Deacons Complete Fourth Spring Practice
3/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 24, 2011
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest went through its fourth practice of the spring on Thursday at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex. The practice marked the first time this year that the Demon Deacons wore full pads.
"I thought it was a good practice," said head coach Jim Grobe. "I thought we had a real physical practice. I thought our kids enjoyed being in full pads. I don't think we had anybody hurt, but we've got a few bumps and bruises. That's my biggest concern, the older I get, the more I want to keep them healthy. I liked everything we did today. I thought it was a good pad practice."
The Deacons introduced some 11-on-11 scrimmaging in preparation for Saturday's scrimmage at BB&T Field. Near the end of Thursday's practice, the defensive sideline erupted when the defense forced and recovered a fumble following a completed pass.
"I liked what our energy was," said Grobe. "I think we've had four real energetic practices where the guys had a lot of fun. There was a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of emotion, bouncing back and forth. The defense is doing some really good things. I think they're doing some things that is making it tough for us to be consistent offensively. But that's okay. It's still early in spring. As the offense gets more snaps, we'll pick things up better. Right now, I couldn't be more pleased with where we are after just four days."
The spring is often a time of transition, particularly for those players who have just completed a redshirt season. After a year of practicing with the scout team, the redshirt freshmen now find themselves a step closer to seeing game action.
"It's always fun in the spring if you have a couple of surprises, guys that you don't really know are going to be there and they step up," said Grobe. "I don't know that we have any one guy right now that we would expect to be the star of the spring or the guy that's going to step up and help us right away.
"The only issues we have is all these guys that we redshirted, ran off (scouting) cards last year. They didn't run any of our offensive schemes, none of our defensive schemes. I don't think anybody looked better last fall than (wide receiver) Matt James running routes against the defense. But he had somebody show him a card, showing him exactly where to go every play. Now, he's got to go out there by himself and know what to do. We think that by the end of spring he's a guy that we think can really help us. But early in spring, he's struggling with where to go and what to do. Now he's got to block well and run routes well."
Wake Forest will hold its first intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, March 26 at BB&T Field. The scrimmage is set to start at 10 a.m.
