Oct
26th – Wake Forest
In Part 7 of the 12 part 2013 Miami Hurricanes Opponent
Series, I’m going to preview the 2013 Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who come to
Sun Life Stadium on Oct 26th.
Here’s what you need to know about the Demon Deacons:
They are coached by Jim Grobe (Virginia '75), who’s entering his 12th season in
Winston-Salem. His record is 73-74, and he’s the first coach in more than 50
years of Wake Football, to have a career mark this close to .500. You have to
go back to Peahead Walker, who went 77-55-6 from 1937-50, to have a someone
close to or above .500 in their tenures. Before coming to Wake, he spent six
years (1995-2000) at Ohio, going .500 there (33-33-1). Nothing to write home
about on the surface, however, you have to consider the circumstances here.
Before Grobe’s arrival in Athens, Ohio, the Bobcats won a total of nine games,
in six years before he came. After a 1st season of 2-8-1 in 1995, he
never again slipped below five wins in the rest of his term there, and that includes
an 8-3 record in 1997 and a 7-4 mark in his final season (2000).
The job he’s done at Wake, is nothing short of remarkable. They
have finished over .500 five times in his tenure there, and that includes an ACC
title in 2006 and at least eight wins in each season from 2006-2008. In 2006, the
pundits picked the Deacons to finish last in the conference in the preseason
media poll. All the Deacons did was make an FBS-best seven-game improvement
over its 4-7 season in 2005. By going 11-3 in ’06, it marked the program's
first season with double-digit wins, in their history and just its second ACC
championship (only other one being 1970, but didn’t go to a bowl game that
season), earning the Demon Deacons a BCS trip to the Orange Bowl, which was
their first major bowl game in their history..
If you’re a Wake Forest fan, and I’m sure, there are those that
are fans that are reading and watching this video that follow the Demon
Deacons, will remember from that magical 2006 season, other than winning the ACC
title, was the fact, they demolished FSU 30-0 in Tallahassee. That win was
their first road win in the series since 1959. As a result, he was named both
the ACC and national coach of the year. Grobe would show that the Deacons
weren’t just a one hit wonder, as they would follow that up with a 9-4 finish
the next year (2007), giving that program, when you combine that with an eight
win season in 2008, that’s 28 victories in a three-year stretch from 2006-2008.
To put the job he’s done in Winston-Salem in perspective, the next most
successful three-year period was a 19-win stretch from 1944-46.
As for the here and now, he will have new coaches on his staff
this year for the 2nd straight season. He
lost two coaches with Tim Duffie going to Oklahoma State in March and WR coach
Lonnie Galloway off to Morgantown to assume the same position at WVU back in
January. The critics will tell you that these departures believe that Grobe's
can’t find good coaching talent. They move OLB coach Derrick Jackson over to the
secondary to fill Duffie’s role. They bring in two new hires in Warren Belin, who takes over Jackson’s old
role with the linebackers, and WR coach Taylor Stubblefield. When you look at
Belin’s resume, he spent the last two seasons in the same role in the NFL with
the Carolina Panthers after being in Athens, GA for a year (2010) and eight
years in Nashville with Vanderbilt (2002-2009).
Let’s break down Wake Forest in three categories:
Offensively: You’re going to see them go to more of a run-first type of offense.
To emphasize this point, take a look at their last two teams: They threw the
ball an average of 442 times; now, look back to their 2005 and 2006 teams.
Those two teams combined for 580 pass attempts. The reason they’re going to go
back to more of a run-first offense is because of their personnel and Grobe to
use it to his advantage. They can’t go head-to-head speed wise with us, FSU,
Clemson because they’ll lose that battle every time. Also, by emphasizing the
run more, it takes the heat off Senior QB Tanner Price and their OL.
Price is going to have
to more as a running QB this year, but not too much more. He’s not a QB that
teams have to deal with running wise. When you look at the certain sets and
packages Grobe will throw at opponents, the plan is to throw them off-base a
bit. Price’s strength is passing, though in 2012, his numbers dropped off
dramatically, after a very good 2011 campaign. The question here Is there a
balance that can work for them here? What they lack in depth, they make up for
it in performance. In 2012, Price averaged only 5.6 yards per attempt, which
was one of the worst totals in the FBS. This coming off a 2011 season where he
averaged 7.1 yards per pass. Simply put, it’s possible here where he throws the
ball only 325 times, instead of 425 times, and makes the offense better because
he's doing more with less throwing and getting the backs more yards on the
ground. At worst, he’s a three-year starting
quarterback in a league, which is big on QB play.
As for the OL, they were at best: Inconsistent. As their play here
was at the heart of their problems offensively in 2012. Let’s go more in depth
here about why their O was inconsistent:
1. Price was harried,
hurried and harassed
2. The backs, such as: Senior
Josh Harris (608 yards) and Sophomore Deandre Martin (484 yards) found it very
tough to run inside between the tackles and when they went outside, there wasn’t
much there either.
Simple solution here: Fix the line, and you fix the offense.
Harris and Martin are going to see the ball a lot more this
season, with Grobe focusing more on the running game. One of those backs is
going to get the ball over 200 times. After Harris and Martin, the experience
there drops off dramatically. How will they use four freshmen back there?. Two of
those freshmen are RS (Joshua Wilhite and Dominique Gibson). The former being
one the coaches like very much, and the latter, is a converted safety. The
other two (John Armstrong and Dezmond Wortham), are in the mix as well. With
Wake going back to their roots with the running game, having five backs, doesn’t
hurt here.
The passing game is still going to be there, but not as much as
in years past. When they do throw, the one that’s had a nice career there is Senior
Michael Campanaro (79 receptions for 763 yards) All he’s done in his career was
steadily improve each year. As a freshman, he only made 10 catches, however, in
the last two years; he’s caught 73 passes each season. The question here is:
Where did the passing game in 2012? While Campanaro was consistently his
effective self, they don’t have to home-run threat nor the intermediate threat
to take the pressure off the running game. They do have Junior Orville Reynolds
coming back. Reynolds is a speedier, running back-size receiver with the burst to
be the big-play threat there. They have bigger receivers back size wise in Junior
Brandon Terry (15 for 290), Sophomore Sherman Ragland III (23 for 247), and Junior
Matt James They need to have a player like Reynolds step up and be that other
threat to make opposing DCs, have to respect him and not focus too much on
Campanaro and their running game. However, that’s not going to be easy as their
WR corps being in the bottom half of the ACC. Not Good.
The weakest link here is their
O-Line, and has been the case for years now. However, with them going back to
more of a run-first offense, it’ll take the heat off them a bit because they’ll
be doing less, and won't be asked to match up athletically with the ACC's
speedy defensive linemen. This unit will benefit the most from Grobe's
turn-back-the-clock offensive shift. They have another boost with the fact that
their staff decided not to unilaterally redshirt every freshman: They signed
four linemen in February, and it's entirely possible that the entire group
works into the two-deep if given the opportunity. We’ll have to wait and see
how that plays out.
Defensively: Their D will be good enough to give teams like us, Clemson, and
FSU, and those three teams right there, will tell how Wake’s season goes. If
they want to take that next step, they have to be more detail oriented on this
side of the ball. They have to do a better job on 3rd downs, and
have more of a pass rush. They do have a lot of experience coming back, which
has produced in the past and they have All-ACC talent here, but they need to
really get it together before their opener vs Presbyterian
on August 29th. There's reason for optimism.
They run a 3-4 defense and the leader of that D-Line is Senior
nose tackle Nikita Whitlock (51 tackles, 5.5 for loss), a two-time All-ACC
selection. He’s only 6’ and 250 lbs, but don't let the size – or lack thereof –
fool you. He use his leverage and technique to make opposing O-Linemen shake
their heads. Here’s they have a lot of experience; with Whitlock being joined
by two Senior DEs Kristopher Redding (30 tackles, 3.5 for loss) and Zach
Thompson (52 tackles, 5.5 for loss), and depth wise: have Sophomores Tylor
Harris (22 tackles, 4.5 for loss) and Desmond Floyd, as well as half-dozen true
and redshirt freshmen. This is going to be a front 3 to be dealt with.
An area where production
must be better in 2013 is at LB, especially with more of a pass rush. They
finished 2012 just inside the top 60 nationally in both sacks and tackles for
loss. Its going to be up to Junior Zachary Allen (42 tackles) to step up and be
the leader of this core. Questions here are:
·
Who will help Wake replace Joey Ehrmann (Graduation) as their
hybrid end-outside linebacker?
·
Can Allen deliver?
If he (Allen) can’t,
then look for them to have to turn to a RS Freshman like Kevis Jones, who was
very good in spring drills. They have Senior Mike Olson (78 tackles) coming
back, but he will move over to the weak side, which opens the door at MLB for
sophomore Brandon Chubb to step up and produce. The leader of this group and you
can make an argument here for the defense as a whole is Senior Justin Jackson
(81 tackles, 4.0 sacks). This guy who mans the strong side and perhaps the
team's top pure edge rusher has a motor that never stops. This entire group can
run, hit and cover.
The secondary has to improve off of a disappointing 2012 season:
They failed to seize on the opportunity to build off of a pretty good 2011
campaign, by allowing more than an additional yard per attempt and nearly 40
additional yards per game. As with the rest of the D, their decline against the
pass can be tied to injuries in their Defensive backfield; If they stay
healthy, this unit will be better and their performance will be much stronger. No
more of this being the case than at CB, where junior Merrill Noel (33 tackles) only
started 8 games last year after having a very strong Freshman year; when he healthy
and confident, he’s as good as any cornerback in the ACC. Joining him at CB is
junior Kevin Johnson (58 tackles, 3.5 for loss), who started all 12-games last
season, but look for their staff to give more looks to Sophomores Allen Ramsey
and James Ward, especially if the latter gets loses out on a starting role at SS.
That's the lone position up for debate: They have A.J. Marshall back at the FS
spot, but they need to find a replacement for Chibuikem Okoro (Graduation).
Special teams: Actually Sophomore Chad Hedlund, will make their
production here better, because last year’s kicker, Jimmy Newman, was just
horrendous. They also bring back Sophomore punter Alexander Kinal, who’s a
reigning all-ACC pick, and they get back most of their personnel who
contributed in the return game in 2012, if that's a good thing. The return game
isn’t the issue here, the biggest issue is their coverage. They allowed four
touchdown returns last year. Hidden yards allowed killed them.
In Closing, overall, this team brings experience back and
they should produce here. However, when you look at their schedule, they have
to go to Clemson and come down to Sun Life to play us. They do host FSU on Nov
9th and after a BYE week, host Duke in the ACC finale, before
closing the 2013 season at Vanderbilt the next week. They’re not a strong team, but Grobe gets the
most out what he has. At the end of the day, I’m going to go with 8-4 for the
Demon Deacons in 2013.
In part 8 of the series, I’m going to talk about a team
that is a dark horse to maybe win the whole thing and that’s Florida State.
No comments:
Post a Comment