Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Holds Second Preseason Scrimmage
8/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 19, 2011
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Joshua Harris scored on a 96-yard run among six offensive touchdowns during Wake Forest's 90-minute preseason scrimmage Friday morning at BB&T Field.
Harris compiled 112 yards rushing on just nine carries. Quarterback Tanner Price completed 18 of 26 passes and threw one touchdown, hitting Danny Dembry on a 21-yard score.
"Danny's had two really good scrimmages and really has shown that he's not only a good practice guy but when the lights go on, he's playing," said head coach Jim Grobe. "It's been fun to watch him."
Wake Forest's defense dominated the early portion of the scrimmage. Three of the first four offensive possessions ended with punts after three plays. The offense managed just one first down one its first eight possessions.
"The defense came out and played with a little more emotion, a little more intensity," said Grobe. "I thought the offense hung in there and did some good things towards the latter part of the scrimmage. The lesson of the scrimmage is for the offense, you've got to start faster, and for the defense, you've got to stay with it. You can't punt on defense. If you're not three and out, you'll spend some time on the field. Early on we were really sharp defensively. Towards the end, we were a little softer. It was a good work day on both sides of the ball."
Jimmy Newman kicked field goals of 28 and 22 yards before flanker Lovell Jackson scored the first touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Patrick Thompson. Tommy Bohanon scored on a one-yard run and Newman added a 25-yard field goal before Harris' long run seemed to change the momentum of the scrimmage from defense to offense.
"Coming off the goal line, you're just trying to get a first down," said Grobe. "Whenever you get a run like Josh had and you get points off of that, that's a huge lift to your football team. I thought that did give our offense a little bit of juice and got them going a little bit."
Linebacker Justin Jackson led all defenders with 10 tackles. Defensive backs Jason Green, A.J. Marshall and Duran Lowe all had six tackles apiece. Grobe thought that Green, a walk-on, had an exemplary scrimmage.
"I thought Jason Green did some great things," said Grobe. "It wouldn't surprise me at all to see him play quite a bit at Syracuse. At times, he's shown some better play than some of the kids who are spending time out with injuries. That's the nice thing, when you get some guys who are banged up and don't get to practice, every once in a while somebody steps up and does some really good stuff. Right now Jason Green's the guy. It was really good for AJ Marshall to get a lot of reps. There were some times today where I thought he was a little banged up but he kept on going. When somebody gets dinged, it's somebody's opportunity and some of our kids were trying to take advantage of that opportunity."
Newman made all four of his field goal attempts during the scrimmage and three extra points. Freshman Chad Hedlund was successful on four PATs.
Wake Forest's first offensive line did not allow a sack on Friday. The defense did accumulate four sacks but none against the first team. Derricus Ellis had a pair of sacks while Zachary Allen and Kris Redding each contributed one sack.
Wake Forest's final scrimmage of the preseason is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 9:30 a.m. at BB&T Field.
Wake Forest returns to the practice field on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex on campus. The team will attend Saturday night's Fan Fest event at BB&T Field which starts at 6 p.m.
