Wake Forest Holds First Spring Scrimmage

3/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football

March 28, 2015

By Ben Helms, WakeForestSports.com

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest head football coach Dave Clawson put the Demon Deacon football team through a 90-minute scrimmage on Saturday morning at BB&T Field.

"I think it was a more balanced scrimmage than what we've had in the past," said Clawson. "I still think the defense (played) a little bit better than the offense but I thought the line play on both sides was more physical.

The Deacons ran 90 offensive plays and gained 394 yards. Sophomore quarterback John Wolford completed 13-of-25 passes for 116 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted once. Freshman quarterback Kendall Hinton completed 13-of-26 passes for 192 yards.

Hinton scored the first touchdown of the scrimmage on a 13-yard run that was set up by his 60-yard completion to Jonathan Williams. Adam Centers nailed a 35-yard field goal to end another Hinton-led drive. The final score came on a 14-yard pass from Wolford to redshirt freshman Cortez Lewis, who made a sparkling catch in the corner of the end zone.

"That fade in the end zone that Cortez made, that was a play we didn't make a year ago. That's really encouraging," said Clawson. "The other exciting thing was seeing Tabari Hines make people miss. We didn't make people miss in space last year. That's why we recruited him, and when you recruit somebody to do something, and they come out and do it, that's a real plus."

Hinton led the offense to each of their first two scores. Clawson was impressed with his freshman who enrolled at Wake Forest in January.

"Kendall has picked up quickly. He's a sharp guy and he's learning the offense. He had some good series. He had some highs that you notice and some lows that you didn't notice," said Clawson.

Isaiah Robinson led the rushers with 39 yards on 10 carries while Hinton rushed for 24 yards on 10 carries. Wake Forest rushed for 87 yards on 37 carries.

"Last year in the running game, we'd go backwards. Today, we didn't have many negative yards. It's baby steps. When we ran the ball today, we didn't lose yards. The ball was always getting back to the line of scrimmage, we had more of those six to eight yard plays than we've ever had. It's a step forward," said Clawson.

Tyree Harris led the team with six receptions for 54 yards. Tabari Hines had five catches for 76 yards, while Maddox Stamey had five receptions for 54 yards. Williams had four catches for a team-high 77 yards.

"Credit to Jonathan Williams. He's playing better than he ever has here. He just seems more focused, more engaged, and he's playing better. Obviously, Tabari in the slot helps. And Tyree Harris, his attitude and practice habits and his work ethic is so much better than they were a year ago. Those are really encouraging things," said Clawson.

"On defense, we did a good job getting pressure on the quarterback and disrupting the football, and we didn't give up explosive plays. The minus is in the red zone, those plays come down to one-on-one throws, and the offense made the plays, and the defense didn't," said Clawson.

"On offense, I thought the line play was better, we were a more cohesive unit. The communication was good. The big negative on offense was the amount of wasted plays, the false starts, the dropped snaps, the sacks. There were a lot of guys playing football for the first time, and those things got away from them," said Clawson.

The Deacons were missing a number of key contributors who were sidelined for the scrimmage, including defensive tackles Josh Banks and Tylor Harris, tight end Cam Serigne, wide receiver Jared Crump, linebacker Teddy Matthews, and defensive back Brad Watson.