College Football

2013 Wake Forest football's 10 things to know: Do the Deacs have the pieces to bounce back again?

Injuries, youth, and a small margin for error conspired against Wake Forest in 2012. Can offensive tweaks and defensive health lead to another bounce back for Jim Grobe and his Demon Deacons? For more Wake, visit Blogger So Dear.

By Bill Connelly@SBN_BillC Aug 5, 2013, 12:00pm EDT

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. "We don’t really know from year to year."

My first book, Study Hall: College Football, Its Stats and Its Stories, was released last week. I spoke to quite a few coaches for it, and Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe was a particularly enjoyable interview. I thought I would use some of Grobe's quotes throughout this piece.

Grobe on compiling the talent to compete in the ACC:

We just tried to take the personnel we had and tried to be a little bit different. Defensively, we really felt like we didn’t have the personnel to be in a 3-4, so we actually went to a 3-3 look and played 5 DBs. And that really helped us for a couple of years. It was totally different than what others had in our league. We went back to four-man front when we got some big guys.

Our thoughts at both places [Ohio and Wake Forest, the two programs for which he has been head coach] were to initially try our best to be a little unique.

We've really gotten to be a program that … we don’t really know from year to year. It’s hard at Wake Forest because of the academics. At a place like Wake Forest, you just go recruit the best players you can, and your schemes might change year to year. That’s not what you like to do, but it’s something you have to do.

Like Duke, Wake Forest is a pretty tough job. The academic standards are high, the fanbase isn't that big, and there is no proven history from which to pull when trying to sway recruits. Despite a series of pretty decent hires -- John Mackovic (1978-80) and Al Groh (1981-86) would go on to decent success elsewhere, Bill Dooley (1987-92) had won quite a few games at North Carolina and Virginia Tech before arriving in Winston-Salem, and Jim Caldwell (1993-00) went to a Super Bowl as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts (with help from a pretty good quarterback) -- Wake has very much struggled to maintain success.

The Demon Deacons reached 14th in the country and finished 8-4 in 1979 under Mackovic, then went 5-6 the next year. Dooley won 13 games in his first two years, then won eight in his next three. Dooley went 8-4 in his final season, then handed the reins to Caldwell, who went 9-37 in his first four seasons. He eventually patched together a 7-5 season in 1999, then went 2-9 in 2000 and was done.

Wake Forest had been to just five bowls when Grobe arrived in 2001 and hadn't been successfully strong since the 1940s. The odds were stacked against him, and with this backdrop, his accomplishments -- five bowl games, a 28-12 run from 2006-08, the 2006 ACC title, and the simple fact that a 5-7 season in 2012 was seen as relatively disappointing -- have secured his legacy. Whatever he accomplishes from here on out, he will leave Winston-Salem as one of Wake's greatest coaches.

But what does Wake have left under Grobe? The 2006-08 run was aided in part by the fact that traditional ACC powers like Florida State and Clemson didn't really have their act together; but the Demon Deacons still ranked between 28th and 45th in the F/+ rankings each year from 2006-09. They've ranked 103rd, 64th, and 107th, respectively, in the last three. They could rebound again, but is the ceiling still reasonably high, or is 60th and about six wins all they can hope for moving forward?

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 5-7 \| Adj. Record: 2-10 \| Final F/+ Rk: 107
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
1-Sep	Liberty	20-17	W	17.3 - 27.2	L
8-Sep	North Carolina	28-27	W	37.9 - 21.1	W
15-Sep	at Florida State	0-52	L	7.0 - 35.1	L
22-Sep	Army	49-37	W	35.8 - 31.2	W
29-Sep	Duke	27-34	L	20.3 - 30.4	L
6-Oct	at Maryland	14-19	L	15.6 - 19.1	L
20-Oct	at Virginia	16-10	W	14.5 - 17.7	L
25-Oct	Clemson	13-42	L	16.7 - 28.9	L
3-Nov	Boston College	28-14	W	23.5 - 30.9	L
10-Nov	at N.C. State	6-37	L	6.7 - 29.0	L
17-Nov	at Notre Dame	0-38	L	14.7 - 41.3	L
24-Nov	Vanderbilt	21-55	L	22.7 - 39.3	L

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	18.5	116	31.8	92
Adj. Points Per Game	19.4	119	29.3	73

2. Nothing worked

Wake Forest lost two tight games in the middle of the season -- by seven points to Duke, by five points to Maryland; taking either game would have gotten the Demon Deacons to six wins. But that wouldn't have made them a good team. The offense played well exactly twice (against North Carolina and Army), and the defense (which definitely wasn't the primary issue in 2012) was still only significantly better than average three times. And both units got worse after September.

Adj. Points Per Game (first 4 games): Opponent 28.7, Wake Forest 24.5 (minus-4.2)
Adj. Points Per Game (last 8 games): Opponent 29.6, Wake Forest 16.8 (minus-12.8)

Wake went from below average to bad, and a 3-1 start begat a 2-6 finish. The Deacs were pretty young across the board, and you can talk yourself into youth when it improves late in the year. Wake's young players really didn't. And as is usually the case, injuries didn't help.

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	120	115	84	118
RUSHING	116	108	83	119
PASSING	93	107	77	112
Standard Downs		105	65	117
Passing Downs		116	107	116
Redzone		11	6	26

Q1 Rk	114	1st Down Rk	106
Q2 Rk	112	2nd Down Rk	115
Q3 Rk	68	3rd Down Rk	102
Q4 Rk	123

3. "We had to go to school and learn to throw the ball."

Grobe on tweaks to the offense:

Our recruiting each year is simply trying to find the best players we can find. Maybe that’s an option quarterback, maybe that’s a throwing quarterback. We were running the QB a lot, with a lot of option stuff, and we ended up with Riley Skinner, who doesn’t run but throws so well. We had to go to school and learn to throw the ball. With Tanner Price, we’ve been a throwing team.

The recruiting approach for Grobe and his staff is to find athletes and fit a system around them. In 2012, however, the offense really didn't have many awesome athletes. The Deacs were still reasonably efficient on standard downs, and they were downright awesome in the red zone, but they just weren't able to create many chances for themselves because of a complete and total lack of big play ability. It doesn't matter if you're running or passing; if you don't have the horses, you're going to struggle.

Is the outlook any rosier for 2013 in this regard? It's hard to say yes. Possession receiver extraordinaire Michael Campanaro does return; of the six receivers targeted at least three times in 2012, only Campanaro managed a catch rate of better than 57 percent, but he also only averaged 9.7 yards per catch. He averaged just 11.4 as the No. 2 receiver in 2011. He was great in an "extended handoffs" capacity, but he didn't help to stretch the field.

Meanwhile, Brandon Terry showed promise in this regard (19.3 yards per catch, four catches for 87 yards against North Carolina), but his catch rate was far too low for him to be effective. They're both back, as is sophomore Sherman Ragland III, but if there's hope for more big plays, it might have to come from a newcomer like redshirt freshman Jared Crump. From what we know about the players on the roster, big plays aren't necessarily forthcoming. And in the running game, senior Josh Harris, a solid big-play guy on the rare occasion that he got to the second level of a defense, was recently deemed ineligible for the season.

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Comp

Att

Yards

Comp
Rate

INT

Sacks

Sack Rate

Yards/
Att.

Tanner Price

6'2, 205

Sr.

*** (5.6)

228

410

2,300

55.6%

5.7%

4.9

Patrick Thompson

6'2, 210

Jr.

** (5.3)

83.3%

0.0%

3.5

Brendan Cross

33.3%

0.0%

0.3

Kevin Sousa

6'3, 230

So.

*** (5.7)

Tyler Cameron

6'3, 220

RSFr.

*** (5.7)

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
Josh Harris	RB				137	608	4.4	5.5	5	-5.9
Deandre Martin	RB	6'2, 235	So.	*** (5.6)	126	490	3.9	3.1	6	-15.4
Tanner Price	QB	6'2, 205	Sr.	*** (5.6)	52	147	2.8	4.2	0	-12.1
Michael Campanaro	WR	5'11, 190	Sr.	*** (5.7)	16	82	5.1	3.2	1	-0.7
Tyler Jackson	RB				11	36	3.3	1.9	0	-1.8
Lovell Jackson	FL				6	24	4.0	1.4	0	-0.4
Orville Reynolds	RB	5'9, 185	Jr.	*** (5.6)	5	-6	-1.2	N/A	0	-2.7
Dominique Gibson	RB	5'10, 205	RSFr.	*** (5.7)
Dezmond Wortham	RB	6'0, 205	Fr.	*** (5.6)

4. "We’re trying to get back to being more of a running team."

Now we don’t run the ball very well because we’ve gotten used to throwing. We’re really in transition now – we’re trying to get back to being more of a running team.

At Ohio, Grobe was able to craft quite a bit of offensive success through his use of the Wishbone. A former Air Force assistant under Fisher DeBerry, Grobe was certainly schooled in the option, but he wasn't married to it; he did it at Ohio because he was attempting to do something different, not because he felt it is the only way to move the ball.

As mentioned above, Wake has turned into more of a passing team through the years, thanks primarily to the weapons it has been able to recruit. But that changes in 2013. In an effort to shake things up and perhaps manufacture a few more big plays, Wake Forest is going back to the option and good chunks of the offense it was running pre-Riley Skinner.

It's in quarterback Tanner Price to have some success as a dual-threat guy. He was known as a dual-threat in high school, and he had a couple of high-carry games early in his freshman year (10 carries versus Duke, 16 versus Stanford) before he got rocked pretty hard against Florida State, and the staff went conservative with him. Without Harris, however, Wake will be leaning mostly on youngsters to test opponents' run defenses. Sophomore Deandre Martin got experience last year, but that's pretty much it.

Receiving Corps

Player

Pos.

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Targets

Catches

Yards

Catch Rate

Yds/
Target

Target
Rate

%SD

Real Yds/
Target

RYPR

Michael Campanaro

5'11, 190

Sr.

*** (5.7)

107

763

73.8%

7.1

26.8%

58.9%

7.1

84.8

Terence Davis

544

56.6%

7.2

19.0%

64.5%

7.2

60.4

Sherman Ragland III

6'2, 195

So.

*** (5.6)

247

44.2%

4.8

13.0%

51.9%

5.2

27.4

Brandon Terry

6'5, 205

Jr.

*** (5.6)

290

40.5%

7.8

9.3%

62.2%

7.7

32.2

Tommy Bohanon

208

67.6%

6.1

8.5%

61.8%

6.2

23.1

Josh Harris

65.5%

3.3

7.3%

48.3%

3.3

10.7

Lovell Jackson

40.7%

3.3

6.8%

40.7%

3.7

10.0

Deandre Martin

6'2, 235

So.

*** (5.6)

135

80.0%

6.8

5.0%

45.0%

5.3

15.0

Spencer Bishop

6'2, 240

Sr.

42.9%

3.7

1.8%

85.7%

2.6

2.9

Matt James

6'5, 220

Jr.

*** (5.6)

33.3%

1.0

0.8%

0.0%

0.4

0.3

Tanner Price

6'2, 205

Sr.

*** (5.6)

100.0%

6.5

0.5%

50.0%

6.6

1.4

Tyler Jackson

50.0%

0.5

0.5%

0.0%

0.2

0.1

Orville Reynolds

5'9, 185

Jr.

*** (5.6)

-4

100.0%

-2.0

0.5%

50.0%

-1.8

-0.4

Jared Crump

6'3, 190

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Zach Gordon

6'5, 245

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Brendan O'Neil

6'4, 220

Fr.

*** (5.6)

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	83.9	2.37	2.78	32.4%	56.1%	26.1%	87.2	4.7%	8.2%
Rank	112	119	99	118	114	119	78	62	90

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
Garrick Williams	C				27 career starts
Frank Souza	RG	6'4, 310	Sr.	*** (5.6)	14 career starts
Colin Summers	RT	6'5, 315	Jr.	*** (5.5)	12 career starts
Whit Barnes	C	6'4, 300	Sr.	*** (5.5)	11 career starts
Antonio Ford	LT	6'4, 310	Jr.	*** (5.6)	6 career starts
Dylan Intemann	LT	6'5, 310	So.	NR	4 career starts
Steven Chase	OT	6'6, 315	Sr.	** (4.9)	3 career starts
Gabe Irby	LG				1 career start
Devin Bolling	OT				1 career start
Hunter Goodwin	LT	6'6, 300	So.	*** (5.5)
Cody Preble	C	6'5, 280	So.	*** (5.7)
Tyler Hayworth	LG	6'4, 310	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
Will Smith	RT	6'5, 300	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
Joel Suggs	OT	6'6, 300	RSFr.	** (5.3)
Josh Harris	OG	6'4, 290	Fr.	*** (5.6)
Cory Helms	C	6'4, 290	Fr.	*** (5.6)

5. You need five healthy linemen

It's a good sign that Grobe is still willing to tinker and make changes in a hungry search to move the ball. His misdirection running game indeed had a decent amount of success early in his Wake tenure, and it was certainly time for a change. But the change will only matter if the line can both stay healthy and improve. Between injuries and youth, the line fell apart in 2012, especially in terms of run blocking. It couldn't create chances for its backs, it couldn't keep defenders out of the backfield, and it couldn't convert in short-yardage situations. That's three strikes.

In 2013, six players with starting experience do return (50 career starts). That's certainly a good thing. The line is big and experienced. But how much can a line improve in one year, especially when a bit of a system change is involved?

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	91	79	75	81
RUSHING	70	66	78	56
PASSING	103	82	70	88
Standard Downs		67	56	77
Passing Downs		96	101	93
Redzone		79	87	68

Q1 Rk	77	1st Down Rk	71
Q2 Rk	88	2nd Down Rk	42
Q3 Rk	35	3rd Down Rk	88
Q4 Rk	36

6. The defense was not the problem

The 2012 Wake defense certainly wasn't very good, but it wasn't that bad either. The Deacs were reasonably efficient on standard downs, and a light but active line was able to make quite a few plays in the backfield. But even if the defense could leverage opponents into passing downs, the back seven wasn't able to make enough stops. Injuries were a hindrance -- each of the top three linemen all missed time, as did three of the top six defensive backs -- and the unit certainly regressed as the season went on. If the D can stay healthy, and if it can at least get some sort of help from the O, then there is enough experience here to at least shoot for a top-50 or -60 Def. F/+ ranking.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	105.5	2.83	2.65	36.0%	68.5%	22.6%	94.1	6.4%	4.2%
Rank	38	49	19	33	70	22	73	18	103

Name

Pos

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Tackles

% of Team

TFL

Sacks

Int

PBU

Zach Thompson

6'5, 265

Sr.

*** (5.5)

39.5

5.6%

5.5

Nikita Whitlock

5'11, 250

Sr.

39.0

5.5%

5.5

Kris Redding

6'4, 275

Sr.

** (5.2)

22.0

3.1%

5.5

3.5

Hasan Hazime

21.5

3.0%

2.5

Tylor Harris

6'4, 285

So.

** (5.4)

19.0

2.7%

4.5

1.5

Desmond Floyd

6'5, 255

So.

*** (5.6)

4.0

0.6%

Johnny Garcia

6'4, 260

Jr.

** (5.4)

1.5

0.2%

0.5

Shelldon Lewinson

6'2, 245

RSFr.

*** (5.6)

Josh Banks

6'4, 250

RSFr.

** (5.4)

James Looney

6'3, 275

Fr.

*** (5.6)

7. A funky, effective line

Wake's nose guard, Nikita Whitlock, is smaller than most opponents' defensive ends. But in three years, he has racked up 30 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. He was dinged up last year, plus he got a bit more attention from opposing defenses, but he is a unique weapon, and Wake has shown that it knows how to use him at times.

Despite Whitlock's limited play, and despite the lack of health and depth around him, the line mostly did its job in 2012. Five different players logged at least 4.5 tackles for loss, and the Deacs were strong in both the Stuff Rate (making negative plays against the run) and Opportunity Rate (allowing runners to the second level, basically) categories. Not surprisingly, a lack of size contributed to short-yardage issues, but if you make enough plays, you can get away with that. There's a lot of experience here, and there's no reason to think the line stats will slip much. But the line will still need more help than it got last year.

Linebackers

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Justin Jackson	ROB	6'1, 230	Sr.	*** (5.6)	12	60.5	8.5%	8.5	4	0	2	0	1
Mike Olson	MLB	6'3, 230	Sr.	** (4.9)	11	58.5	8.2%	3.5	1	1	2	0	0
Riley Haynes	WLB				12	46.5	6.5%	3.5	1	1	0	0	0
Joey Ehrmann	LOU				12	43.0	6.0%	10.5	3.5	0	0	2	0
Zachary Allen	ROB	6'2, 240	Jr.	*** (5.7)	12	33.0	4.6%	1.5	0	0	0	1	0
Scott Betros	WLB				11	21.5	3.0%	2.5	0	0	1	1	0
Brandon Chubb	MLB	6'1, 240	So.	** (5.3)	12	18.0	2.5%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Derricus Ellis	LOU				12	7.5	1.1%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Britt Cherry	ILB	6'1, 225	RSFr.	NR	6	0.5	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Josh Donatell	OLB	6'6, 225	RSFr.	*** (5.6)
Kevis Jones	OLB	6'2, 230	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
Lance Virgile	LB	6'2, 220	Fr.	*** (5.6)

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
A.J. Marshall	FS	6'0, 195	Sr.	**** (5.8)	12	58.5	8.2%	3	0	2	4	1	0
Kevin Johnson	CB	6'1, 175	Jr.	** (5.3)	12	46.0	6.5%	3.5	0.5	3	15	2	1
Chibuikem Okoro	SS				12	44.5	6.3%	3	0	2	5	0	1
Daniel Mack	SS				10	36.5	5.1%	0.5	0	0	1	0	1
Merrill Noel	CB	5'10, 180	Jr.	*** (5.6)	9	28.5	4.0%	1.5	0.5	0	3	0	0
Duran Lowe	SS	6'0, 215	Sr.	*** (5.5)	6	22.0	3.1%	1	0	0	0	0	1
James Ward	SS	5'10, 170	So.	*** (5.5)	12	16.0	2.3%	1	0	0	1	0	0
Allen Ramsey II	CB	6'0, 190	So.	*** (5.7)	10	8.0	1.1%	1	0	1	0	0	1
Chuck Schlegel	FS	6'0, 175	Jr.	NR	11	1.5	0.2%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ryan Janvion	SS	5'11, 190	RSFr.	*** (5.5)
Michael Stevenson	SS	6'0, 175	Fr.	*** (5.6)

8. A decent secondary on paper

In 2011, then-freshman Merrill "Bud" Noel defensed 21 passes. In 2012, with Noel fighting injuries, then-sophomore Kevin Johnson recorded 18. In theory, this could be one hell of an active duo of cornerbacks if healthy. Throw in a former star recruit in A.J. Marshall and some youngsters with potential -- James Ward, Allen Ramsey and Ryan Janvion all drew some praise this spring -- and you can see a relatively impressive, aggressive defensive backfield coming together. But as with the offensive line, how much improvement can we expect to see in a single offseason? How much of last year's struggles (and there were certainly struggles) due simply to injury?

And how much will a solid secondary matter if the linebackers don't step up? Wake Forest's defense fell apart in blitzing opportunities, and the linebackers barely made any plays whatsoever against the pass. Players like Justin Jackson have showed potential, and the unit as a whole was pretty decent at flowing to the ball against the run, but it was perhaps the weakest unit on the defense last year, and it is the thinnest heading into the fall.

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Alexander Kinal	6'4, 210	So.	95	40.7	5	28	28	58.9%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Jimmy Newman			46	61.8	25	54.3%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Jimmy Newman			17-17	1-1	100.0%	1-5	20.0%
Chad Hedlund	6'1, 185	So.	10-11	2-2	100.0%	1-1	100.0%

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
Orville Reynolds	KR	5'9, 185	Jr.	11	14.7	0
Deandre Martin	KR	6'2, 235	So.	10	17.7	0
Lovell Jackson	KR			7	19.6	0
Lovell Jackson	PR			10	12.8	0

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	117
Net Punting	101
Net Kickoffs	18
Touchback Pct	14
Field Goal Pct	113
Kick Returns Avg	124
Punt Returns Avg	48

9. Don't stink at special teams

Underdog Tactics 101 tells you that you can't afford to give points away on special teams. Wake had a hell of a kickoffs weapon in Jimmy Newman and a solid punt returner in Lovell Jackson, but that was pretty much it in 2012. Kick returns were dreadful, punting was below average, and Newman wasn't as good a place-kicker as he was a kickoffs guy. Now Newman and Jackson are both gone. Wake needs to do its offense and defense as many field position favors as possible; can it?

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2013 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
29-Aug	Presyterian	NR
6-Sep	at Boston College	69
14-Sep	UL-Monroe	78
21-Sep	at Army	105
28-Sep	at Clemson	20
5-Oct	N.C. State	61
19-Oct	Maryland	83
26-Oct	at Miami	25
2-Nov	at Syracuse	54
9-Nov	Florida State	19
23-Nov	Duke	88
30-Nov	at Vanderbilt	51

Five-Year F/+ Rk	67
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	64
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	+8 / +4.9
TO Luck/Game	+1.3
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	16 (8, 8)
Yds/Pt Margin**	+2.7

10. "It’s a cat-and-mouse game. It probably boils down to how good your players are."

Grobe on stats and preparation:

We’re not any different than anybody else. We look at every stat known to man. Break down game film ad nauseum. We know what you’re doing on downs, field zones, hashes. Just about every situation you can possibly imagine, we’ve got it on a stat somewhere. But how do you manage all of those stats? How do you pull it together in a gameplan that makes sense?

We’ve got what you do down to a science, but you know we’ve got it. It’s a cat-and-mouse game. It probably boils down to how good your players are.

Again, Jim Grobe's legacy is set. He and his staff have proven flexible, resourceful, and adaptable through the years, and they have proven that they can hold their own in the "cat-and-mouse game." They make major shifts in strategy based on the talent they've got on hand, and they're even willing to change longstanding policies like their approach to redshirting. They pass the Underdog Tactics 101 course with flying colors, to the point where I dedicated a good portion of my "Beating, and Becoming, Goliath" chapter to Grobe's work at Ohio and Wake.

But you still need talent. Does Wake have enough? On paper, there does appear to be more talent here than what the Deacs showed last year. Tanner Price could thrive when given a few more opportunities to run. Michael Campanaro is a lovely "seven yards on second-and-7" guy. Nikita Whitlock is unique and, when healthy, dominant at times. Whitlock has play-making help on the line. And the secondary is full of aggressive, interesting players.

Wake Forest fell apart in 2010 and bounced back with an experienced squad in 2011. It could certainly do the same, and if the Deacs can get back to a top-60 level or so, there are certainly wins to be found. Only one home game is unwinnable (Florida State), and trips to Boston College, Army, Syracuse, and even Vanderbilt aren't incredibly intimidating. But it's up to Grobe and his staff to prove that they can continue to make interesting moves and tweaks. And it's up to Price, Whitlock and company to prove that they have the talent to take advantage when the cat-and-mouse game turns in their favor. I'm not completely buying it, but I'm intrigued.