Clawson, Deacs Continue to Raise Standard for Success
12/16/2019 9:29:00 AM | Football, Les Johns
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With a solid foundation and established culture, Dave Clawson has built a program to sustain its current level of excellence and advance to even greater heights in the coming seasons.
By: Les Johns
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2019 NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL CENTRAL WEBSITEDave Clawson has led the Deacs to a program record four-straight bowl games. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- When right guard Nathan Gilliam signed with Wake Forest football on Feb. 4, 2015 the Deacs were coming off a 3-9 campaign in Dave Clawson's first year leading the program.
The Demon Deacons offense averaged less than 40 yards rushing per game in 2014, scoring just four touchdowns on the ground the entire season. The offensive line didn't protect the quarterback, allowing an incredible 48 sacks — mostly taken by then-freshman John Wolford.
When cornerback Essang Bassey signed with the Deacs a year later, Wake was coming off a second-straight 3-9 season.
There were modest increases in offensive production, although Wake quarterbacks — once again mostly Wolford — were still sacked 40 times during the season. Wake lost its final six games of the season and through two seasons Clawson had yet to post an ACC victory in which his team scored a touchdown.
What has happened in Winston-Salem since is the product of hard work and constant evaluation of improving the program, as Wake Forest football has rewritten its records book and established a new foundation of excellence.
Offensive records have been shattered in each of the last three seasons, and the Deacs are set to play in their fourth-straight bowl game next Friday for the first time in program history. In addition by defeating Temple in the 2016 Military Bowl, Texas A&M in the 2017 Belk Bowl and Memphis in the 2018 Birmingham Bowl, Wake Forest has finished the season with bowl victories in three-consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.
Not to mention, Wake Forest has more wins in the last four seasons than any other ACC Atlantic team aside from perennial national title contender Clemson.
We're in the midst of the golden age of Wake Forest football.
The results mirror what Clawson laid out in recruiting visits in the early years as he secured the commitments of players like Bassey and Gilliam, both of whom clearly bought in to his vision for the program.
Essang Bassey has his name etched in the Wake Forest record books as one of the top cornerbacks in program history.
"If I didn't, I wouldn't have committed," Bassey said with a smile. "That was the vision that sold all the guys in my class. That's what we talked about when we came in here. We knew we would eventually put ourselves in the spot we are now. That's in the plan that Coach Clawson laid out for us. We've had that vision when we committed. Even though they were 3-9 at the time, we wanted to have the opportunity to be a part of the change here."
Gilliam, now a redshirt senior getting set to play his final game in Old Gold & Black later this month, has been a part of the culture change in the Wake Forest locker room.
"I feel so grateful that I was a part of turning the program around," Gilliam said. "We've turned it into something special here."
Clawson constantly reminds us all that Wake Forest is at its best as a developmental program, meaning most prospects don't arrive in Winston-Salem ready to make an immediate impact. In fact, it's all too often that the lower-rated prospects come in with a bit of a chip on their shoulder and end up being the ones that break through. Jessie Bates, Greg Dortch, Cam Serigne and Phil Haynes (pictured right) didn't each pass up dozens of other Power Five offers to come to Wake Forest, but were identified by the staff, had terrific careers with the Deacs and then found their path to NFL contracts.
From the outset of his tenure, Clawson has redshirted liberally, believing the fifth year in the program for a player is infinitely more likely to show increased production versus a hypothetical true freshman campaign. There's 10 non-freshman on this year's roster who didn't enjoy a redshirt campaign, and just five true freshmen that played more than the four games allowed in 2019 to retain their redshirt status.
By last season's opener at Tulane, Wake Forest had 18 fourth-and-fifth year players on the depth chart, and that number grew to 23 for this year's season-opener against Utah State. Clawson's continued commitment to redshirting should allow for that amount of experience to become the norm moving forward, which is an important ingredient for success.
Perhaps the greatest strength of the program during this era has been its ability to overcome adversity. Clawson's Deacs have constantly delivered when their backs are against the wall, as evidenced by earning bowl eligibility in 2018 despite a rash of injuries.
Those difficult circumstances created inspiring performances from the likes of Alex Bachman, Matt Colburn, Ja'Cquez Williams and Jamie Newman that have thrilled Wake Forest fans and delivered significant victories for the program.
It's this incredible combination of scouting, development and perseverance that have coalesced to provide all the magical moments Deacon Nation has experienced the last four seasons — the three bowl victories, the Rally in Raleigh, the destruction of Duke a year ago in Durham, the many nail-biting wins and of course capturing the Big Four Championship this season in front of the home faithful at BB&T Field.
Though a win later this month in the Pinstripe Bowl would give Wake Forest its ninth win for just the third season in program history, there's little reason to believe this is the pinnacle. With a solid foundation and established culture, Demon Deacons football looks like it's built to sustain and advance to even greater heights in the coming seasons.
Clawson constantly reminds us all that Wake Forest is at its best as a developmental program, meaning most prospects don't arrive in Winston-Salem ready to make an immediate impact. In fact, it's all too often that the lower-rated prospects come in with a bit of a chip on their shoulder and end up being the ones that break through. Jessie Bates, Greg Dortch, Cam Serigne and Phil Haynes (pictured right) didn't each pass up dozens of other Power Five offers to come to Wake Forest, but were identified by the staff, had terrific careers with the Deacs and then found their path to NFL contracts.
