Scouting the Opposition: Wake Forest

By William Qualkinbush.

Wake Forest is undergoing a major transformation during the offseason as the only team from last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference with a new head coach. Dave Clawson, now in Winston-Salem after doing an admirable job resurrecting the program at Bowling Green, will have his work cut out for him in year one.

Gone is multi-year starting quarterback Tanner Price. Gone is versatile yet oft-injured tailback Josh Harris. Gone is do-it-all receiver Michael Campanaro. Gone is defensive anchor Nikita Whitlock. Those pieces have been vital to the success of the Demon Deacons’ program for years, and their contributions will not be easily replaced. Actually, the task seems impossible.

Returner Tyler Cameron entered the spring as the man to beat at quarterback, but he faced a stiff challenge from converted wideout Kevin Sousa. The sophomore came to Wake Forest as a heralded dual-threat prospect at quarterback and looked increasingly comfortable under center. His mobility jives with what Clawson has grown accustomed to using in the MAC, so he may have a leg up over the sophomore Cameron, who completed just seven of his 24 pass attempts in mop-up duty a season ago.

Whoever the quarterback is, completing passes could be a challenge. Campanaro contributed about one-third of the team’s production at receiver last season, so his presence will surely be missed. Second-leading wideout Sherman Ragland was dismissed from the program in January, so much of the burden will fall on senior transfer E.J. Scott from Virginia and a slew of freshmen that cut their teeth in 2013.

Very little experience returns at tailback, although it may not matter. The Demon Deacons were putrid on the ground last season, holding the distinction of being the only ACC team to average fewer than three yards per carry over the course of the year. The Demon Deacons knew they could not run it well, averaging fewer carries than the rest of the league, and that could be the case again this season. Senior Orville Reynolds and a stable of sophomores will attempt to piece together a running game behind an offensive line that returns three starters from last year’s underwhelming unit.

No Whitlock means no consistent presence right smack in the middle of the Wake defensive line. Even worse, the other two top tacklers on the defensive front last season—Zach Thompson and Kristopher Redding—were seniors too. So the entire unit will need to be rebuilt with either young or inexperienced players. New coordinator Mike Elko plans to switch from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-2-5, meaning the onus will be on more linemen to play well early in the season.

The Demon Deacons mustered only 23 sacks last season, ranking near the back of the pack in the ACC. The top three names on the list—Whitlock, Thompson, and linebacker Justin Jackson—are all gone. In total, 16.5 of the team’s sacks graduated at the close of 2013, and no player that accounted for multiple sacks is back in the fold. This will be a problem the linebacking corps, led by steady junior middle backer Brandon Chubb, will need to handle quickly in lieu of the questions up front.

The front seven may be better due to athleticism and experience, but there are enough questions that improvement is not a foregone conclusion. In the secondary, however, three starters return to a unit that should be far and away the most prolific on the team. Cornerbacks Kevin Johnson and Merrill Noel each picked off three passes last season and combined to deflect 18 passes, while safety Ryan Janvion led the team with 95 tackles as a freshman.

In years past, Wake Forest could always be counted on to have a strong punter—primarily because the offense struggled to move the football. It says a lot that rising junior Alex Kinal punted more than seven times per game last season. For the year, the Demon Deacons punted 18 more times than their opponents, a difference of about 1.5 times per game. Clawson would undoubtedly like to see a greater percentage of those kicks become field goals, and junior Chad Hedlund should be ready to handle an increased role.

The Demon Deacons were not awful on defense last season, but it is difficult to find areas where improvement is likely due to important personnel losses. This is true to an even greater degree on the offensive side, where virtually all of the semi-bright spots on a dismal performance have vanished. Scoring points at all might be a minor miracle for this Wake Forest team, a recipe for disaster in a Thursday night meeting with a Clemson team that has recently shown no mercy to its division rival in Winston-Salem.