Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson’s current rebuilding project in Winston-Salem is going to take awhile. Clawson arrived in 2014 from Bowling Green, inheriting one of the youngest, teams in the nation, which was reflected in a 3-9 inaugural campaign.
The Demon Deacons’ main issues stemmed from their offense. Wake Forest scored 178 total points last year with a rookie quarterback and no running game—the Demon Deacons’ leading rusher, Dezmond Wortham, ran for 240 yards and no touchdowns. Two other tailbacks, Isaiah Robinson and Orville Reynolds, both barely eclipsed 150 yards for their season totals.
Quarterback John Wolford’s 2014 numbers show the struggle of the Demon Deacon offense—a 58.3 completion percentage for 2,307 yards, 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Wolford had some flashes of promise, including a 24-of-36, 251-yard, three-touchdown performance against Duke to close Wake Forest’s season. The young quarterback has potential—he just needs the surrounding pieces of his offense to help him out.
On defense, Wake Forest loses Zachary Allen—the team’s sack leader in addition to his 64 tackles and 11.0 of tackles for loss—but returns five starters, led by middle linebacker Marquel Lee.
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