2010 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Football Preview

2009 Results: 5-7, No Bowl

Head Coach: Jim Grobe (10th year, 59-51 @ Wake Forest, 92-84-1 Overall)

Home Venue: BB&T Stadium (31,500), Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Wake Forest’s three year streak of postseason appearances ended in 2009 as the Demon Deacons collapsed down the stretch, losing five of their last six games. It wasn’t a fitting sendoff for a senior class led by star quarterback Riley Skinner, who led Wake to the 2006 ACC Championship, and the Deacs will sorely miss his leadership and production. Can Wake reload quickly enough to get back to the postseason this fall?

OFFENSE

The Wake Forest offense was not the culprit for the team’s losing record in 2009, scoring 26 points per game to finish in the middle of the ACC pack. However, the unit was built around a powerful passing attack that saw Skinner throw for over 3,000 yards, the best in his career, so replacing his production will be difficult.

Despite losing Skinner, there are some good pieces returning at the skill positions. This is highlighted by a deep set of receivers, featuring senior Marshall Williams (60 catches, 867 yards, 6 TDs in ’09), junior Devon Brown (61 catches, 671 yards, 6 TDs) and sophomore Chris Givens (45 catches, 629 yards, 8 TDs). They will certainly be a big help for the new starter under center.

The top two rushers from last year return as well as senior Josh Adams (541 yards, 4 TDs) and junior Brandon Pettigrew (399 yards, 1 TD) will combine to carry the load once more. However, they weren’t particularly effective last season and the O-Line will be one of the least seasoned in the country this year. Only two starters return up front and I expect growing pains from an inexperienced unit.

The lack of playing time on the line is going to be a big problem in pass protection, as both tackles have to be replaced. To make matters worse, Wake Forest is extremely inexperienced under center and their quarterbacks will definitely not come close to Skinner’s level of play this year. How bad is the QB situation? Former wide receiver Skylar Jones was the #1 quarterback coming out of the Spring!

Overall, the best part of this offense will be the deep set of returning receivers. Unfortunately, I don’t think that they’ll be nearly as productive as they were last season since Wake’s quarterback play will be significantly less effective with virtually no game experience. On top of that, the Demon Deacons don’t have a strong O-Line and neither of their running backs are major gamebreakers. Barring an unforeseen emergence by one of the young quarterbacks, Wake Forest is in for a major regression on offense this season.

DEFENSE

Another reason for the lack of success down the stretch in 2009 was their defense, which gave up 31 points per contest in the 2nd half of the year. Wake Forest was lacking in all aspects of the defense, allowing the 3rd most yards in the entire conference while finishing tied for 8th in sacks. With four of their top six tacklers from 2009 departed via graduation, can the Demon Deacons plug the holes on this defense quickly?

Up front, Wake has to replace a trifecta of very talented defensive tackles, which were so effective that all three actually started against Miami last season! This is a major concern that is exacerbated by how severely undersized the Demon Deacons are at defensive end. While juniors Gelo Orange (32 tackles, 3 sacks), Tristan Dorty (41 tackles, 3 sacks) and Kyle Wilbur will produce a decent pass rush, none of them weighs more than 250 pounds! I’m very, very concerned that Wake Forest will simply get driven off of the line of scrimmage this fall and that will allow opponents to run the ball at will.

I’m a little more impressed with the linebackers. Seniors Matt Woodlief (52 starts, 1 sack) and Hunter Haynes (41 tackles, 1 sack) are solid run defenders and both started last season. Their steady style should mesh well with sophomore Joe Ehrmann (25 tackles, 3.5 sacks), who is a good pass rusher and played well in a limited role in 2009. However, I wonder how effective these players will be this fall when they are playing behind a smallish D-Line that won’t be able to hold the point of attack.

The defensive backs are probably the best part of this defense. Sophomore cornerback Kenny Okoro (38 tackles, 3 INT) was a 2nd Team Freshman All-American last season and is probably the defense’s standout performer this season with his great coverage abilities. However, the safety pairing of junior Cyhl Quarles (62 tackles, 1 INT, top returning tackler) and senior Alex Frye (32 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) also looks promising and I think that the Demon Deacons should have a decent secondary this fall.

Overall, this defense does not inspire confidence. Head Coach Jim Grobe is a firm believer that games are won and lost in the trenches and I’m afraid that his D-Line is going to be on the losing end more often than not this season. They’re an undersized and inexperienced group that is going to get gouged on the ground. While I think that their pass defense could be pretty effective, they’re going to spend just as much time tackling running backs as they will covering receivers. That’s a bad sign for a defense if there ever was one and I’m afraid that Wake Forest is among the worst defenses in the conference.

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SCHEDULE

Wake Forest also has a pretty difficult schedule on tap this fall. They have to travel to Stanford and Vanderbilt while hosting Navy, giving them three tough non-conference tilts. In ACC play, they draw Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Duke from the Coastal Division, which means that they have to face two conference championship contenders in cross-division play! Their most daunting five game stretch comes early as they travel to Stanford and Florida State, host Georgia Tech and Navy, and then visit Virginia Tech. That’s a brutal stretch that could push this season towards double digit loss territory. Needless to say, Wake has a very tough schedule.

OUTLOOK

Wake Forest has a few glaring errors this season. They’re undersized and inexperienced in the trenches, they have underwhelming tailbacks and their #1 QB heading into fall camp was a wide receiver for the last two years! To cap that off, they have a tough draw in conference play and play three strong non-league opponents. Jim Grobe is an excellent coach, but I just don’t see his team replacing most of Skinner’s production in the passing game this fall and their chronic weakness on the line of scrimmage is going to be their Achilles heel. I’m afraid that 2010 looks like a rebuilding campaign and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons are my pick to finish last in the ACC Atlantic Division.

PREDICTED RESULT: 4-8 (2-6 ACC)