Wake Forest Athletics
What They Are Saying: UConn
10/16/2024 2:41:00 PM | Football
Hear what the Demon Deacons are saying going into the UConn game on Saturday.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After a challenging loss to a top-10 Clemson squad, the Deacons look for a road win as they travel to Storr, Conn. to take on the UConn Huskies. The non-conference matchup kicks off at noon and will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.
Ahead of their matchup, the Deacs met with the media to discuss the matchup and the other news around the Wake Forest program.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement…
"Thanks once again for being here and covering Wake Forest football. Wrapping up the Clemson game, obviously we didn't play well against the good football team. We got off to a good start and then had those two interceptions. It's not only the interception, it's the lack of response, the sudden change, and then you got to get a stop on defense. That took what could have been a competitive game and made it a non-competitive game. In the first half on offense, we did a lot of good things. We had almost 200 yards of offense and then were basically very ineffective in the second half. We started out good on defense and there were six straight drives, other than the two minute drive, that we gave up a touchdown. Right now we lack the consistency to beat a team at that level. Like I said, after the game, I like our football team. We have a chance to have a good year. We're sitting here 2-4 and we've lost the two top 10 teams and we've lost two one-score games. Almost all these games down the stretch are going to end up being one-score games. Our ability to stay in these things, to not turn the football over, that's always been our key to success. The last few weeks we haven't taken care of the ball the way we need to. This week we head up and we play a very good UConn football team and they've done a great job flipping it around from last year. This is a program that I believe has 42 transfers on their roster and they look physically like a Power 4 team. They're a good looking football team, they're very physical on offense. They're averaging about 37 points a game and 450 yards. What's most impressive is their balance. If you're at 450 yards, you're probably 300 passing, 150 running and they're 230 passing, 220 running. They are running the football extremely well. They've got two very good quarterbacks, one was a transfer I believe from Wisconsin, the other from Maine. They're both big physical guys that can run the football. They've got three running backs, they're all very productive for them and they're all a little different. The receiver group, the [Skyler] Bell kid is a big time player and [TJ] Sheffield, these guys were power four players. They played at Wisconsin and Purdue, they're really, really good players. The offensive line is outstanding. They're a big stretch team. They're very, very committed to running the football and they're good at it. They don't run a lot of schemes, but the ones they run they know what they're doing. They handle movement really well and they don't get in a lot of third and longs. They'll trick play you. They've run nine trick plays in six games so you're going to get one or two a game and obviously after last week, I'm sure we're susceptible to that. Until you stop those things, you're going to see them again. The offensive line is very experienced. They've got about a hundred career starts, so this is a really good offense. Defensively, they've been stingy. It's around 21 points a game, 339 yards, but they're excellent at situational football. They're third in the country in third down defense and they only give up about 40% touchdowns in the red zone. They have players across the board. We have Cam Hardy, his brother starts for them and he's a really good player. They have a real big defensive lineman, [Dal'mount] Gourdine about 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, very athletic. They have a transfer linebacker from Iowa, [Jayden] McDonald who's a very, very physical player. Jordan Wrightis really good. These guys – they're legit – and they're used to playing Power Four teams, they played four last year. I believe they will play four ACC teams this year. We're also on the road. They've done a great job there, very impressed with their personnel and they are extremely well coached, really well coached in the special teams. They do a lot there. They make you work – they run nine different kickoffs and all these different punt formations and everything they do is well thought out. It's well schemed and they've done a great job. They have more wins this year already than they had a year ago. Buffalo's a good football team and [UConn] beat them 47-3 and they were right in the Duke game. Maryland's the one team that got them and if they replayed that game, it'd be a much more competitive game. This will be a challenge to head on the road and try to get a win up in Connecticut."
On the challenge of them being so balanced offensively
"You have to stop to run, you have to be gap sound. One of the things about the stretch play that makes it so hard to defend is the gaps get distorted a lot of inside zone plays and things like that. The gaps are a little bit more stationary. When teams run the stretch play in the way that they run it, a gap can move six or seven yards. If your nose guard or your tackle or your end or whoever's responsible for a gap, they're just not going to get in the gap. They've got to stay in the gap. Then if the ball enters in that gap, they have to be able to get off and make a play and [UConn] runs it every different way. They run it to a tight end surface, an open surface from the pistol split backs, they'll run lead stretch. They've made a decision – this is going to be our football play, this is going to be our identity, and they're really good at it. They block movement well, they block blitz well and they're very patient with it. That's what they want to do. Whenever you run the ball, it just opens up the play action game. Then you get all the boots and the movement passes and you've got to commit extra people to the run. They're going to have their shot plays that they have a chance to get after you because they have one-on-one coverage out there. We're going to have to play well at all three levels."
On the challenge on preparing for three different running backs
"Well, all the backs are a little different. [Durell] Robinson – I won't say any guy is the primary ball carrier, although he has the most yards – but he's a big back. He's 6-foot-1 210, 215 pounds. Then the [Mel] Brown kid is a little bit of a scat back. He's a 5-foot-8, 176 pound guy that's really fast. Whereas Edwards and Robinson might be a little bit more likely to stretch and puncture, all of a sudden Brown goes in the game and he can beat on the edge. It's the same play, but because of the type of backs they have and the nature of the play where it can hit, you have to be so disciplined and the gaps move. Sometimes when the tight end comes back or the quarterback looks like he's pulling it on boot, if that linebacker hesitates and then all of a sudden he can't fit the A gap or the B gap or get where he needs to get, now a seam develops and boom, that thing's on your safety before you know it. However, a lot of people run stretch. This team is probably as committed to that play as any team we've played. When Eli Drinkwitz was at NC State, they were a little bit this way with this play. They were really good at it, but they know how to coach it, they know what they're doing and they've got the personnel to run it."
On if the tight ends being healthy and adding Frogge into the mix adds something to their offensive game plan
"That was what we were hoping to have at the beginning of the year. We went into the season feeling we had three playable tight ends and then when we lost Frogge early in camp, it became two and then it was zero. We were very lucky that Michael Frogge was able to play last week and he played well. It gives us a little bit more versatility, maybe a little bit more flexibility personnel wise in terms of how we play. It was really hard to do two tight ends last week. We did it in one play and the guy, he's a young kid and he got blown up. He's just not ready yet. He will be ready, he will be fine, and he'll be a good football player, but we're just not there yet. But we went into the year and because we were very media friendly, you folks saw what we did in fall camp and those are things we had hoped to do all season. Then things happen, you get into the season, you lose guys and so you adjust your personnel. We've run a lot more four receivers this year than we've run in years because of the tight end injuries. In those cases, you always have to have your plan B and your plan C."
On Bachmeier turning the page from perhaps not playing his best the last two games
"I'd just like to play cleaner. Sometimes you fall behind in the game and there's a little bit of tendency for everyone to try to maybe do too much. The nature of football is you have 11 guys and everyone has to do their job. We had guys on defense last week that tried to do too much and when they did too much, it never helped us. It always hurt us. Sometimes when you're behind in a game and you have a tendency to think: you gotta make this play and force this thing. Sometimes you get away with it. But when you play against the three teams this year that we've played have the best personnel. Those are probably Ole Miss, Clemson and North Carolina State. A lot of teams have trouble moving the ball and those defenses are three very good defenses. The margin of error when you play those teams is smaller and sometimes maybe the windows that you can hit on your scout team, they shrink a little bit quicker when you play teams of that caliber."
On getting some of the young players in the secondary going
"Rushaun Tongue has played well, he's played a lot of football. He's in there probably 30 snaps a game and has accounted himself really well. Those freshmen corners, they're just not ready yet. Some freshmen come in and pick it up right away and they get it. We have guys, Ben Grice, who's given us really valuable reps. Ty Clark is doing a great job and Cam Hardy – until he got hurt – was playable. They're all on different developmental paths and the two corners right now just aren't ready. That's why we had to move Zamari [Stevenson] out the corner last week, which we didn't want to do, we wanted to leave him at nickel. But injuries happen and you have to make adjustments in the secondary. We just have to make sure that unit is ascending. Anytime guys play for the first time, they struggle and that's why you like to break one of them in at a time, not four of them in at a time. But again, I've said enough about that position. We just need to coach them better and get them better and hopefully they're playing better football as the season goes on."
On if the goals for the season change being they are 2-4 at the midway mark
"To me, you never want to go into a season and say your goal is a bowl game. I mean, we were playing for the ACC championship three years ago. In 2019, we were ranked in six of the polls and then in 2021 and 2022, we are ranked in 22 polls. We aspire to be a top-10 program. If the 12 team playoff existed three years ago, we would've been in a play-in game for the playoffs. If that's our goal now at 2-4, that's probably not a realistic goal, but the Big Four championship is really important to us right now. We're 1-0 in that one and we've got those two games. A winning record, getting to a bowl, all those things will show improvement from a year ago. I told our team earlier today, we've had a handful of high level marks here, certainly the '21 season, the '17 season. One of the most enjoyable years was the '18 season and we got beat by Clemson by 60 Points. Notre Dame beat us by 30, Syracuse blew us out, we won three of our last four and won a bowl game. That locker room was every bit as happy as the '21 team in the Gator Bowl. To me, when you coach, it's really three things that motivate you. Number one is relationships. Number two are moments and then the memories. We still have an opportunity for moments and memories this year and that's what we're working towards. The goals are adjusted, but it doesn't mean accomplishing them would be any less rewarding. Obviously at 2-4, all those goals get tougher. We'd love to be 6-0, but we're not. We've played two top 10 teams that we didn't play well against and we lost two games in the last play or possession, and that's on us. We need to do a better job in those situations.
On if there's anything that surprised him so far this season from a positive perspective
"Overall, offensively last year was a huge step back for us and in a lot of ways we've got a little bit of our mojo back. Maybe it didn't show against Clemson and Ole Miss, but in the other games we've been scoring over 30 points. If you look at the way Ivan Mora is punting the ball, he's doing a heck of a job for us – this is why he came back. He had that really bad injury in the Gator Bowl and it's taken him a while to come back from it, but he's doing a great job. The way that Caleb Carlson is kicking off is outstanding. Our punt return team has done a really good job. Taylor had the one touchdown, but we've had some good returns. Even against Clemson, we were one block away. There never is good or there never is bad and there's areas clearly that we're better. Our whole defensive staff and our defensive players have gotten better from '21 to '22. Last year we took another step forward and we really felt like this was the year we're going to be back to playing really good defense. Some of the personnel things that happened have made that challenging. We then say, okay: that's our challenge. How do we deal with it? How do we get better? I'll tell you guys again, we're not working any less hard. We're not any less committed. Our kids are great, they work hard and they care. When you're getting your butts beat like we were at Ole Miss and Clemson, it's hard to point out guys that aren't giving great effort because they're playing hard. You don't get points for playing hard, but the second you stop doing that, you don't have a chance."
Redshirt Junior Tight End Michael Frogge
On his first ever catch and first ever touchdown
"It was a long drive so I was getting pretty tired, but when I heard the play call I had a good feeling it was coming to me. I kind of had to catch my breath and just not let the moment get too big. Everyone did their job on the play and that was the reason why it works. Taylor put the crack on the guy and had a great block and the offensive line did their job and Hank just read it and pulled it and put a good pass on me."
On having to deal with injuries over the past years and what he has learned from that
"There's a poem that I always kind of revert back to and it's about the stone cutter talking about how you may hit a stone a thousand times without a crack, but on the 1001th hit the stone finally just cracks it in half and completely destroys it. It wasn't that one last hit or that last catch for the touchdown that cracked the stone, but it was the thousand before that. I just keep plugging away and keeping my head down and knowing that if I trust the process, the process will love me back."
On the comfort level playing over 60 snaps against Clemson
"In previous years, I kind of get out there and I'm geeked up and kind of lose focus on what I've trained to do in that game. Starting in the Clemson game, I was trying to remain calm and remember my training and revert back to it. People say you don't race, you don't rise to the occasion, but you fall back to your preparation, so I tried to take that literally and just take it play by play and have a short memory and just stay calm out there and kind of get to a flow state. I got more and more comfortable as the time went on and my confidence was going up and up so that definitely helped."
On the future with all three tight ends being healthy
"We got three solid guys in the tight end room and the coaches are going to make the best decision to play the guys that they put our team in the best position to win. Whatever role that gives me, I'm just going to go 110 percent to my role and do whatever I can to help the team win, whether it's playing all three of us or playing the best two or whatever the case may be."
Redshirt Senior Offensive Lineman DeVonte Gordon
On the vibes at practice following the Clemson game
"We just had a really good Tuesday practice. There's been no deterrence from this team. It's been a roller coaster of emotions through this first half of the season, but we still have the back end of the season that we're going to our nose to the grindstone. It's human nature for when things go hard to kind of back away and say you weren't that invested, but that's not this team at all. We've just invested that much more."
On going out of state for a road game for the first time halfway through the season
"I mean it's a little different than usual, but this is a veteran team and a lot of people have traveled before, so it shouldn't be that much of an adjustment. So many of us have been on the road at different stadiums. State was as loud as it gets when we were there a couple weeks ago."
On the team playing it's best version of football away from home
"We try to put our best stuff forward whether we're at home or whether we're on the road. It's different aspects of the game that you get when you're on the road then when you're at home. When you're on the road, you're kind of unwanted there. It kind of makes you uncomfortable and feel like you have to play that much harder. But, whether we're at home or on the road, we're trying to put our best stuff out there every time."
On the matchup against UConn
"They look really good on film. There's a lot of different boxes that we're used to seeing. It's kind of similar to what Syracuse has been running from that same defensive tree, so we've seen those boxes before, but it's not something that we see often. The big message this week has been to watch as much film as you can. With their defense, they throw so much at you it's kind of like they want to confuse you almost. That's exactly why the message has been to get in the film room as much as you can and know your assignment so that we can play as fast as you need to."
On how playing three straight games against fast defenses will help against UConn
"Playing defenses like those and all the reps that we take over the summer, the spring, doing walk-throughs and throughout practice where the coaches are just throwing whatever they can think of at us prepare us for moments or teams like these where you don't know what you might see. We'll definitely be ready."
Senior Defensive Lineman Kendron Wayman
On playing out of the state for the first time midway through October
"It's crazy. We had the NC State game and that's it. It'll feel good though to get into another environment."
On how playing on the road bonds the team more
"When we travel, we're in enemy territory. We're playing at their stadium with their fans, so we have to build around each other and bring our own juice for ourselves, with some of our own fans of course. That's where we really get close."
On frustrations on defense and the path forward from those struggles
"It's a little frustrating, but it is what it is. You have to be at where your feet are at and you can control what you control. With the defensive backs being down, that just means that we [defensive lineman] have to be faster with our moves and get back there quicker. It's adversity that we have to face that we can't really control."
On the matchup against UConn
"On they're top running plays, they like to stretch their sideline. We just have to try to get everything under control and focus on the details and have that one play at a time mentality with everything that they do."
Ahead of their matchup, the Deacs met with the media to discuss the matchup and the other news around the Wake Forest program.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement…
"Thanks once again for being here and covering Wake Forest football. Wrapping up the Clemson game, obviously we didn't play well against the good football team. We got off to a good start and then had those two interceptions. It's not only the interception, it's the lack of response, the sudden change, and then you got to get a stop on defense. That took what could have been a competitive game and made it a non-competitive game. In the first half on offense, we did a lot of good things. We had almost 200 yards of offense and then were basically very ineffective in the second half. We started out good on defense and there were six straight drives, other than the two minute drive, that we gave up a touchdown. Right now we lack the consistency to beat a team at that level. Like I said, after the game, I like our football team. We have a chance to have a good year. We're sitting here 2-4 and we've lost the two top 10 teams and we've lost two one-score games. Almost all these games down the stretch are going to end up being one-score games. Our ability to stay in these things, to not turn the football over, that's always been our key to success. The last few weeks we haven't taken care of the ball the way we need to. This week we head up and we play a very good UConn football team and they've done a great job flipping it around from last year. This is a program that I believe has 42 transfers on their roster and they look physically like a Power 4 team. They're a good looking football team, they're very physical on offense. They're averaging about 37 points a game and 450 yards. What's most impressive is their balance. If you're at 450 yards, you're probably 300 passing, 150 running and they're 230 passing, 220 running. They are running the football extremely well. They've got two very good quarterbacks, one was a transfer I believe from Wisconsin, the other from Maine. They're both big physical guys that can run the football. They've got three running backs, they're all very productive for them and they're all a little different. The receiver group, the [Skyler] Bell kid is a big time player and [TJ] Sheffield, these guys were power four players. They played at Wisconsin and Purdue, they're really, really good players. The offensive line is outstanding. They're a big stretch team. They're very, very committed to running the football and they're good at it. They don't run a lot of schemes, but the ones they run they know what they're doing. They handle movement really well and they don't get in a lot of third and longs. They'll trick play you. They've run nine trick plays in six games so you're going to get one or two a game and obviously after last week, I'm sure we're susceptible to that. Until you stop those things, you're going to see them again. The offensive line is very experienced. They've got about a hundred career starts, so this is a really good offense. Defensively, they've been stingy. It's around 21 points a game, 339 yards, but they're excellent at situational football. They're third in the country in third down defense and they only give up about 40% touchdowns in the red zone. They have players across the board. We have Cam Hardy, his brother starts for them and he's a really good player. They have a real big defensive lineman, [Dal'mount] Gourdine about 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, very athletic. They have a transfer linebacker from Iowa, [Jayden] McDonald who's a very, very physical player. Jordan Wrightis really good. These guys – they're legit – and they're used to playing Power Four teams, they played four last year. I believe they will play four ACC teams this year. We're also on the road. They've done a great job there, very impressed with their personnel and they are extremely well coached, really well coached in the special teams. They do a lot there. They make you work – they run nine different kickoffs and all these different punt formations and everything they do is well thought out. It's well schemed and they've done a great job. They have more wins this year already than they had a year ago. Buffalo's a good football team and [UConn] beat them 47-3 and they were right in the Duke game. Maryland's the one team that got them and if they replayed that game, it'd be a much more competitive game. This will be a challenge to head on the road and try to get a win up in Connecticut."
On the challenge of them being so balanced offensively
"You have to stop to run, you have to be gap sound. One of the things about the stretch play that makes it so hard to defend is the gaps get distorted a lot of inside zone plays and things like that. The gaps are a little bit more stationary. When teams run the stretch play in the way that they run it, a gap can move six or seven yards. If your nose guard or your tackle or your end or whoever's responsible for a gap, they're just not going to get in the gap. They've got to stay in the gap. Then if the ball enters in that gap, they have to be able to get off and make a play and [UConn] runs it every different way. They run it to a tight end surface, an open surface from the pistol split backs, they'll run lead stretch. They've made a decision – this is going to be our football play, this is going to be our identity, and they're really good at it. They block movement well, they block blitz well and they're very patient with it. That's what they want to do. Whenever you run the ball, it just opens up the play action game. Then you get all the boots and the movement passes and you've got to commit extra people to the run. They're going to have their shot plays that they have a chance to get after you because they have one-on-one coverage out there. We're going to have to play well at all three levels."
On the challenge on preparing for three different running backs
"Well, all the backs are a little different. [Durell] Robinson – I won't say any guy is the primary ball carrier, although he has the most yards – but he's a big back. He's 6-foot-1 210, 215 pounds. Then the [Mel] Brown kid is a little bit of a scat back. He's a 5-foot-8, 176 pound guy that's really fast. Whereas Edwards and Robinson might be a little bit more likely to stretch and puncture, all of a sudden Brown goes in the game and he can beat on the edge. It's the same play, but because of the type of backs they have and the nature of the play where it can hit, you have to be so disciplined and the gaps move. Sometimes when the tight end comes back or the quarterback looks like he's pulling it on boot, if that linebacker hesitates and then all of a sudden he can't fit the A gap or the B gap or get where he needs to get, now a seam develops and boom, that thing's on your safety before you know it. However, a lot of people run stretch. This team is probably as committed to that play as any team we've played. When Eli Drinkwitz was at NC State, they were a little bit this way with this play. They were really good at it, but they know how to coach it, they know what they're doing and they've got the personnel to run it."
On if the tight ends being healthy and adding Frogge into the mix adds something to their offensive game plan
"That was what we were hoping to have at the beginning of the year. We went into the season feeling we had three playable tight ends and then when we lost Frogge early in camp, it became two and then it was zero. We were very lucky that Michael Frogge was able to play last week and he played well. It gives us a little bit more versatility, maybe a little bit more flexibility personnel wise in terms of how we play. It was really hard to do two tight ends last week. We did it in one play and the guy, he's a young kid and he got blown up. He's just not ready yet. He will be ready, he will be fine, and he'll be a good football player, but we're just not there yet. But we went into the year and because we were very media friendly, you folks saw what we did in fall camp and those are things we had hoped to do all season. Then things happen, you get into the season, you lose guys and so you adjust your personnel. We've run a lot more four receivers this year than we've run in years because of the tight end injuries. In those cases, you always have to have your plan B and your plan C."
On Bachmeier turning the page from perhaps not playing his best the last two games
"I'd just like to play cleaner. Sometimes you fall behind in the game and there's a little bit of tendency for everyone to try to maybe do too much. The nature of football is you have 11 guys and everyone has to do their job. We had guys on defense last week that tried to do too much and when they did too much, it never helped us. It always hurt us. Sometimes when you're behind in a game and you have a tendency to think: you gotta make this play and force this thing. Sometimes you get away with it. But when you play against the three teams this year that we've played have the best personnel. Those are probably Ole Miss, Clemson and North Carolina State. A lot of teams have trouble moving the ball and those defenses are three very good defenses. The margin of error when you play those teams is smaller and sometimes maybe the windows that you can hit on your scout team, they shrink a little bit quicker when you play teams of that caliber."
On getting some of the young players in the secondary going
"Rushaun Tongue has played well, he's played a lot of football. He's in there probably 30 snaps a game and has accounted himself really well. Those freshmen corners, they're just not ready yet. Some freshmen come in and pick it up right away and they get it. We have guys, Ben Grice, who's given us really valuable reps. Ty Clark is doing a great job and Cam Hardy – until he got hurt – was playable. They're all on different developmental paths and the two corners right now just aren't ready. That's why we had to move Zamari [Stevenson] out the corner last week, which we didn't want to do, we wanted to leave him at nickel. But injuries happen and you have to make adjustments in the secondary. We just have to make sure that unit is ascending. Anytime guys play for the first time, they struggle and that's why you like to break one of them in at a time, not four of them in at a time. But again, I've said enough about that position. We just need to coach them better and get them better and hopefully they're playing better football as the season goes on."
On if the goals for the season change being they are 2-4 at the midway mark
"To me, you never want to go into a season and say your goal is a bowl game. I mean, we were playing for the ACC championship three years ago. In 2019, we were ranked in six of the polls and then in 2021 and 2022, we are ranked in 22 polls. We aspire to be a top-10 program. If the 12 team playoff existed three years ago, we would've been in a play-in game for the playoffs. If that's our goal now at 2-4, that's probably not a realistic goal, but the Big Four championship is really important to us right now. We're 1-0 in that one and we've got those two games. A winning record, getting to a bowl, all those things will show improvement from a year ago. I told our team earlier today, we've had a handful of high level marks here, certainly the '21 season, the '17 season. One of the most enjoyable years was the '18 season and we got beat by Clemson by 60 Points. Notre Dame beat us by 30, Syracuse blew us out, we won three of our last four and won a bowl game. That locker room was every bit as happy as the '21 team in the Gator Bowl. To me, when you coach, it's really three things that motivate you. Number one is relationships. Number two are moments and then the memories. We still have an opportunity for moments and memories this year and that's what we're working towards. The goals are adjusted, but it doesn't mean accomplishing them would be any less rewarding. Obviously at 2-4, all those goals get tougher. We'd love to be 6-0, but we're not. We've played two top 10 teams that we didn't play well against and we lost two games in the last play or possession, and that's on us. We need to do a better job in those situations.
On if there's anything that surprised him so far this season from a positive perspective
"Overall, offensively last year was a huge step back for us and in a lot of ways we've got a little bit of our mojo back. Maybe it didn't show against Clemson and Ole Miss, but in the other games we've been scoring over 30 points. If you look at the way Ivan Mora is punting the ball, he's doing a heck of a job for us – this is why he came back. He had that really bad injury in the Gator Bowl and it's taken him a while to come back from it, but he's doing a great job. The way that Caleb Carlson is kicking off is outstanding. Our punt return team has done a really good job. Taylor had the one touchdown, but we've had some good returns. Even against Clemson, we were one block away. There never is good or there never is bad and there's areas clearly that we're better. Our whole defensive staff and our defensive players have gotten better from '21 to '22. Last year we took another step forward and we really felt like this was the year we're going to be back to playing really good defense. Some of the personnel things that happened have made that challenging. We then say, okay: that's our challenge. How do we deal with it? How do we get better? I'll tell you guys again, we're not working any less hard. We're not any less committed. Our kids are great, they work hard and they care. When you're getting your butts beat like we were at Ole Miss and Clemson, it's hard to point out guys that aren't giving great effort because they're playing hard. You don't get points for playing hard, but the second you stop doing that, you don't have a chance."
Redshirt Junior Tight End Michael Frogge
On his first ever catch and first ever touchdown
"It was a long drive so I was getting pretty tired, but when I heard the play call I had a good feeling it was coming to me. I kind of had to catch my breath and just not let the moment get too big. Everyone did their job on the play and that was the reason why it works. Taylor put the crack on the guy and had a great block and the offensive line did their job and Hank just read it and pulled it and put a good pass on me."
On having to deal with injuries over the past years and what he has learned from that
"There's a poem that I always kind of revert back to and it's about the stone cutter talking about how you may hit a stone a thousand times without a crack, but on the 1001th hit the stone finally just cracks it in half and completely destroys it. It wasn't that one last hit or that last catch for the touchdown that cracked the stone, but it was the thousand before that. I just keep plugging away and keeping my head down and knowing that if I trust the process, the process will love me back."
On the comfort level playing over 60 snaps against Clemson
"In previous years, I kind of get out there and I'm geeked up and kind of lose focus on what I've trained to do in that game. Starting in the Clemson game, I was trying to remain calm and remember my training and revert back to it. People say you don't race, you don't rise to the occasion, but you fall back to your preparation, so I tried to take that literally and just take it play by play and have a short memory and just stay calm out there and kind of get to a flow state. I got more and more comfortable as the time went on and my confidence was going up and up so that definitely helped."
On the future with all three tight ends being healthy
"We got three solid guys in the tight end room and the coaches are going to make the best decision to play the guys that they put our team in the best position to win. Whatever role that gives me, I'm just going to go 110 percent to my role and do whatever I can to help the team win, whether it's playing all three of us or playing the best two or whatever the case may be."
Redshirt Senior Offensive Lineman DeVonte Gordon
On the vibes at practice following the Clemson game
"We just had a really good Tuesday practice. There's been no deterrence from this team. It's been a roller coaster of emotions through this first half of the season, but we still have the back end of the season that we're going to our nose to the grindstone. It's human nature for when things go hard to kind of back away and say you weren't that invested, but that's not this team at all. We've just invested that much more."
On going out of state for a road game for the first time halfway through the season
"I mean it's a little different than usual, but this is a veteran team and a lot of people have traveled before, so it shouldn't be that much of an adjustment. So many of us have been on the road at different stadiums. State was as loud as it gets when we were there a couple weeks ago."
On the team playing it's best version of football away from home
"We try to put our best stuff forward whether we're at home or whether we're on the road. It's different aspects of the game that you get when you're on the road then when you're at home. When you're on the road, you're kind of unwanted there. It kind of makes you uncomfortable and feel like you have to play that much harder. But, whether we're at home or on the road, we're trying to put our best stuff out there every time."
On the matchup against UConn
"They look really good on film. There's a lot of different boxes that we're used to seeing. It's kind of similar to what Syracuse has been running from that same defensive tree, so we've seen those boxes before, but it's not something that we see often. The big message this week has been to watch as much film as you can. With their defense, they throw so much at you it's kind of like they want to confuse you almost. That's exactly why the message has been to get in the film room as much as you can and know your assignment so that we can play as fast as you need to."
On how playing three straight games against fast defenses will help against UConn
"Playing defenses like those and all the reps that we take over the summer, the spring, doing walk-throughs and throughout practice where the coaches are just throwing whatever they can think of at us prepare us for moments or teams like these where you don't know what you might see. We'll definitely be ready."
Senior Defensive Lineman Kendron Wayman
On playing out of the state for the first time midway through October
"It's crazy. We had the NC State game and that's it. It'll feel good though to get into another environment."
On how playing on the road bonds the team more
"When we travel, we're in enemy territory. We're playing at their stadium with their fans, so we have to build around each other and bring our own juice for ourselves, with some of our own fans of course. That's where we really get close."
On frustrations on defense and the path forward from those struggles
"It's a little frustrating, but it is what it is. You have to be at where your feet are at and you can control what you control. With the defensive backs being down, that just means that we [defensive lineman] have to be faster with our moves and get back there quicker. It's adversity that we have to face that we can't really control."
On the matchup against UConn
"On they're top running plays, they like to stretch their sideline. We just have to try to get everything under control and focus on the details and have that one play at a time mentality with everything that they do."
Players Mentioned
K
/ Football
TE
/ Football
OL
/ Football
DB
/ Football
DL
/ FootballWake Forest Sports 2026 Hall of Fame Ceremony
Sunday, March 01
Steve Forbes - Postgame Presser vs. Syracuse
Sunday, March 01
Wake Forest Women's Basketball Highlights vs Boston College
Monday, February 23
Steve Forbes - Postgame Presser at Virginia Tech
Saturday, February 21