Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Press Conference Video & Quotes: Sept. 6
9/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Following Wake Forest's 7-3 victory over Tulane on Sept. 1 to open the 2016 season, head coach Dave Clawson and senior tight end Cam Serigne met with the media Tuesday to preview the Deacs' upcoming ACC opener against Duke on Saturday.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement...
"First off, we're certainly happy to be 1-0. Last year we were in a lot of close games and a lot of them we didn't find a way to win, so it was encouraging that we found a way to win that game. But just because we're 1-0 doesn't mean we're overlooking the mistakes. Clearly on offense we have to be a lot more productive. We missed some opportunities to make explosive plays and that was a game where we needed to make explosive plays. That has been a point of emphasis all spring, all summer. We were good at it at camp and in the game we didn't produce those plays that we have to make. It was also a game where we had very limited opportunities. We lost the time of possession by 10 minutes. The first half we had four drives and three of them were extended drives, including the touchdown drive. In the second half we only ran 17 plays before we had the ball with four minutes left and the lead. You look at those last six plays that we ran and then we took two knees. I think we ran 17 plays before we were in a four minute run the clock situation so when you play those triple option teams you have to make hay. Special teams wise, we had some issues with our punt protection that we need to get cleaned up. As well as we played defensively, we had some missed assignments. We're very fortunate that in that long pass they had, the kid didn't stay on his feet. That could have very much been a score. Like a lot of game one's there's a lot of mistakes that we need to get cleaned up and we hope to be one of those teams that makes great improvements from week one to week two."
"Moving forward, we travel to Durham to play a good Duke football program. I say good program because they're not just a good team, they're a good program. They've been to four straight bowls, including winning one last year. They're off to a good start this year, 1-0. Defensively, they're extremely experienced. I think four of the starters in the secondary started against us two years ago, in 2014. There are five starters in the secondary and four of them are seniors including [DeVon] Edwards, who is an excellent kick returner. The other is a junior. Their two inside linebackers are very good players and they have depth. They really go four deep at inside linebacker. These guys are younger but they're very good, very physical players. The defensive line is also very good. A.J. Wolf will be one of the toughest kids we have to block all year. They're a little younger on the D-line than they have been but I think they added some athleticism. They've got some younger guys who can bring it off the edge on offense. They have three returning starts on the O-line. Both backs are good players. There's power and speed. [Jela] Duncan has a power back and [Shaun] Wilson can run. At receiver, [Anthony] Nash and [T.J.] Rahming are back and those guys have been very productive players. They're big at tight end. Daniel Jones was a quarterback we liked a lot out of high school, so we know a lot about him. He had a great senior year at Charlotte Latin and he was a guy we tried to get here at Wake Forest. He's a good football player and got off to a good start. This will be a good challenge playing the ACC and the first road trip of the year."
On if there were first-game jitters:
"There's really no excuses. I have to give credit to Tulane, their corners played very well. We did some uncharacteristic things and I think it's because it was guys who have never played before. Now that they have a game under their belt, they'll be better prepared. They're good players. They don't make the plays they made at camp if they don't have the ability. I have confidence that those guys will make plays."
Redshirt junior tight end Cam Serigne
On the mood of the team after the win against Tulane:
"In this game it's always good when you get a win, so I think it's very positive as far as we're 1-0 going into week two and our first ACC game. We're feeling positive about that but on the offensive side of the ball we know we have work to be done and we've really stressed this week on the details and executing better and showing people what we can do this week."
On the sluggish performance on the offensive side of the ball:
"I just think that we need to play with more detail. As a unit we know we're better than that. We've shown it time and time again in camp and I think we just have to put it together in a game. I think it's a great opportunity this Saturday against Duke to show that."
On the rhythm of the two quarterback system:
"You know we have two great quarterbacks, and it's hard to keep either of them off the field. So, when you have two players like Kendall [Hinton] and John [Wolford], you want to use both of them. As an offense we worked with both of them all throughout camp, every week in practice, so continuing that chemistry with each of them is what we have to continue to do."
