Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Football Closes Out Spring Practice
4/12/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 12, 2012
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest football made it through its final spring shakedown before the annual Spring Game on Thursday, April 12 at the Doc Martin Football Complex.
The Demon Deacons were on the turf for just over two hours in full pads and enjoyed slightly cooler temperatures than usual, but still had the benefit of a clear and sunny sky.
For the second straight practice, the Deacs began with special teams and ended with the kicking units. Alex Wulfeck and Alex Kinal got some work in early, while Jimmy Newman and Chad Hedlund were able to kick with a full complement of players at the end of practice.
In between, the Deacons mixed positional drills with some red zone and mixed offense-versus-defense plays and head coach Jim Grobe said he's seen about all he needs to see before Saturday's scrimmage.
"I think we're fine right now, I wouldn't want to keep going," said Grobe. "We're a little bit like you get in August. You practice, practice, practice and then you get to the point where you're really not going to improve much unless you play somebody. We're not going to be able to do that, but I feel good about where we are right now and I don't think a lot more practice will help us."
Grobe also reiterated that he has been pleased with the amount of evaluation the staff has been able to accomplish over the past several weeks, rotating any and everybody in to get meaningful reps.
"One thing I've liked this spring is that we've really gotten everybody a good look," said Grobe. "It doesn't matter whether you're a scholarship kid or not, everybody's gotten a ton of practice reps. I think we really feel good about where we're going to be depth-wise coming back in the fall. It doesn't mean that somebody won't surprise us this fall. When we come back in August there may be a couple kids that didn't really impress us much this spring that may really improve over the summer. But I think, right now, what we've done for our coaching staff is given them a real good bead on who we've got to get ready to play next fall."
With three new full-time assistants on the field all spring, Grobe related it was perpetually seamless getting Tim Duffie, Derrick Jackson and Jonathan Himebauch into the mix.
"Piece of cake for those guys," said Grobe. "They're good, solid football coaches and great fundamental football coaches. All three of them picked up what we're doing right away. I worried a little about our schemes and our terminology and how quick they would adapt, but it was a very easy transition and by the end of spring I think not only were our new coaches comfortable with what we were trying to do, but our players were too."
With just the annual Spring Game left on the slate, Grobe said the players and coaches are looking forward to the challenges a game-like scrimmage will present after running through two controlled practice games already.
"It's going to be interesting, in so many positions we're just one deep," said Grobe. "I made the statement that depth is always an issue, it's not just an issue with our scholarship players but we struggle with having enough guys in the springtime - with the graduation of our seniors - to have enough guys to have a real scrimmage that is more like a game. We're going to try it, we haven't done it for a long, long time but I think it'll be fun. I think the players are looking forward to it and it'll be a little different for our coaches too. I think we'll have fun watching our guys compete Saturday."
