Scouting Wake Forest
Five Wake Forest Players To Watch
Fifth-year senior middle linebacker Grant Dawson — The 6-1, 225-pounder leads the Demon Deacons with 70 tackles, is third with nine tackles for loss and has chipped in 2.5 sacks in his first year as a starter. He had 14 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss against Georgia Tech Oct. 21, and has topped 10 tackles in three contests.
Fifth-year senior defensive end Duke Ejiofor — The 6-4, 275-pounder has long been one of the best defensive ends in the ACC, and leads the team with 14.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. He had 2.5 sacks at Georgia Tech, and came through with eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one sack against Florida State Sept. 30. He has 41 tackles for loss, 23.5 sacks and four forced fumbles in his decorated career. He is questionable for Saturday’s game with an injury.
Fifth-year senior tight end Cam Serigne — The veteran has caught 28 passes for 393 yards and an impressive eight touchdowns.The 6-3, 240-pounder snagged seven passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns last week against Syracuse and he had a pair of touchdowns against Presbyterian. He has caught 158 passes for 1,912 yards and 20 touchdowns in 46 career games.
Fifth-year senior kicker Mike Weaver — He feels like he has played for WFU forever, and he is putting another strong season. He has converted 15 of 18 on field goals with a long of 43, and his misses have come from 34, 41 and 50 yards. He has also converted 40 of 43 on extra points and has 26 touchbacks on 61 kickoffs.
Senior quarterback John Wolford — The four-year starter has completed 172 of 264 passing for 2,354 yards with 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions in nine games played. The 6-1, 200-pounder has also emerged more in the run game, rushing 105 times for 536 yards and 10 touchdowns. He torched Louisville for 461 passing yards and five touchdowns, and has passed for 1,155 yards and 10 touchdowns the last three games. He has thrown for 7,956 yards with 50 touchdowns and 38 interceptions in 44 career games.
Three Keys To The Game
Wake Forest’s offense attacks from different angles: Wake Forest was supposed to suffer greatly when star freshman wide receiver Greg Dortch suffered a season-ending injury during a win over Louisville.
Wake Forest might be slowed some, but the Demon Deacons had 37 points at Notre Dame and an astronomical 64 points at Syracuse. Dortch had 53 catches for 722 yards and nine touchdowns in eight games, and was coming off 10 catches for 167 yards and four scores in the contest he got hurt.
Obviously, everything revolves around star quarterback John Wolford, but other players have stepped up in Dortch’s absence. Junior wide receiver Alex Bachman caught eight passes for 116 yards and a touchdown against the Fighting Irish. Three different players reached 100 yards against Syracuse, with tight end Cam Serigne catching seven passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receivers Tabari Hines and Scotty Washington both stepped up in Dortch’s absence.
However, the biggest emergence has come from 5-10, 200-pound junior running back Matt Colburn. He has rushed for at least 120 yards the last three games, and exploded for 31 carries for 237 yards and two touchdowns at Syracuse. Colburn had only one game where he rushed for more than 34 yards over the first seven games of the season.
The running game has been a good indicator of the Demon Deacons’ success. During the three-game losing streak against Florida State, Clemson and Georgia Tech, the Wake Forest rushing attack failed to compile more than 138 yards.
Air it out: NC State redshirt junior quarterback Ryan Finley has been dissected the last few weeks, especially after some NFL Draft pundits talked him up as potential high draft choice.
NFL teams makes those decision rather than media, so it remains to be seen where his stock is, but he clearly has a chance to break out against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons allowed 443 passing yards against Syracuse, 332 yards against Louisville and 330 yards against Notre Dame.
The loss of redshirt sophomore safety Jessie Bates III in that stretch has affected the defense. He has missed the past two games, and has 64 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and an interception this season. Bates had a career-high 15 tackles against NC State in last year’s meeting. He is listed as probable to return to action Saturday.
Finley has thrown for more than 338 yards in four games this season, including 415 yards and two scores in the season-opening loss versus South Carolina Sept. 2. Finley had an impressive game last year against the Demon Deacons, throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns in a 33-16 win.
Win the red zone battle: NC State has been a little uneven in the red zone this season with 25 touchdowns and six field goals in 43 trips inside the 20-yard line.
NC State will need to be sharp Saturday because Wake Forest leads the ACC and ranks 12th nationally in red zone offense, converting 40 of 43 trips into points — 27 touchdowns and 13 field goals.
The combination of Wolford and senior kicker Mike Weaver helps because both have probably experienced everything over the years. Three appears to be the magic number for Wake Forest because Wolford only has three interceptions, Weaver has only missed three field goals and the Demon Deacons have only lost three fumbles out of 16.
NC State will need to match that execution. Having a touchdown making machine like senior H-back Jaylen Samuels — nine rushing and four receiving scores — should aid the Wolfpack’s cause.
Three Questions With Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Is the most comfortable senior quarterback John Wolford has played?
“It is. I think a lot of it has to do that we are improved on the offensive line. It’s hard to get comfortable as a quarterback when you don’t get time, and you’re not running the football. If people can tee off on you and you can’t protect and you don’t get open, it’s hard for anybody to play the position.
“John’s improved, but I think a lot of the improvement has happened because we’ve improved around him. Our line is playing better. Our receivers are improved. We’re running the football better and that allows the quarterback to function a lot better when people don’t know what you’re doing and where you’re doing it from.”
You are obviously familiar with the Chubb family. How have you seen NC State senior defensive end Bradley Chubb development since last year’s meeting?
“I think he’s more of a complete player in every way. I remember him as a freshman, being a contributor and as a sophomore, we couldn’t block him as a pass rusher. Now just his ability to chase players down, he has the ability to speed rush you, bull rush you. He’s got good counter-moves. He’s very stout against the run game.
“Even though he gets off of down blocks and those things really well, and he’s even a big contributor on special teams. You have to factor for him when you’re punting the football and your PAT field goal unit. He’s just become a complete player, and you know, what makes it even more difficult when you play NC State is sometimes you may play against an elite tackle and you can cheat against him.
“There’s a lot of guys on NC State’s defensive line, if it wasn’t for Chubb, those guys would be the featured guy, and that’s who we would be talking about. [Justin] Jones and [B.J.] Hill as tackle are excellent players. [Kentavius] Street and [Darian] Roseboro at the other end are both — all those kids are outstanding players in their own right, and Chubb is obviously the headliner.
“But if Chubb wasn’t on NC State’s team, people would say, ‘How are you going to block Roseboro or how are you going to block Street?’ That’s what makes going against NC State so tough is there’s not one person on the that front, that you can say, ‘Hey, you don’t have to worry about him.’
“They are all very disruptive players.”
What kind of atmosphere are you expecting Saturday?
“We think we’ll have a great atmosphere. Ticket sales are tracking very good right now which usually happens with our in-state games.
“I don’t look at the last 10 years. The last time NC State played here, it was 28-0 after the first quarter. So what happened in, whatever, 2007 or 2009, I think has very little impact on this game. The last two years that we’ve got off to a poor start and NC State has gotten off to a great start in this game. Even after that, we settled in. We were just too far behind to really get back in the game.
“Dave has done a great job of getting his team ready to play us every year and we’ve got to be prepared from the very first snap, or this won’t be a football game.”
Three Questions With NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren
How important has it been that you clinched a winning record in the ACC, and what more can you build on from here on out?
“I think it helps. You know how many people are using that against me in recruiting, and obviously in the media? That was a story that wasn’t good. To be able to flip that and show the progress in our program, it takes time.
“To build it and to build it the way we did and play young guys; I mean, we didn’t try to quick-fix it and bring in a bunch of junior college kids. We had a transfer here or there, but we did it with young players and developed them.
“To be able to show the fruits of your labor, I’m happy that we have five wins. We’d be ecstatic if we could get a sixth and then a seventh. It’s never been done.
“With these seniors, I love these kids so much and I want them to say that they have done something that hasn’t been done at this school, and that’s what we’re talking about trying to do.”
On what impressed him most from Wake Forest’s performance against Syracuse:
“They had a lot of explosive plays. I think Syracuse got caught trying to do too many things against some exotic things that Wake was doing. Their quarterback got out and just ran all over them. They were in some blitzes. With the quarterback run game, if you’re in a single-high coverage, if he gets out it’s you and the safety left. That happened multiple times. Their tailback split them on a couple.
“That quarterback is really, really changing their offense. He’s always been feisty, tough and competitive, but he’s never been healthy. He always had an ankle or a shoulder, or something. He’s always been banged up every year we’ve played them. He looks really good right now, and I think that’s the difference. Their number of explosive plays in the last three games, I don’t have it in front of me, but it’s impressive.”
On if he will watch the College Football Playoff show and calculate NC State’s ranking:
“No. I’ll see it, the final part of it, but I won’t watch it. I don’t have enough time.
“I just know our strength of schedule is real. If you look at who we’ve played and who we’ve beaten, we have a very strong schedule. We didn’t win all those games, but we were in a three-second game against South Carolina, and they’ve got seven wins in the SEC now. We were in a three-second game with Clemson, and they’re pretty good.
“I think that we deserve some credit. If we win out, we’ll see where that puts us. We’ve got to win out first.”
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