Bothroyd, Hartman & Jurgens Set to Represent Wake Forest at 2022 ACC Kickoff
7/13/2022 1:00:00 PM | Football
The Demon Deacons are scheduled to make their appearance at the annual event on Wednesday, July 20 in Charlotte, N.C.
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Wake Forest defensive lineman Rondell Bothroyd, quarterback Sam Hartman, and offensive lineman Michael Jurgens are set to represent the Demon Deacons along with head coach Dave Clawson at the 2022 ACC Kickoff on Wednesday, July 20 in Charlotte, N.C.
Coach Dave Clawson and Wake Forest's student-athletes are scheduled to be live at the podium at 11:30 a.m. on ACC Network Extra followed by appearances on the ACC Network set. The entire two-day event can be seen live on ACC Network as well as on the ESPN App.
Wake Forest scheduled appearances on the ACC Network sets can also be streamed live on ESPN.com/Watch:
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Head Coach Dave Clawson (Noon ET)
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Sam Hartman (1:10 p.m. ET)
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Rondell Bothroyd and Michael Jurgens (2:50 p.m. ET)
Stay tuned to GoDeacs.com and Wake Forest's social media platforms for information about live interviews and exclusive content from this exciting event.
Dominant Up Front
Bothroyd, who was named a team captain in spring, finished the 2021 season with 63 total tackles which ranked fourth on the team and had a team-best 16.5 tackles for loss. His tackles for loss ranked third among all ACC players and 12th in program history. Additionally, he tallied at least one tackle for loss in 13 of 14 games including all 12 regular season games and totaled five games with seven or more tackles.
He collected a season-high 2.5 tackles for loss at North Carolina. The Manchester, Conn. native recorded a career high 10 tackles along with 1.5 tackles for loss in a win at Army, helping earn ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.
Bothroyd had nine games with at least one sack including key sacks in victories over No. 20 NC State and at Boston College to help clinch the ACC Atlantic Division title.
Our QB1
Hartman, who is in his third consecutive season as a captain, goes into the 2022 season with 9,266 career passing yards, ranking second in program history. Additionally, he holds the program record with 72 career touchdown passes while also ranking in the top-five in program history in career completions, attempts, completion percentage and passing efficiency.
He is the only Wake Forest quarterback with three or more four-plus touchdown games in his career.
Last season, the Charlotte, N.C. native had a breakout sophomore campaign, being named a finalist for the Manning Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award while also being chosen as Semifinalist for Walter Camp Player of Year Award and Semifinalist list for the Davey O'Brien Award.
He garnered Second Team All-ACC honors from the league, coaches and media, was the back-to-back ACC Quarterback of the Week (Oct. 25 and Nov. 1) and was named MVP of the 2021 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, finishing the game with 304 yards and three touchdown passes
His 50 total touchdowns ranked second in conference history and was just one away from tying the ACC record. Hartman threw for 4,228 yards in 2021, ranking sixth in ACC history and first in Wake Forest history. Additionally, he ran for 11 touchdowns, the second-most in program history by a Wake Forest quarterback.
So far this offseason, Hartman has earned Preseason First Team All-ACC from both Lindy's Sports and Athlon while also being named the Preseason ACC MVP by Lindy's Sports.
Center of the Beef Boys
A member of the All-ACC Team as an honorable mention in 2021, Jurgens started 13 games, all coming at center during the Demon Deacons historic 11-win season en route to the ACC Atlantic Division and Gator Bowl titles.
Over the course of the season, played the seventh-most snaps on the team, totaling 969 in 2021. He notched over 90 plays in two games against North Carolina and NC State.
His season-high 96 snaps came in a victory over No. 20 NC State, clinching the Deacs perfect home season and extending the home winning streak to nine games at Truist Field. Following the win, the Demascus, Md. native was named the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week, grading out at 92 percent with three knockdowns and no sacks or pressures allowed.
Jurgens was named a captain ahead of the 2021 season, becoming just the third sophomore captain in the Dave Clawson era along with Sam Hartman and Ryan Javion and he will be a captain again for the second consecutive season.
Wake Forest Football Overview
Wake Forest recorded one of its two best seasons in program history last fall as the Deacons won the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division title and the 2021 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Championship.
After leading the Deacs to a program-record tying 11-3 record, including a school-best 7-1 mark in ACC play, head coach Dave Clawson was named the 2021 ACC Coach of the Year by the ACC and the Associated Press. That marked the ninth time a Wake Forest head coach has been honored as the ACC Football Coach of the Year and the first since 2006.
After reaching a program record sixth-straight bowl game in 2021 and defeating Big Ten foe Rutgers in the 77th annual TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, 38-10, inside TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Wake Forest has the second-longest run in the ACC, trailing just Clemson, and Clawson owns the school record for bowl victories with four (2016 Military Bowl, 2017 Belk Bowl, 2018 Birmingham Bowl, 2021 Gator Bowl).
Wake Forest's six-year record of 45-30 is the most sustained success the Deacons have earned in program history. Overall within the ACC, Clemson and Wake Forest are the only football programs to rank inside of the top four in win totals over a two-year, three-year, four-year, five-year and six-year period, respectively.
The Deacs are 15-2 at home since the start of the 2019 season and the nine-game win streak is tied for the 10th longest in FBS entering the 2022 season. Additionally with a perfect 6-0 mark in 2021, Wake Forest recorded its first undefeated home record for the first time since 1979 and just the third time since Wake Forest's 1970 ACC Championship team. Meanwhile, six home wins last fall ties the program record that was set in 2019.
Nationally after climbing into the top 10 of the Associated Press and Amway Coaches Poll in 2021, Wake Forest achieved its highest ranking in the College Football Playoff Poll in school history when the first ranking was released on Nov. 2, 2021, as the Demon Deacons were tabbed as the No. 9 that week according to the CFP selection committee. Wake Forest ended last fall ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Poll, which marks the highest ranking to end a season in program history.
Clawson and offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero have engineered an offense that has rewritten the record books at Wake Forest. The Deacons have set over 350 school records including marks for points scored, points per game, total offensive yards, first downs and passing yards over the past five seasons. Also, the Deacs are the only football program in the ACC to average at least 30 points per game each year since 2017. Specifically in 2021, Wake Forest scored a program-best 574 points and averaged a school-record 41.0 ppg.
That point total ranks 43rd in modern FBS history and the fourth-most in ACC history. Additionally, Wake Forest became just the 20th ACC team in the college football modern era (Post-WWII) to cross over the milestone of 500 points scored in a single season. Individually, the Deacons topped 35 points in a game 12 times during the 2021 campaign. In the College Football Playoff Era, Wake Forest is one of seven teams (2014 Oregon, 2018 Alabama, 2018 Oklahoma, 2019 Alabama, 2019 LSU, 2020 Alabama) to accomplish that feat.
