Wake Forest Athletics
Focus of Spring Ball: Strength, Depth and Competition
2/22/2021 12:25:00 PM | Football
“If we can stay healthy, this will be the best depth we’ve ever had.” - Coach Clawson
The 2021 Wake Forest Football schedule is set, the start of spring camp is within reach, and coach Dave Clawson believes he'll have his most experienced and deep squad ever as he enters his eighth season leading the Demon Deacons.
With a return to a normal eight-game conference schedule, the Deacs still square off against every other team in the Big Four, thanks to a non-conference contest lined up against North Carolina on Nov. 6.
The 2021 campaign is set to being on Sept. 3 against Old Dominion at Truist Field.
"Our schedule came out," Clawson said. "When the schedule comes out, that sort of sets your focus for the season. You know now who you're playing, when we're playing and where we're playing them.
"The opener is going to be against Old Dominion at home on Friday, Sept. 3. We're hoping that we can have the same kind of fan support for that game that we had for the Utah State game in 2019. That was a great environment for our players and our program."
That gives the staff and players seven months to get ready for the 2021, after the strange season that took place last year with a spring camp that was cut short after five practices and a late-summer return to campus.
"We're excited," Clawson said. "We have a lot of time, and we need the time. For us, not getting in the weight room took a toll on us. We have to get ourselves strong again. We have 20 of 22 starters back.
"All of the offense and nine of the 11 on defense. We have over 54 years of experience coming back on defense. With all of the super seniors coming back, that will really help our depth. That's the most important thing for us to take that next step as a program."
With all that returning experience, including every offensive starter, Clawson believes this is the year for the program to take that next step and challenge for an ACC Championship.
"From 2010-15, we averaged about four wins a year," Clawson said. "The last five years, not including the COVID year, we've averaged between seven-and-eight. We'd like to take that next step and compete for championships and New Year's Day bowls. Getting this experience back and creating depth is what needs to happen to take that next step as a program.
"Not only do we have a lot of guys back, but we were joined by 10 guys mid-year — eight freshmen and two transfers. So, we have 10 players in the program who will be here for spring football and workouts. That will give us a chance to acclimate those guys and hopefully put them in a better position to contribute in 2021."
The Deacs have a date set for the start of spring camp, but it's not written in stone, nor even in ink. After dealing with all the cancelations, postponements and on-the-fly scheduling issues in 2020, Clawson is ready to be flexible in terms of camp, planning for now to cram the 15 practices into little more than a three-week window.
"We're planning on starting mid-to-late March," he said. "We have a tentative start date of March 19. In the COVID era, everything is tentative. Our games last year were tentative and our practices were tentative. We have a plan, and the plan is flexible. We're hoping to begin practice on March 19, which is later than usual.
"We like to get started in February, but I felt that after how long this season was the player needed a little bit of a break. And we want to give (strength and conditioning coach) Chad (Bari) and the strength staff a chance to get these guys in the weight room. With all the time we missed there, we wanted to get our strength levels up before camp."
In 2019, Clawson and his staff completely revamped the way practices were designed, with the goal of reducing soft-tissue injuries. Last spring, the focus was to build depth, with each position group having a specific target number of guys they wanted to be deemed playable by the scheduled season opener against Old Dominion. Of course, then COVID-19 happened and those plans as well as the scheduled game against the Monarchs were largely tossed aside.
With so much experience returning this year for the Deacs, they finally have the opportunity to build quality depth across both sides of the field.
"That's been a big goal of ours for two-to-three years," Clawson said. "The eight-to-nine additional scholarships with the super seniors will help in those regards this year. We've always said that within our program, there's a line. If you're at or above that line, you can help us win. If you're below that line, then we can't give you plays in the regular rotation.
"At every position, we have a target number to have above that line. In certain positions last year, we had it. On the defensive line, we had eight-to-10 guys who were playable. Linebacker, we probably didn't get to that point in terms of having guys we could play and win football games.
"So at every position, there is a goal. If you get one of those people who are hurt for a couple weeks or out for the season, you don't want your ability to win really get decreased because you don't have the depth built in there. On top of all these guys coming back, we also recruited some really good freshmen."
So the mantra in 2021 is to create positional competition, build depth, stay healthy and compete for championships.
"If we can stay healthy, this will be the best depth we've ever had," Clawson said.
With a return to a normal eight-game conference schedule, the Deacs still square off against every other team in the Big Four, thanks to a non-conference contest lined up against North Carolina on Nov. 6.
The 2021 campaign is set to being on Sept. 3 against Old Dominion at Truist Field.
"Our schedule came out," Clawson said. "When the schedule comes out, that sort of sets your focus for the season. You know now who you're playing, when we're playing and where we're playing them.
"The opener is going to be against Old Dominion at home on Friday, Sept. 3. We're hoping that we can have the same kind of fan support for that game that we had for the Utah State game in 2019. That was a great environment for our players and our program."
That gives the staff and players seven months to get ready for the 2021, after the strange season that took place last year with a spring camp that was cut short after five practices and a late-summer return to campus.
"We're excited," Clawson said. "We have a lot of time, and we need the time. For us, not getting in the weight room took a toll on us. We have to get ourselves strong again. We have 20 of 22 starters back.
"All of the offense and nine of the 11 on defense. We have over 54 years of experience coming back on defense. With all of the super seniors coming back, that will really help our depth. That's the most important thing for us to take that next step as a program."
With all that returning experience, including every offensive starter, Clawson believes this is the year for the program to take that next step and challenge for an ACC Championship.
"From 2010-15, we averaged about four wins a year," Clawson said. "The last five years, not including the COVID year, we've averaged between seven-and-eight. We'd like to take that next step and compete for championships and New Year's Day bowls. Getting this experience back and creating depth is what needs to happen to take that next step as a program.
"Not only do we have a lot of guys back, but we were joined by 10 guys mid-year — eight freshmen and two transfers. So, we have 10 players in the program who will be here for spring football and workouts. That will give us a chance to acclimate those guys and hopefully put them in a better position to contribute in 2021."
The Deacs have a date set for the start of spring camp, but it's not written in stone, nor even in ink. After dealing with all the cancelations, postponements and on-the-fly scheduling issues in 2020, Clawson is ready to be flexible in terms of camp, planning for now to cram the 15 practices into little more than a three-week window.
"We're planning on starting mid-to-late March," he said. "We have a tentative start date of March 19. In the COVID era, everything is tentative. Our games last year were tentative and our practices were tentative. We have a plan, and the plan is flexible. We're hoping to begin practice on March 19, which is later than usual.
"We like to get started in February, but I felt that after how long this season was the player needed a little bit of a break. And we want to give (strength and conditioning coach) Chad (Bari) and the strength staff a chance to get these guys in the weight room. With all the time we missed there, we wanted to get our strength levels up before camp."
In 2019, Clawson and his staff completely revamped the way practices were designed, with the goal of reducing soft-tissue injuries. Last spring, the focus was to build depth, with each position group having a specific target number of guys they wanted to be deemed playable by the scheduled season opener against Old Dominion. Of course, then COVID-19 happened and those plans as well as the scheduled game against the Monarchs were largely tossed aside.
With so much experience returning this year for the Deacs, they finally have the opportunity to build quality depth across both sides of the field.
"That's been a big goal of ours for two-to-three years," Clawson said. "The eight-to-nine additional scholarships with the super seniors will help in those regards this year. We've always said that within our program, there's a line. If you're at or above that line, you can help us win. If you're below that line, then we can't give you plays in the regular rotation.
"At every position, we have a target number to have above that line. In certain positions last year, we had it. On the defensive line, we had eight-to-10 guys who were playable. Linebacker, we probably didn't get to that point in terms of having guys we could play and win football games.
"So at every position, there is a goal. If you get one of those people who are hurt for a couple weeks or out for the season, you don't want your ability to win really get decreased because you don't have the depth built in there. On top of all these guys coming back, we also recruited some really good freshmen."
So the mantra in 2021 is to create positional competition, build depth, stay healthy and compete for championships.
"If we can stay healthy, this will be the best depth we've ever had," Clawson said.
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