First scrimmage: Highs and lows

The Demon Deacons took the field at BB&T for the first time in 2008 before a good sized crowd, scrimmaging against themselves and going through their first full contact football of the season.

Despite a few offensive highlights, the defense stole the show, putting on what was mostly a very impressive performance.

Cornerback Kerry Major had one of the biggest highlights for the defense, picking off a Brett Hodges pass deep down the sideline, out-jumping wide receiver Andrew Wright for a beautiful interception. Brandon Ghee and Will Wright teamed up for a second interception, as Ghee deflected the ball into Wright's hands.

Not too surprisingly, the defense was able to get pretty good pressure on the quarterbacks all evening, although there was some noticeable improvement from the offensive line as the scrimmage wore on.

Despite the fact that the defense controled things for the majority of the scrimmage, the offense did show a few flashes of great play. D.J. Boldin had the highlight of the day, as he he made a jumping catch over the middle of the field for a touchdown. Tight end Ben Wooster also caught a touchdown pass, and Devon Brown looked good catching the ball as well. Riley Skinner looked good throughout the scrimmage, but Brett Hodges struggled, as indicated by the interceptions.

The run game had some success, including several nice runs from Josh Adams and a touchdown run by Kevin Harris. Fullback Rich Belton had both a nice run and a nice catch, and showed some illusiveness to get extra yards. Freshman Chris Givens caught a screen pass which he turned into a 20 yard touchdown towards the end of the scrimmage.

As they have been doing throughout the preseason the team once again put a decent amount of time into special teams work. At the end of practice Sam Swank made one of two attempts from 52 yards, as did Shane Popham.

The scrimmage made it clear that plenty of work remains to be done, but I think there are enough good signs here for Wake fans to hold on to the optimism they have had ever since the end of last season.

The team will take Sunday off before returing to the practice field for two practices on Monday