Wake Forest Football: Second Scrimmage

Who impressed in the latest football scrimmage?

With the Wake Forest football season opener against Presbyterian is just 19 days away, the Deacs took to the field today for their second scrimmage of the summer. Let’s take a look at some of the stats from today’s scrimmage, courtesy of Les Johns, in order to see who is standing out and if any improvements have been made since the first scrimmage.

Just by looking at the stats, it’s obvious that John Wolford is still on fire throwing the ball. In the 2 scrimmages, he has completed 24 of his 30 attempts (80%) for 335 yards and 5 TDs. The rest of the quarterbacks on the roster combined have thrown for 237 yards and 0 TDs. Though Clawson has already stated that Hinton would the starter, it might be becoming more and more difficult for him to stick to that decision with the way Wolford is throwing the ball.

Second note on the QBs: just 5 sacks today as compared to 9 in the first scrimmage. While this is definitely an improvement, 5 is not what I would consider a low number. If I am not mistaken, simply touching the quarterback in these scrimmages counts as a sack, and the quarterbacks are not supposed to scramble, so it may not be time to panic on this issue just yet.

From the stats, it looks like Clawson and the coaching staff wanted to give Byrd and Robinson a chance to get some carries, while Colburn and Carney were limited to just 7 carries combined. Total, the Deacs ran the ball 50 times for 156 yards (3.12 ypc) and 1 TD. Greg Dortch obviously made the most of his chances to carry the ball from the wide receiver position, racking up 69 yards and a TD in just 3 carries. An explosive running threat from the receiver position would definitely allow the Deacs to run a diversity of plays and keep the defense from loading up the box.

The receivers combined pulled down 22 catches for 346 yards (15.7 avg) and 3 TDs. It’s nice to see the receivers making big play type catches that go for over 30 yards. Hopefully we will see that happening several times a game this season. Dortch had the best game overall for the offensive, leading the team in receptions, receiving yards, and rushing yards. He may be on his way to becoming a break out player for the Deacs.

Again, it looks like Clawson gave some of the younger guys a chance to show what they could do. Redshirt Jr. Thomas Dillon led the way for the defense, picking up 7 tackles. Redshirt Sophomore Nate Mays had the best scrimmage overall on the defensive side with 1 sack, 3 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.

What are your thoughts on these stats? Give us your analytical thoughts or hottest takes in the comments below.