Deacs Continuing to Improve Each Game on Offense
10/24/2025 9:06:00 AM | Football
“This is a fun bunch to coach. They come to work every day in practice and in meetings.” - Rob Ezell
While each week of the college football season presents a new opponent with varying strengths and weaknesses to prepare for, as you pull out and take a wide-angle look at the 2025 Wake Forest Football campaign, it's hard to not marvel at the vast improvements that have been made offensively week-to-week.
The same Demon Deacons who struggled to put 10 points on the board to escape with a season-opening victory over Kennesaw State pounded No. 16 Georgia Tech for 17 points in just the second quarter. Wake Forest carried a two-touchdown lead into halftime, but ultimately fell 30-29 in overtime.
"Well, I was really proud of them for the way they competed for 60 minutes and then some," Wake Forest offensive coordinator Rob Ezell said. "This is the ACC — this is a tough conference. The resiliency they showed really told us something about them because it wasn't pretty all the time.
"Obviously, we had periods of sustained success, but in any game there are going to be ebbs and flows, and we handled that much better than earlier in the season. Just back to what we talked about with our guys—continuing to try to see growth—and that's been good to see."
That growth, Ezell said, has come in many forms.
"There are always lessons that you learn, win or lose," he said. "I learned that a long time ago. We've learned something in every single game, and if we can continue to build on that, let's just see how good we can be."
Execution and confidence are two of the biggest differences from late August to now.
"The big thing is a higher level of execution," Ezell said. "The offensive line, now having played in games together, you're seeing their continuity grow. You're seeing that in the wide receivers. You're seeing that in the tight ends. Guys are playing with a little bit more confidence in knowing what to do and believing in themselves. That's been great to see.
"This is a fun bunch to coach. They come to work every day in practice and in meetings. We're showing them clips of what they did in practice and then how it showed up in the game in a positive manner. That's helped some of our growth as well."
By focusing on the process instead of single-game results, Ezell believes the offense will avoid getting too high or too low during the long season.
"This bunch has really taken on that process mindset, where as we all know, you've got to flush whatever happens — win or lose," he said. "Certainly nobody is going to be feeling sorry for you. They've had a really good two days (after the loss to Georgia Tech). We brought them in yesterday, introduced the opponent, flushed the game, and then we had a pretty good day of practice today."
That process extends to the quarterback room, where Robby Ashford continues to play through bumps and bruises while backup DeShawn Purdie saw limited action against Georgia Tech.
"Well, sometimes when you don't know what's going on, it can be a little deceiving," Ezell said of Purdie's short stint. "Deshawn went in there and did a good job of commanding the offense. I probably have to put him in a couple of better situations, and really, give Georgia Tech some credit on that too. That's a tough, physical football team that Coach Key has, and they present a lot of challenges.
"He did a really good job on the second-and-long play of getting us back into a third-and-manageable. Credit to Georgia Tech.They're a tough defense, and they did some really good things. We're really positive about the growth we've seen from him and have the utmost confidence in him. Robby is continuing to play at a high level, continuing to improve, and the same with DeShawn."
The same Demon Deacons who struggled to put 10 points on the board to escape with a season-opening victory over Kennesaw State pounded No. 16 Georgia Tech for 17 points in just the second quarter. Wake Forest carried a two-touchdown lead into halftime, but ultimately fell 30-29 in overtime.
"Well, I was really proud of them for the way they competed for 60 minutes and then some," Wake Forest offensive coordinator Rob Ezell said. "This is the ACC — this is a tough conference. The resiliency they showed really told us something about them because it wasn't pretty all the time.
"Obviously, we had periods of sustained success, but in any game there are going to be ebbs and flows, and we handled that much better than earlier in the season. Just back to what we talked about with our guys—continuing to try to see growth—and that's been good to see."
That growth, Ezell said, has come in many forms.
"There are always lessons that you learn, win or lose," he said. "I learned that a long time ago. We've learned something in every single game, and if we can continue to build on that, let's just see how good we can be."
Execution and confidence are two of the biggest differences from late August to now.
"The big thing is a higher level of execution," Ezell said. "The offensive line, now having played in games together, you're seeing their continuity grow. You're seeing that in the wide receivers. You're seeing that in the tight ends. Guys are playing with a little bit more confidence in knowing what to do and believing in themselves. That's been great to see.
"This is a fun bunch to coach. They come to work every day in practice and in meetings. We're showing them clips of what they did in practice and then how it showed up in the game in a positive manner. That's helped some of our growth as well."
By focusing on the process instead of single-game results, Ezell believes the offense will avoid getting too high or too low during the long season.
"This bunch has really taken on that process mindset, where as we all know, you've got to flush whatever happens — win or lose," he said. "Certainly nobody is going to be feeling sorry for you. They've had a really good two days (after the loss to Georgia Tech). We brought them in yesterday, introduced the opponent, flushed the game, and then we had a pretty good day of practice today."
That process extends to the quarterback room, where Robby Ashford continues to play through bumps and bruises while backup DeShawn Purdie saw limited action against Georgia Tech.
"Well, sometimes when you don't know what's going on, it can be a little deceiving," Ezell said of Purdie's short stint. "Deshawn went in there and did a good job of commanding the offense. I probably have to put him in a couple of better situations, and really, give Georgia Tech some credit on that too. That's a tough, physical football team that Coach Key has, and they present a lot of challenges.
"He did a really good job on the second-and-long play of getting us back into a third-and-manageable. Credit to Georgia Tech.They're a tough defense, and they did some really good things. We're really positive about the growth we've seen from him and have the utmost confidence in him. Robby is continuing to play at a high level, continuing to improve, and the same with DeShawn."
Players Mentioned
QB
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