You all did a great job providing feedback regarding the starting lineup for the upcoming basketball season, and some great reasons behind your selections. First, let's take a look at who got the most votes at each position:

Point Guard: Ishmael Smith
Shooting Guard: Jeff Teauge
Forward: James Johnson
Forward: Al-Farouq Aminu
Center: Chas McFarland

Teague had 3 votes to Ish's 5 at PG, and L.D. Williams got a couple of votes at Shooting Guard. Johnson and Aminu were unanimous forwards, and appear to be pretty much interchangeable. Walker picked up 2 votes to Chas's 6 at center. Although I think that's possible eventually, I'm pretty sure Chas will start the season as the starter.

One thing this does make clear is how much depth this team will have. L.D. Williams is a heck of a player to have coming off the bench, as are (hopefully) Walker, Woods, and maybe Clark and Hale if their shots are looking good.

I'm looking forward to getting a first look at these guys tomorrow.

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The preseason Blogpoll came out yesterday, and surprise surprise the Demon Deacons ended up exactly where they did in those other two polls that clearly don't matter as much as this one. Complete poll data is available here, Brian does some pretty interesting analysis with it.

Rank	Team	PPB	StdDev	Delta
1	Georgia (24)	23.3	1.6	25
2	Ohio State (17)	22.9	2.0	24
3	Southern Cal (15)	22.9	3.0	23
4	Oklahoma (6)	22.0	1.8	22
5	Florida (14)	21.9	2.0	21
6	Missouri	19.0	3.2	20
7	LSU (2)	17.8	3.0	19
8	Clemson	16.8	3.5	18
9	West Virginia	16.1	4.5	17
10	Auburn	14.8	4.4	16
11	Texas	14.8	3.3	15
12	Texas Tech	12.5	4.3	14
13	Wisconsin	11.9	4.2	13
14	Virginia Tech	9.4	4.5	12
15	Kansas	9.0	4.9	11
16	Arizona State	8.6	3.9	10
17	Tennessee	8.2	4.0	9
18	Oregon	8.1	5.0	8
19	South Florida	8.0	5.1	7
20	Brigham Young	7.4	4.4	6
21	Penn State	6.9	4.9	5
22	Illinois	5.1	4.1	4
23	Wake Forest	4.1	3.7	3
24	Alabama	1.6	3.0	2
25	Utah	1.4	2.1	1

Also Receiving Votes: California(1.3), Fresno State(1.0), South Carolina(0.9), Florida State(0.9), Pittsburgh(0.8), Michigan(0.8), Boston College(0.5), Rutgers(0.5), Boise State(0.4), Cincinnati(0.4), North Carolina(0.4), Oregon State(0.4), Miami (Florida)(0.4), Michigan State(0.3), Colorado(0.3), Oklahoma State(0.2), Nebraska(0.2), Notre Dame(0.2), Mississippi(0.2), Tulsa(0.1), Central Michigan(0.1), UCLA(0.1), Hawaii(0.1), TCU(0.1), Mississippi State(0.0), Connecticut(0.0), Duke(0.0), Purdue(0.0), Southern Miss(0.0), Northwestern(0.0), Georgia Tech(0.0), Iowa(0.0),

Total Ballots: 78

Votes by blog here, votes by team here.

My ballot did come in fourth for the Coulter/Krugman award which goes to the voter who's ranking of his own team is farthest above the poll average. I'm okay with that, ultimately becuase I don't think my ranking of Wake is really all that unreasonable. I suppose you could say that makes me numb to the reailties of how things are, or maybe just stubborn, but at this point in a preseason poll I think you're allowed to have your own crazy opinions. Hopefully what happens on the field will only confirm what I already think I know.

On to other things...

I'm hoping to get out to practice myself this afternoon, although I'm not 100% sure if that will actually happen or not. Sorry for not having anything yesterday, I was driving all day. Dan Collins reported that Riley Skinner and Jordan Williams both practiced yesterday, which is great news.

I've got a busy day ahead, but look for something on practice later tonight.

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I apologize for not having a more thorough report tonight, but here are some quick notes from the scrimmage:

• The team used this scrimmmage to practice what it's like to prepare for a real game - meaning they did they're real pregame routine, practiced getting on and off the field, etc.

• D.J. Boldin had the catch of the night (no surprise there) with a one handed leaping grab. Might even be the best catch of the preseason.

• Devon "Y'lou" Brown got hit incredibly hard and took a minute before getting up. Appeared to be fine, however.

• C.J. Washington ran well, but was hit hard several times and didn't return after the final hit.

• Brandon Pendergrass had a 10 yard touchdown run, and Josh Adams also ran well.

• Riley Skinner went through pregame warm-ups, but didn't actually participate in the scrimmage. Coach Grobe said afterwards that he tweaked a hammy in the weight room. Brett Hodges took all the first team snaps. This shouldn't be any cause for concern, it was precautionary and he should be fine.
  

• We talked yesterday about Dennis Godfry's move to the offensive line, but he didn't get a whole lot of snaps in the scrimmage. Only a handful in the last few posessions with true freshman/3rd string line. He just moved yesterday, so it makes some sense, but I'm guessing it's somewhat frustrating for him.

I'm traveling tomorrow and probably won't be able to get much (if anything) up. Should be back at it on Thursday, when I should be back at practice.

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Today was the second to last two-a-day of the preseason.

The morning session was a pretty short practice in helmets only. There wasn't too much going on in this practice, mostly individual drills and technique type things that can be done without pads. A lot of time was spent with coaches just going over specifics with players. There was also a fair amount of time spent on special teams.

As has become common in these two-a-days, the team worked more on 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills in the afternoon session. D.J. Boldin made several good catches, which has become a pretty common sight at these practices. Freshman Andrew Parker continued to look good at tight end, including a long catch on a Brett Hodges pass, and I'm starting to think it's possible that we'll see him on the field this season.

According to coach, "We are pretty much finished with installation right now. We have all kinds of offensive and defensive stuff that we probably won't use during the season. I thought we got a lot of work this afternoon in team situations. We are starting to develop a two-deep and starting to work on our first opponent."

One very intriguing development this afternoon came in regards to redshirt freshman Dennis Godfrey. He was seen getting work on the offensive line today at guard. This says a lot about what the coaches must be thinking about the defensive line, the offensive line, and Godfry.

First of all, it indicates that the depth is definitely fine at defensive tackle. Dennis had a lot of talent and potential there, so the coaches must be feeling pretty good about things there to let him move.

It also indicates that the coaches are still very worried about the offensive line, particularly at guard. For them to move someone this late is a pretty significant change, and one they must have felt was very necessary. It also indicates that they have a lot of confidence in Godfrey's ability to learn the new position quickly. His size and athleticism alone make it clear he can play the position, he just needs to learn the specifics of the job.

I can't decide if I think this changes makes it more or less likely for Joe Looney to see the field this season. What do you all think?

It will be very interesting to track this over the next week or two. The final scrimmage is tomorrow, so if you're around head out to BB&T and check it out.

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Just like the coaches poll, Wake comes in at 23rd in the first AP poll of the season. Not too surprising - it sounds pretty good to me.

AP Poll

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Sorry for not having an update last night, but here are a few quick notes on yesterday's practices.

The morning session was helmets only and pretty short. The team only did individual drills and special teams, no 7 on 7 or 11 on 11.

The afternoon session was almost all 7 on 7 and 11 on 11.

Chip Brinkman, Anthony Williams, and Cameron Ford all practiced in the morning. Freshman Garrick Williams, who was recruited as a tackle, was taking reps at center, presumably due to the loss of Ryan Britt in Thursday's scrimmage.

Around the web, theACC.com is previewing all twelve football teams, and here's Wake Forest.

Former Wake Forest standout and first round draft pick of the San Diego Padres signed yesterday right before the deadline. Best of luck.

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I received an email from a reader this afternoon asking the following: "Could do you a post about who's injured right now and how long they might be out?"

I've been doing my best to post injury updates in just about every practice report, however I'm sure it's been difficult to keep up with exactly who is hurt with what and when, since even I have had trouble keeping up at times. So, hopefully this will be a helpful summary of the current state.

Ted Stachitas - QB - Fr - Still recovering from shoulder surgery. Will definitely redshirt, not sure of a time frame for his return to practice.

Chip Brinkman - WR - SR (RS) - Hamstring injury, has been out for awhile but practiced this morning. We'll see if he's still out there this afternoon in full pads. Clearly he's close to a complete recovery

Cameron Ford - TE - FR (RS) - High ankle sprain, was expected to be out for awhile but also practiced this morning. I'm not sure if he's quite as far along as Brinkman, but we'll see if he practices this afternoon as well. If so, he's clearly further along than expected, as he was originally expected to be out at least another week.

Ryan Britt - C - FR (RS) - Hurt his leg in yesterday's scrimmage. I don't know a time frame yet.

Jordan Williams - WR - SO - Lingering groin injury, day-to-day but did not practice this morning.

Andrew Parker - TE - FR - hurt a couple of days ago and didn't participate in yesterday's scrimmage. Should be day-to-day.

Boomer Peterson - T - JR (RS) - Hurt his right arm, not sure about a time frame.

Scott Betros - LB - FR - Shoulder, probably out for season and will redshirt.

Kyle Jarett - LB - FR (RS) - Left practice with EMTs after experiencing diziness a couple days ago. He appears to be okay, but I'm not sure if he's practicing quite yet.

I'm pretty sure that's all I have right now, but if I realize I forgot someone I'll update. I'll also try to have a weekly injury report going forward so everyone can keep track. Hope that helps!

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For the second straight scrimmage the Wake Forest defense had an impressive performance. Not only did they combine for 11 sacks, but they flew to the ball and provided great pressure all afternoon long.

Matt Robinson single handedly had three sacks, as well as another tackle for loss and five total tackles.

Aaron Curry and Gelo Orange also had five tackles, and John Russell, Anthony Davis, and Kyle Wilbur all had 1.5 sacks.

The only way the offense could get anything done was through the air. Riley Skinner completed 13 of 21 passes for 142 yards with one interception and one touchdown. The interception came on a deep pass to Ben Wooster which was just barely under-thrown and tipped by Josh Bush for an interception. Later Wooster and Skinner got it right and hooked up for a 10 yard touchdown shortly after Skinner had scrambled for a 30 yard gain.

Devon Brown, D.J. Boldin, and Wooster all had four catches on the day. Two of Boldin's catches were one-handed grabs across the middle, and Marshall Williams also had a nice catch coming across the middle which he was able to turn upfield for 10 extra yards. Andrew Wright dropped the first three passes thrown to him, but later in the scrimmage he had a 50 yard catch and run for a touchdown that was called back due to an illegal formation, the product of some of the new formations and motion packages the offense is putting in.

Unfortuantely, the running game continued to struggle this afternoon. Josh Adams had six caries for 19 yards, and Brandon Pendergrass had 19 yards on four carries with one touchdown. The offensive line just isn't getting enough of a push yet, particularly the second string. The first string is showing improvement and I'm confident they'll get the job done, but there just isn't any depth at all. I'm sure the scrimmages are not any fun for Brett Hodges, who constantly has to scramble to avoid pressure.

The only injury of note was to Ryan Britt who went down with a knee/leg injury. I'm not sure of his status.

After two scrimmages I'm still pretty worried about the running game, particularly if the team ever has any injury problems on the offensive line. The second string is nowhere near ready for a real game situation. Even though it wasn't Skinner's best day ever, he still looked fairly good and is definitely ready to lead the offense this season. I think the offense is going to throw the ball a lot more this year, and Skinner will probably need to be ready to scramble some in the process.

The upside to all of this is that the defense continues to look very very good. When all is said and done this year I would not be surprised if they are one of the top units in the nation.

The overall progress is good, but the offense will need to improve even more over the next two weeks to be ready for Baylor.

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The Deacs were back at it today with two-a-day number two out of five. Once again the double practices were used to keep working on conditioning and stamina as the team prepares for its second scrimmage tomorrow.

As everyone has probably figured out by now, most practices follow a pretty typical schedule, including individual drills, 7-on-7, 11-on-11, and special teams. For two-a-days, the teams wears shoulder pads and helmets only (they call it "shells") for the morning practice and full pads in the afternoon. Nothing new there today.

The thing that really stood out today were the wide receivers and the job they were doing against the defensive backs in 1-on-1 drills. The receivers were running very crisp routes and working hard to get themselves open. They definitely impressed some people, and it's another sign that this unit is improving and is ready to step up when the season starts.

Not totally sure why, but tight end Ben Wooster sat out both of today's practices, perhaps he hurt something yesterday, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing major and he'll be day-to-day. Freshman tight end Andrew Parker was apparently hurt in the morning practice, tried to come back and practice in the afternoon, but was not able to finish. I imagine he's just day-to-day as well.

Chip Brinkman and Anthony Williams are also getting better, and I think we may see them back on the field as soon as Friday. Cameron Ford was also jogging again today, so it appears he's well on the road to recovery.

Tomorrow's scrimmage is at 3:30, and I'll have a report on it tomorrow night.

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Sorry for such a small report. There wasn't too much going on today, and I'm writing from the road on my phone, which is the reason for the formatting issues. I'll fix them when I get the chance. Fixed.

It was a pretty even practice between the offense and defense for the most part.

Some good play by both units in 7 on 7, including a nice grab on a deep ball by Marshall Williams.

Practiced ended with 11 on 11 working the 2 minute drill. The defense only allowed a TD and a FG in about 8 possessions.

In a somewhat scary development, linebacker Kyle Jarett left the end of practice with the EMS because he was experiencing dizziness. Hopefully it's nothing serious, but it's definitely disconcerting.

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These days, with everyone concerned about hydration, heat, and humidity, two-a-days have almost completely disappeared from college and professional football. Thankfully they haven't been completely abandoned quite yet, and today the Demon Deacons endured their first of five scheduled two-a-days this fall.

It was apparent to those in attendance this afternoon that the double practice was certainly tiring. At times there was a want of effort and concentration from some players, annoying coaches and fellow players alike. Still, it's hard to blame them when they're nearing the end of four hours of practice for the day.

Wide receivers in general seemed to lack concentration, with more dropped balls than usual. Nonetheless there were some highlights, including a long touchdown pass from Brett Hodges to Jordan Williams, who was back in action today, as well as a great touchdown grab by Andrew Parker in double coverage.

On the whole it was another good day for the defense, with Aaron Curry looking particularly impressive.

One of the main focuses of the day was conditioning, which makes sense for a two-a-day. Everyone ran sprints at the end of practice and did other work in position groups, including lots of sled pushing for the linemen. There's no doubt that these guys will be in shape by the time the preseason ends.

That minor injury bug I talked about this morning continued to make the rounds. On his touchdown catch Andrew Parker came down awkwardly, but I'm not sure exactly what he hurt. Chris Givens also appeared to tweak something on a catch as well. Both sat out the rest of practice but did return to do some pushup-type work while the rest of the team ran sprints at the end of practice.

In other injury updates, Cameron Ford is out of the boot he had been wearing, and Chip Brinkman was doing some jogging today. Still going to be awhile for both of them, but it appears they are making progress.

Only one practice tomorrow at 4:00 leading to another two-a-day on Wednesday.

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There really aren't any links to share this morning, so we're going to do something completely different with today's "Wake up call."

For the first time since practices began on August 1, Jim Grobe and his football team took yesterday off. Having been through eight days of practice and a scrimmage, now is the perfect time time to look back and see what we've learned about this team so far.

• The Demon Deacons have hit the ground running and Grobe has worked the team very hard. Until yesterday the team worked for an average of about two hours per day without a single day off. I haven't seen any indications that people are running out of gas, so I think this is a good sign for the strength and conditioning work the team did over the summer.

• Injuries are presenting a bit of a problem. The Deacons have avoided any big injuries to anyone expected to see significant playing time this season, but a minor injury bug does seem to have bitten the team. Lots of guys are coming up with injuries that shouldn't cause them to miss any games, but are definitely keeping them from getting the work they need in the preseason. I don't think it's at the point where people need to be worried about it having much effect on the season as a whole, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on.

• The questions about who is going to catch the ball have been answered. D.J. Boldin has definitely stepped up, as have Devon Brown, and Ben Wooster. Chip Brinkman, although injured right now, also appears to be ready to step up come August 28.

• Coach finally found a long snapper, or rather a long snapper came back to him. Greg Bechtel has stepped up and appears ready to competently fill the shoes left by Nick Jarvis. Despite having left the team before the spring, Bechtel appears ready to put the one bad snap of his career behind him and handle the task before him. I think this is a huge sigh of relief for the coaching staff and for the fans.

• The defense is as good as advertised. It's a strong unit with plenty of experience winning football games. They showed their readiness in the scrimmage Saturday night, and despite the fact that defenses are often ahead of their offensive counterparts this early in the season, this unit is ready to keep up that pace all season long.

• The offensive line is still of some concern. That's not to say that they aren't capable of getting the job done - I believe they are - but it's a good thing they have a couple more weeks of work to get their chemistry down. They should be a successful unit, they just need to keep working hard.

• More freshman might be ready to play this season than we expected. It's always hard to tell what coach is really thinking when he talks about freshman, but these quotes indicate a few guys make actually be ready for the challenge:

  One of the real issues we have right now is that we have five or six true freshmen who look really good. We're going to keep looking at them. I don't have a problem playing them if they're the real deal and they're going to get 20 or 30 snaps per game. We've got a bunch of those guys right now who look pretty good but we'll know more after Saturday.

I'm relatively certain the coaching staff would consider the first nine days worth of work a success, and as they go through a two-a-day today I expect we'll see more good things. As long as the injuries don't get any worse, this team should continue to improve and be ready to go to Waco on the 28th and take care of business.

photo by Dean Shore

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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

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Tonight the team had another full practice in preparation for tomorrow's 7:30 pm scrimmage at BB&T Field. The team is of course still practicing in full pads, and went through its usual individual periods as well as 7-on-7, 11-on-11 and special teams sessions.

Readers had recently been asking questions about receiver Marshall Williams and I didn't have a whole lot to say at the time, so he decided to change that for me. During the 7-on-7 period Williams made a great one-handed grab in the back of the endzone. It definitely stuck out as one of the best plays of practice.

Other highlights from 7-on-7 included a nice catch by Devon "Y'lou" Brown, good play from freshman tight end Andrew Parker, and an interception of Skylar Jones by freshman cornerback Kenny Okoro. It's great to see these young guys really stepping up early on, particularly Parker considering the team's current depth issues at tight end.

Highlights from 11-on-11 included a deep catch by D.J. Boldin, a nice run by fullback Mike Rinfrette, good runs by C.J. Washington, and a pass deflection by defensive end Anthony Davis.

Speical teams work included a blocked field goal, although I'm not sure who blocked it (not Alphonso Smith, though).

Apparently there are some new injuries, as Scott Betros, Josh Bush, Terence Davis, and Kyle Jarett all sat out today, as well as the guys who've been out for a few days like Chip Brinkman and Cameron Ford. There doesn't appear to be any serious issues for these new guys, probably just small stuff and they're day-to-day. Jordan Williams tried running a few routes but then stopped, so it appears he's not quite ready to come back yet.

Thats it for today. Check back late tomorrow night for a report from the scrimmage.

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It was practice as usual again on Wednesday night, with the Demon Deacons taking the field in full pads once again. As reported by the official site, the most notable thing to happen was probably the institution of the new 40 second play clock.

Other than that, there isn't a whole lot to report from the practice. Plans for Saturday's scrimmage have been finalized; the Deacons will scrimmage at 7:30 on BB&T Field.

Yesterday I had a couple of reader requests for reports on specific players. I can't always promise to be able to provide substantial information, but I'll do my best. The two requests yesterday were for Marshall Williams and Rich Belton.

Williams has looked pretty good catching the ball, making some nice grabs. He is definitely in position to have opportunities this season, but hasn't made a strong impression one way or the other. If that changes, I'll be sure to let you know.

It's more difficult to get a read on Belton. The team hasn't been working much (if at all) on handoffs to fullbacks, so we haven't been able to see him run the ball yet. Most of what he and the other fullbacks have been working on is running routes, which he seems to do fairly well, but he's dropped some passes and may need to work on his hands. There aren't any indications that he's being significantly hampered by the previous injury, so ultimately it's just going to come down to how he performs compared to the other fullbacks.

One new injury note today, Jordan Williams did not practice due to a groin injury and will probably be out for about a week.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll do my best to provide answers. I'm on the west coast this week so time zones are making things a bit weird, but I'll do my best to continue staying on top of things.

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After yesterday's practice I talked about how impressed I've been by the offense. I don't necessarily think I spoke too soon, but today wasn't their day.

Instead it was the defense's turn to shine, but I get the impression that it wasn't so much the defense performing particularly well as it was the offense having some problems. Perhaps it was just a lack of focus for the offense, but receivers dropped way too many balls.

Still, it's good to see the defense have success. Not that anyone should have been worried at this point, but I think it's good for everyone to have some good days early on just to build confidence.

Coach Grobe agreed that it was a good day for the defense. "The defense had a good day today. Yesterday, I thought the offense had the upper hand on the defense. As typically happens, when one side or the other has a good day, the other side gets embarrassed a little bit and comes out and practices better the next day."

Grobe has also mentioned that it's unusual to start doing a lot of special teams work this soon after the start of practices, but once again the team was working on it. Not only did the punt team get some work tonight, but also the field goal unit.

The news on the injury front is not particularly good. Chip Brinkman, who sat out yesterday after being hurt Sunday, will probably be out a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. It's the type of injury that he could probably return from more quickly, but I'm guessing that they don't want to create a situation where it will nag him for the whole season by bringing him back too early. Still, this is valuable time for a guy like him who is looking to have a big impact this season, and this definitely won't help.

Redshirt freshman tight end Cameron Ford has been injured as well and will likely be out for awhile with an ankle sprain. Also not practicing today were fulback Anthony Williams and tight end J.T. Dixon.

Photo by Bob Hebert

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We've been all football, all the time for awhile here at Old Gold & Blog, and although there's still plenty of that to cover this morning we're also going to take the opportunity to branch out ever so slightly.

Last night (Monday) was another good practice. My coverage is here, and there's this from the official site.

Dan Collins keeps us updated with his football notebook and this feature on Sam Swank.

One Arizona reporter thinks his Wildcats will be facing Wake Forest in the Emerald Bowl. He had better be wrong.

Lucas Caparelli, best known for being kicked off the team and out of school at Wake for posting threating messages on Facebook, will be playing at Texas Southern.

I promised some non-football news, so here it is. Women's soccer was picked fifth in the preseason ACC poll. Former Demon Deacon Kelly Dolton has arrived in China as a member of America's field hockey team. Finally, the baseball team has picked up a commitment from Philadelphia area shortstop Mark Rhine.

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Still having picture issues - not sure what the problem is. Sorry!

Not too many notes from practice today, and there's some mixed news on the injury front.

The good news: Devon "Y'lou" Brown practiced after sitting out yesterday and made some very good catches in Skelly. The offense continued to have the defense's number, making them look particularly bad in the red zone.

The bad news: Chip Brinkman did not practice and appears to have a thigh injury.

Even though the offense outperformed the defense, the defense did have one big highlight. Junior walk-on linebacker Lee Malchow, who usually gets most of his playing time on special teams, hit receiver D.J. Boldin hard enough to knock his helmet off. It was a huge hit and really fired up the defense.

Even though he took that big hit, Boldin continues to have a great preseason, catching everything in sight. He may not be the next Kenny Moore, but he's showing a readiness to step up and contribute in a big way.

Until today I've felt like it's been too early to really start analyzing things much, but I think we're getting to the point of being able to put some pieces together.

One thing I've noticed consistenly is that the offense has had a lot of success making headway against the defense in passing drills. This is great to see from the wideouts, who all seem like they're ready to step up and get the job done this year. I mentioned Boldin specifically before, but I think the entire passing game is going to be successful.

The other suprising thing about the offense's success is that usually the defense is well ahead of the offense at this point in the preseason. Considering how talented this defense is, the fact that the offense can get things done is very encouraging. I also don't see this as any indication of problems on defense, just a sign that both sides of the ball are very talented.

All of this analysis is based mostly on drills that don't involve the running game very much, so clearly we'll learn a lot more once we start seeing full pads and 11 on 11 scrimmaging, but these have to be good signs for an offense that has some question marks. If the offensive line is able to give Riley some time, I think we'll see some great things from the passing game this year.

Tomorrow the team should be practicing in full pads, which means we may start getting a better read on the run game and offensive line. Hopefully we'll see good things there as well.

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It's a slow news day in Demon Deacon nation, so it's the perfect opportunity to start the day with a football practice photo gallery, courtesy of Dean Shore. More of his pictures are available here.

Having some problems with images...They'll be fixed ASAP...appears to be a server problem, hopefully they'll be fixed tonight.

Freshman quarterback Ted Stachitas gets ready to drop back

Gelo Orange (#57) and Josh Bush (#25?) work on defensive drills.

Offensive linemen Joe Looney (#78) and Russell Nenon (#72) work on a 1-on-1 drill as Gabe Irby looks on.

Gabe Irby (#79) works against Dennis Godfry (#98) during linemen drills.

The defensive secondary takes a break

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Following this afternoon's practice, left guard Russell Nenon checked in with these notes from practice:

• Practice had high intensity today for the first day in shells.

• The defense did real well in the team segment at the beginning of practice, but...

• The first team offense looked very good in the team segment at the end of practice.

• There were lots of installations of special teams today.

Other observers checked in with the following details:

• The defense in particular was excited to have some pads on and hit some people.

• At one point Devon "Y'lou" Brown took a hit from behind and sat out the rest of practice, but was still on the field watching.

• During 1-on-1 drills Chip Brinkman made a good grab on a deep ball but was tripped up by Chip Vaughn, landed awkwardly, and also sat out the rest of practice. Hopefully both Brinkman and Y'lou are fine, but we'll have to see if they practice tomorrow.

• Kerry Major practiced and appears to be just fine.

• During today's Skelly period (7 on 7) the offense had the upper hand except for a pick-6 by Alphonso Smith. Riley Skinner looked particularly good in this drill as well as 1-on-1 drills. DJ Boldin had some good catches, and Brandon Ghee looked good in coverage.

• Punt team work is starting up and looks more stable than it did in the spring. The snaps look pretty good so far.

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