Deacons Close Out Spring Practice Tuesday
4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After Wake Forest's final practice of the spring, head coach Dave Clawson fielded questions from the media as the Demon Deacons closed out spring ball and moved one step closer to the season opener on September 1 at home against Tulane.
Question: What did you see in the last practice of the Spring?
Dave Clawson: We tried to get some things cleaned up from the Spring Game. And we started introducing some Tulane stuff. We always want to introduce the first opponent. You know the Spring has a purpose and that's to get ready for the first game so that's why we do this extra practice (after the Spring Game).
Question: And you got your team back together after pulling them apart for the intrasquad game.
DC: Yes, you get the rhythm back together a little bit, and you know I always like to have that one extra practice that you know you have all of those mistakes and things you saw in the Spring Game that you don't want to go for four months before you make those corrections.
Question: What do you like most about what you were able to accomplish in the Spring? Wrap it up for us.
DC: I'd say on offense that, you know I think the sacks are down, the TFLs are down. Now we've still got to make more explosives. So, before you can make really good plays, you've got to eliminate the bad plays. And we certainly gave up, I thought, less sacks, and there were very few TFLs in the running game. There were more two, three, four yard plays. The minuses: I don't think we got enough big runs, especially in the Spring Game. You guys have been out here every day. We've burst for some runs. That didn't happen on Saturday. The run game was positive, but there were no explosives. And we did make some explosives in the passing game. And then I think, defensively, a lot of it was you just flip it. That it was very disappointing that we gave up those long passes. You know the one that Chuck Wade, I mean two guys had a chance to make a play, and three guys on the back side pursued, thought he was down and quit going hard. And there were some scrambles that became big plays. (Brandon) Chapman had the catch early and Jack Freudenthal had a big catch. Devin Pike's big catch down the middle. So at times we did not have those explosive plays last year in the pass game that we got. It's like every Spring Game, everything positive we did I could turn around and say "Hey the defense did a great job of not allowing explosive runs." So, I think that's where we've still got to make that next step of our running backs have to make explosive plays. And I think the one guy that did that in the Spring Game was Cade (Carney). I mean Cade made more explosive runs in the Spring Game than any other running back. I mean, he made two or three really, really nice plays in space and the neat thing is that you think of him as a bruiser and at times he made people miss.
Question: (Cade's) a guy that wasn't recruited by everybody as a running back. Many folks were looking at him at other positions. You told him he'd at least get a shot to compete for the position. At this point it looks like it's going to be hard to keep that kid off the field, right?
DC: Yeah, I think going into my thought with him was he's going to be a four-unit special teams guy and maybe the third down back. And now you look at what he's done, I mean he's battling to be our starting tail back. You know you project a guy to do certain things for you, but then you have him on the field, and he can do that and a whole lot more.
Question: Who else has really helped himself this Spring, really gotten himself into the picture?
DC: I think Scotty Washington has gotten himself into the picture. I mean you look at Cortez (Lewis) and he's got a boot on, and you look at Jared Crump and he's rehabbing a knee. I think Scotty Washington still has to become more consistent, but clearly has high end ability. I think Devin Pike really helped himself this Spring. I think last year you played Cam (Serigne) and you really didn't feel like you had a backup you could put in there. I think right now we'd feel really good about Devin Pike playing. You've got two and now you've got to develop a third. Defensively, certainly Jesse Bates and Cam Glenn showed out consistently. I think Amari Henderson showed what we saw early in camp last year. Zach Wary was on an upward trajectory until he got dinged up again in the Spring Game. Demetrius Kemp had a good Spring. Again, you look at the two deep and there's a lot more players in the two deep. Now, I'd say here's where we are: I think we have a lot more guys that I think can play in the ACC, we need more guys emerge that are the guy that help you win in the ACC. There are players that you win with, and then there are players you win because (of). I think the depth, there's more guys we can win with, we need more guys to emerge that are the guys that we win because of. And that is as they get into their second and third year, you hope that happens.
Question: How much ground did your offense make up on your defense this year? Because obviously your defense has been so far ahead of your offense.
DC: What do you think? Again, if we were here defensively (gestures, hands one foot apart) and here offensively, I think we've closed a gap, I still think we're ahead on defense than offense, but if the one was a seven and the others a two, I think that gap is here (hands six inches apart). The scrimmages were a lot more productive. There were scrimmages we hardly made first downs here in the first two years. That doesn't happen anymore. Now, we don't march down the field and score 35 points, but as the head coach I don't necessarily want that to happen. Because if you're doing that then you're probably not good on defense. So, there's still a gap, but the gap's not as big.
Question: What's the main thing you're telling your team you want from them the next three months? Marching orders?
DC: In Spring football every day is regimented, you have meetings, lifts, and practice. And really for the next three months we give the team to the team. And every football team in the country, when they're done with Spring football, now the players have that time that they're going to lift, but they have to organize themselves. That can be a really, really good thing for some football teams, (or) it can be a really bad thing. We've got to make sure for Wake Forest it's a really good thing. I do think we have good leadership, we have good depth, we have internal competition, and between now and the first practice in early August we've got to come back a better football team than we are now. It has to happen. So, the marching orders are that as a player, they've got three and a half months to make themselves a better player, stronger. We've got a Jugs machine, and we've got a great facility now that they can work on skills in all weather. They've got to make their unit better. You know, Marquel Lee's got to make all of our linebackers better. And Cam Serigne has to make all of our tight ends better. Ryan Janvion's got to make the secondary better. And we've also got to make sure that we don't make any mistakes off the field which cause us to lose guys and have guys suspended. You can lose games in the Summer by making really bad decisions off the field.
Question: What do you want to see from your two quarterbacks? How does John Wofford need to improve and how does Kendall Hinton need to improve?
DC: I think they both had good Springs. I think probably earlier in the Spring I thought probably Kendall was ahead and I think John probably finished stronger. The bottom line is that at the quarterback position we have to take care of the football. The numbers that have to be down next year are our turnovers and our sacks. And again that isn't all on the quarterback position, but a lot of it, the turnovers are at the quarterback position. The bottom line is everyone is going to wonder who the starter is, and I still look at those guys and neither of them are 6'4", 235 lbs., and I don't want to be a two-quarterback system, I'd like to have a starter, I just have a hard time imagining right now that either of those guys is going to stay healthy for twelve games. So the reality is that we're probably going to need both of them, and we may need Kyle Kearns. I think a positive of the Spring is I think Kyle Kearns got a lot better. At the beginning of the Spring he was struggling to run base plays, but at the end he was really starting to make some throws and make some plays.
Question: The perception is, from what I gather from Kyle, is that he seems to be learning everyday out here. It's hitting him fast and hard, right?
DC: Yeah, but the growth has been amazing, it really has. Before, you had to tell him what to do and now he can go out there and run the offense.
Question: What about Jake Benzinger at offensive tackle?
DC: He's just got to get stronger. He can move his feet and he's got a great agility skill, and it's like any young lineman, it's a very, very difficult position to start from scratch. And the bottom line right now on offense is it's still young. The only three players that we're playing with that were here when we got here are (Josh) Harris, (Ty) Hayworth and Serigne. And everyone else, they're experienced, but it's still a young group. And young players, their greatest improvement is early, and that's where I hope (over) the next three and a half months there's a major jump in them. Once you're a junior to a senior the increases are more incremental. The big jumps happen early in your career. All of our quarterbacks have only been here two years. Every receiver right now that we played with in the Spring, none of those guys were even here a year ago. Scotty Washington, Steven Claude, Chuck Wade, Tabari (Hines) was here last Spring, (Alex) Bachman wasn't here, I mean this is the first Spring practice that 80 percent of our offensive skills players have ever been through. And now they have a better idea.
Question: How confident are you that the offensive line is going to be able to get the production you need to move the football?
DC: I know we're better. To be an elite offensive line, that's a major step. We will be better, and how much better we'll find out. Am I confident that we'll move the ball better? Yes. Am I confident that we're gonna run the ball better? Yes. Our jump went from 40 yards (per game rushing)to 106, or something like that, so what do I want to see it get to and what is it going to get to? I don't know. It'll be better, but I want a major jump. Everyone does. I mean you watch it. We're better. How much? We're gonna find out. And that's their challenge. We want to be a lot better. And if we're going to win eight to 10 games and compete for an ACC championship, then they're going to have to take a major, major jump. And that's their challenge. And they're going to have to stay healthy, and we're going to have to keep them healthy.
