The first day of Fall camp for Wake Forest football looked like, well, the first day. Fortunately for the Demon Deacons, there are a lot of days of camp left before they go into practice for the season opener. Tuesday’s first day could best be described as hot and sloppy.
With it being the first day, there was the full complement of local media, including the ACC Network staging. By day two, it will be the usual three to four media members as everyone else moves on.
Wake’s Day One
Who’s Hot and Who’s Not
The temperatures were in the mid-80s throughout Tuesday morning, which should not have been a problem for players who were only wearing shells (jersey, shorts, helmet, no pads). For his part, new head coach Jake Dickert was running around practice in a long-sleeved sweatshirt. Still, the play on the field was uneven at best and sloppy at its worst.
Neither of the quarterbacks who are presumably battling for the starting job took any significant steps toward taking a lead in the competition. There were only one or two connections with a receiver beyond four or five yards. And they both had to deal with bad snaps from the center and imperfect blocking from the offensive line.
The defense looked more in command. But was that a byproduct of a better performance, or playing against an offense that was not hitting on all cylinders? We have 14 more camp practices to find out.
The Day One Blues
For his part, Dickert was unfazed by the performance. “I’m actually a huge believer that day two is better than day one, always,” he said after practice. He said it was the difference in going from player-run workouts during the Summer to fully structured practices with helmets on. “This game is not played in pajamas,” the coach said of the difference between Summer workouts and real practices.
Dickert said he could see some anxiousness and tight play throughout the first day. He said he believes that it starts to go away on day two.
As for the quarterbacks, Robby Ashford and Deshawn Purdie, Dickert said, “I think you’ve got to cut it loose. They know they are in a battle. They know every snap matters. But at the end of the day, play like on instinct.”
Ashford and Purdie are two completely different quarterbacks in terms of style of play, skill set, and experience. The likelihood is that, regardless of who gets named the starter, both will see action in week one. There is an even greater likelihood that, regardless of who the starter is during the season, there will be play sets designed for the other to run should the opportunity present itself in a game.
Heat? What Heat?
“Is that supposed to be hot? This wasn’t hot,” Dickert said when asked by the late July weather in Winston-Salem. His real point was that he was not going to let players use it as an excuse for the performance on Tuesday. “Ninety-nine percent of our guys got to that point where they said, ‘Man, it’s hot out here.’ That’s a defeatist mentality.” He said learning to win is a developed habit, and his players are still learning that in their first Fall camp with the new coach.
Is that why Dickert was wearing a sweatshirt? Was he trying to drive home a point about not letting the weather take over the mindset? Dickert laughed and said, “This is the heaviest I have ever been coming into a Fall camp. It’s been one helluva Summer. I need to work this off in quick fashion.” Dickert added that he has found several eateries in the area that he is already fond of.
Defensive line transfer Jayden Loving is originally from Hamilton, Alabama. He played at Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida, before going to Western Kentucky and ultimately Wake Forest. Loving said he was unbothered by any semblance of heat and humidity on Tuesday. He said he was not part of the 99% that Dickert claimed had something to say about the heat. “I knew he didn’t want to hear that,” he said with a laugh.
Getting To Day Two
Loving said he did not sense any tightness with the defensive linemen, but added, “Every day one is tough.”
Veteran linebacker Dylan Hazen referred to Tuesday’s day one as “Gritty.” He said there is a transition from the Summer workouts to Fall camp. He said there is a lot of energy on day one. It is just not always funneled correctly. Hazen said that it falls on the veterans on the team to lead the players through it.
And in terms of heat, the highs in Pullman, Washington, were 92 degrees on Tuesday. Winston-Salem was a good seven degrees cooler during practice for Dickert and his fellow Washington State transfers.
Main Image from Tony Siracusa
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