2008 Spring Game: A Solid End To a Successful Spring

Approximately 4,100 of the Wake Forest faithful came out to the practice fields today for the annual spring football game. Somewhat surprisingly, they were treated to an offensive performance unlike any other this spring.

The scrimmage started with the first team offense against the second defense. Skinner and the offense threw the ball a lot today, a departure from the focus of last weekend’s scrimmage. On the first drive Skinner completed a pass of about 30 yards to Chip Brinkman and then threaded the needle to Mike Rinfrette who made a great catch before being tackled on the 1 yard line. The drive was capped by a one yard touchdown run from Josh Adams.

On the next series between the second offense and first defense the offense continued to control the game, with the offensive line giving Brett Hodges enough time to complete several good passes to guys like Andrew Wright and J.T. Dixon. CJ Washington had a solid drive, including a good run down to the goal line before punching it in two plays later.

In the second series for the first string offense they tried some different formations, including one that had both Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass in the backfield as well as formations that split fullback Mike Rinfrette out to a tight end-like position. Chip Brinkman scored the offense’s third consecutive touchdown on a 13 yard end around.

On the day Riley Skinner completed 15 of 18 pass attempts for 245 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Brett Hodges was effective as well, completing 13 of 17 attempts for 181 yards and a TD.

Chip Brinkman and tight end Ben Wooster had big days catching the ball; Brinkman had 4 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, while Wooster had 5 catches for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. Y’lou had 5 catches for 46 yards and D.J. Boldin had 3 for 46.

The Deacs didn’t run the ball as much today; no running back had more than 5 carries and none gained more than 25 yards. The 25 yards belonged to Pendergrass on 3 carries, while Josh Adams, C.J. Washington, and Chip Brinkman all scored running TDs.

How did coach feel about the offensive performance?

“We got a little bit better player out of our interior,” said Coach Jim Grobe, “but certainly our skill guys made some plays – Ben and Mike and the tight ends all did some nice stuff today. It was just a good day offensively.”

Although that comment makes it sound like Coach is damning the offensive line with faint praise, they definitely showed continued improvement today and for the most part did a decent job keeping the defense off of the quarterbacks. That kind of improvement had been seen with the first string for the last week or so, but today I also noticed the second line doing a better job as well.

“Our offensive line is getting comfortable enough to where we don’t panic,” said left guard Russel Nenon. “When everyone starts blitzing we just pick it all up we just let Riley and Chip and all them do there thing.”

“The articles on the internet aren’t as harsh as they once were, so that’s a good sign obviously,” concluded Nenon, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

There’s still one glaring hole for the Demon Deacons. After four weeks of practice they still haven’t been able to shore up the issues at long snapper. In some brief work with the punting team today almost half of the snaps weren’t on target.

“We’re still going to be looking (for a long snapper),” said Grobe “It was a little bit silly today to have the punt team out there without a punt return team on the field but I really wanted our guys to snap the ball with the crowd around them. I wanted them to go out there and have a bunch of people’s eyes on them and it was obvious today watching it that we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

“There’s nothing more glaring than that. You can be a pretty good football team but then you have two or three bad exchanges in the punt game and you’re not going to win many games. Of all the areas we’ve got right now that’s the most wide open.”

Overall Grobe was satisfied with the scrimmage. “I thought they had fun. I though it was real competitive. I liked seeing the offense make some plays. Defensively we didn’t play the ones very much; we had a lot of mix on that side. But more than anything else I don’t think we read too much in to our last scrimmage. We try to let everybody play and the thing that was pretty obvious was that our guys had some fun.”

I agree with Coach about the scrimmage, but I don’t agree with him about having the spring game at the practice facility. “I like the environment,” said Grobe. “I like being over at the practice field letting the fans be at ground level with our players. It’s a little more up close and personal and I think that’s one thing that attracts some of the people out here. They get a chance to be a little closer to our team.”

Although I understand where he’s coming from, I don’t like that it’s much harder for people to really see what’s happening on that field. I’m sure some fans like being able to have their kids run around and things like that, but for people who really want to see the football it isn’t really a great environment for that many people.. It wouldn’t be too difficult to let everyone down onto the field at BB&T afterwards if that’s what they wanted to do. I hope they move it back there next year but Coach makes it sound like he doesn’t want to do that.

Nonetheless, the day was still a success and I think Deacon fans will be in for a special season.