Wake Forest Athletics
Kamara and Deacs Defense Looking to Take Next Step in 2020
3/9/2020 1:14:00 PM | Football
"Our defensive line, if we stay healthy, can be a real problem in the ACC.” - Sulaiman Kamara
Season Tickets | WF-ND Tickets
By Les Johns
The light flips on for different players at different times. For many Wake Forest football players, it usually takes a season or two in the program to get acclimated to the challenge of ACC Football combined with the rigorous academic standards.
But there are a handful of freshmen every season who make an immediate impact.
For defensive tackle Sulaiman Kamara, things really started to click for him mid-way through his redshirt junior season — a campaign which he thought would be his last with the Deacs.
But teammate after teammates — Boogie Basham, Sage Surratt, Traveon Redd and Ja'Cquez Williams all made individual decisions to return and play one more season.
"Why not?" Kamara said about coming back for another year.
"Why not get another shot at it with my brothers? Who knows the next time I'll ever play football with them again. We built something special here. Why not finish it out with the guys I came in here with?"
Kamara played in 12 games last year, starting in nine. He racked up 25 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a quarterback hurry and one fumble recovery. Kamara figured it was his last year playing college football.
"In my heart I just couldn't let it go," he said. "I just couldn't leave. I found out Boogie, Ja'Cquez and Luke were all coming back."
Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said that some of the unexpected additions to the 2020 roster by players returning ended up being some of his best 'recruits.'
"The collective decisions of Boogie, Ja'Cquez, Traveon Redd, Sulaiman Kamara to come back — a lot of it is that these guys are great friends," he said. "So much of college football, people talk about the transfer portal and even are looking at ways to transfer and play right away, for us it's always been about the connectivity, relationships and teamwork that keep people here.
"They're all great friends, and made the decision individually to come back, but a lot it had to do with the relationship they have with each other and how close they are. They have one more chance in their life to play football together. To get those four guys back for us is huge. You have your starting safety, starting linebacker, and two starting defensive linemen who all made the decision to come back and play another year here. Some of our best recruiting wins are the guys who decide to stay."
The Deacs have made bowl games in all four years Kamara has been on campus, but he believes they can work for an even larger reward in 2020.
"We hope to accomplish a lot this year," Kamara said. "Obviously an ACC Championship is something that we're setting our eyes on. But right now, the biggest thing we want to work on is our depth on the team, then getting everybody on the same page. We need to find our identity, our attitude as a whole. We know we're not just a second-tier team. We're a one-tier team. We can compete with the best teams in the ACC."
The Deacs intercepted 14 passes a year ago and recovered 11 of their opponent's 23 fumbles, finishing the season plus-eight in turnover margin.
"We were second in the ACC last year in turnovers and we're trying to better that," Kamara said. "We want to be the best in that category. The more turnovers you create, the more wins you can get."
Part of Kamara's confidence rests in the knowledge that the Demon Deacons return arguably the most talented, deep and experienced defensive line in the tenure of Clawson and defensive line coach Dave Cohen.
"Absolutely, with no doubt," Kamara said about that assertion. "We've had some really good defensive lines here, but in the past we didn't always have that senior presence. Right now, we have a lot of older guys with a lot of experience. We can pass this knowledge down. Our defensive line, if we stay healthy, can be a real problem in the ACC."
Wake returns seven defensive linemen who started last season: Kamara, Basham, Dion Began, Rondell Bothroyd, Tyler Williams, Ja'Corey Johns and Royce Francis. All seven will be in at least the third year in the program, with both Kamara and Basham returning as redshirt seniors. With that experience comes leadership expectations.
"That's the way we work," Kamara said about him and Basham. "We're a one-two punch combo. Boogie is a great leader. Coach wants us to be more vocal, but different people lead different ways. A lot of the things Boogie does on the field, younger players try to follow and emulate.
"They're picking it up. When we first came in, the (former defensive coordinator Mike) Elko defense was a little tough. We didn't understand it that much. This defense isn't as hard to teach the younger guys. We have a better grasp of it since last year. We were running through it today and making our checks. It's a lot easier. The younger guys are emulating us and picking it up fast."
The kinship that's grown among the large crop of returning players was forged in their first season together, Kamara said, though the summer and Red Dawn — a 6 a.m. Friday workout for freshmen who didn't make road trips.
"That was what really brought us together as a freshman class, and that bond still holds strong today," Kamara said. "Nothing is going to get as hard as that freshman year, and we made it through as a unit. That built our character as a team and made us stronger.
Strength and conditioning coach Brandon Hourigan spent quality time with that group in those early morning drills.
"He is trying to see who's going to fight and who's going to be competitive," Kamara said. "We don't want anybody who's going to quit on us in the middle of the game. We want to find who's going to compete and show a backbone. We drive each other. That builds a great bonding with the freshmen. You see who are the leaders in the group and who's not going to break."
That group didn't break and they've been on a ride that has included four-straight postseason appearances.
They're looking for a prize even larger as they return together in 2020.
"We've been here for five years now," Kamara said. "We should know the defense and know the ins and outs. It's very exciting that all of us came back."
Next Up
Wake Forest is back on the field for the fifth practice in spring ball on March 17.
The spring game Presented by Wake Forest Baptist Health is scheduled for April 4 in BB&T Field. We invite all of Deacon Nation to come get their first glimpse at the 2020 team. Admission is free. After the game, fans can go onto the field to meet their favorite members of the Wake Forest team and get pictures and autographs.
