Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Completes First Spring Scrimmage
3/24/2018 12:00:00 AM | Football
Defensive Stats | Final Stats (PDF) 
| Scoring Summary
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM. N.C. -- Wake Forest head football coach Dave Clawson put the Demon Deacons through a 90 minute scrimmage Saturday morning at McCreary Field House. The offense scored three times and added a field goal during the controlled intrasquad scrimmage.
"Like every first scrimmage, there were a lot of teachable moments," said Clawson. "I think we ran the ball fairly consistently on offense but our passing game isn't where it needs to be and that's something we've got to focus on the next two weeks. I thought defensively that's the best we've looked in the last year and a half. That was the best defensive scrimmage we've had since the 2016 season. We just can't give up big plays."
Offensively, quarterbacks Kendall Hinton, Jamie Newman, Sam Hartman and Tayvon Bowers split reps with Hinton and Newman running with the first unit. Hinton completed five of 13 passes for 83 yards and threw a 15-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Greg Dortch. Hinton also rushed for 109 yards on 13 carries and scored a touchdown. On one drive. Hinton hit wide receiver Scotty Washington for a 31-yard gain then followed that with his 32-yard touchdown run.
Newman completed eight of nine passes for 76 yards while Hartman was 11-of-17 for 88 yards. Bowers hit on six of seven passes for 27 yards and Matthew Considine completed his lone pass attempt for seven yards.
Behind Hinton, senior running back Matt Colburn II had 55 yards on 11 carries and Cade Carney added 36 yards on eight attempts. Carney had the first touchdown of the scrimmage on a one-yard run.
Zach Murphy booted the lone field goal of the scrimmage with a 30-yarder.
Defensively, the Deacons were led by safety Traveon Redd with seven tackles. Cornerbacks Amari Henderson, Nasir Greer and Ja'Sir Taylor all had six stops apiece. Clawson was pleased with the defensive effort, citing an increased level of communication among the defenders.
"Every year you go back and watch your film from the previous season and you identify what you have to get better at and it was screaming loud and clear that our communication wasn't great (last year)," said Clawson.
"Overall, I think the kids are more comfortable with the defense," Clawson said. "Last year we had three new coaches and at times they weren't on the same page. It's nobody's fault. You had a bunch of coaches who had worked together for years in a system and now you had four guys working together and that's why continuity is so important. Now we have it. All these guys have had a year, we've looked at it, we've seen our mistakes, where we have to clarify communication. Right now we're getting lined up and the kids are less confused and because of that they're running to the football better."
Wake Forest will continue spring practice drills this week. The annual spring game is set for Saturday, April 7 at 3 pm at BB&T Field.
