not mean a drop in the intensity level as in addition to the normal drills, the team spent significant time on conditioning.
"Tonight we again didn't have a really good mental practice, but we had a good physical practice. We got some good conditioning done," said Grobe. "Our kids flew around good; the only problem is that we made a lot of mistakes. I think we're a little tired now. We've been doing this for awhile, but that's ok, we got some good work in tonight."
With two-a-days beginning to take a physical toll on the players, the practice without pads gave their bodies a chance to recuperate.
"We ran into each other pretty good this morning. When we take them out of their shoulder pads we basically just don't want them running into each other," said Grobe. "We want to work our guys hard, but we have to be smart and try to keep them as healthy as we can. It's not going to do us any good to have too many people on the sideline during the season."
With almost the whole team seeing significant practice time it has been too early for any one player in particular to separate himself from the others, but overall, the coaches have been pleased with what they've seen out of this years' squad.
"A player will stand out this play, and another one will stand out on the next play," said Grobe. We don't have anybody that's just shooting the lights out play after play, but that's the way it should be at this point. We're tired and we've been working really hard. I'm not disappointed in anyone that I'm looking at right now. The key is not to find one or two guys who are standing out, but to have guys that aren't standing out in the wrong way, meaning being lazy, not knowing what to do too many times or being a guy that the coaches have to yell and scream at. We've had a little of that out here, but most of the time when the guys make one mistake they don't make that same mistake again."
The Demon Deacons are scheduled to practice tomorrow from 3:30-6 p.m. at the Doc Martin Practice Complex. Wake Forest's next scrimmage is set for Thursday at 3 p.m. at BB&T Field.