Latest / Boundary Corner Podcast / Know the Enemy: Wake Forest

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Know the Enemy: Wake Forest · Boundary Corner Podcast

1:48
And welcome back to the Boundary Corner podcast.
1:51
Stay part of the College Total Network along with my partner
1:54
Brian Siegel and Jonathan Tally. I am Curtis Wilson and we are
1:58
brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts down at the Counts Family
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Three O 1 S Main St. in Blacksburg.
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2:40
Fellas, what's going on? Victory Podcast.
2:47
A real victory podcast. What is?
2:49
What is this man? No one saw this one coming.
2:52
No one saw this one coming, No. One saw this one coming.
2:55
Everybody was sideways last week.
2:58
Everybody's down in the dumps. But that's why you play the game
3:02
right? That's why you.
3:05
Play the game. That's why we play the game.
3:08
Yes, I will be turning around over the next few minutes even
3:10
when our guest is here. Cameron, appreciate you coming
3:14
on, but I know you're a baseball fan, so you understand what's
3:17
going on behind me when you come in here in a second.
3:19
These two guys do as well. He gave up bases loaded and he
3:23
struck them out. OK, whatever.
3:24
I'm going to try my best for at least the first few minutes here
3:28
tonight, but. We, we, we've got 60% of Curtis
3:31
focus right now. It's like. 40 is on the TV
3:34
behind. Him and you know there we go.
3:37
But anyway, like y'all said, we're going to talk about
3:40
Saturday night in a little while because it was great.
3:44
It was unexpected, that video. By the way, if y'all have not
3:49
seen the video, Jordan Long did go find that immediately.
3:55
Let's just go ahead and. Talk about how.
3:56
Jordan Jordan long has been crushing the media this
4:02
offseason. I mean.
4:03
That was the movie The. Whole offseason, whole season, I
4:06
mean, he's he's, he is him, he is, he is doing a lot of lot of
4:10
good content and really selling. I think what you know, what's
4:15
happening behind the scenes there, man.
4:17
Yeah, it was an hour long and I'll take every minute of that
4:21
Look, you know, it was a it was a long video that I enjoyed
4:27
every second of. But I will say, I will say not
4:35
to throw too much shade. I've never seen the coaching
4:39
staff as inspired. Definitely didn't see the head
4:43
coach as pumped up as I've seen Monty.
4:47
So yeah, that's true. That was pretty cool.
4:49
We. We saw a different level of gas
4:52
for that one and and I'm hoping that it it sticks around as we
4:57
move into, you know, further into conference play here with
4:59
Wake Forest coming up. And I agree.
5:03
Now, Speaking of Wake Forest, we are going to start off tonight
5:06
with Know the Enemy and we are bringing on tonight.
5:10
He is a writer for 247. He also hosts the 247 Inside the
5:14
Forest podcast focusing on Wake Forest football.
5:18
So let's bring him on Cameron Lemon Debro.
5:22
Cameron, what is happening tonight?
5:25
I'm not as busy as you right now.
5:28
The Braves can't hurt me right now, but we got anything against
5:32
the Yankees I'm pretty good with, so I think we're on the
5:35
same page here. There.
5:38
We go sweet well. It's got to be one of those NL
5:42
ES power or AL ES powers at least bossing over the Yankees
5:45
for. Sure.
5:46
Yeah, it's, it's a lesser of two evils for me.
5:48
Well. Listen for every Braves fan
5:50
right? It's 96 hurt and you ain't
5:53
forgave them yet. I was one year old.
5:57
I am a tally won't a year old. We were in the we were in the
6:01
prime of our youth. Riding bikes like on Stranger
6:06
Things. That's right. 10:00 and 11:00 we
6:10
were man. Babies.
6:12
Babies is what you were back then.
6:14
Cameron, we appreciate you taking the time tonight to join
6:17
us. Talk a little bit about Wake
6:19
Forest before we get into a little bit of everything.
6:23
Give us a little bit about yourself, how you got to the
6:26
Wake Forest piece here. And you know, how long have you
6:30
been doing this? Yeah, so, I mean, grew up in
6:33
Atlanta, funny enough for last week with Wake.
6:35
I grew up a Georgia Tech fan right outside of Run Decatur,
6:38
but actually ended up getting in the wake for undergrad.
6:41
Went there Dave Clawson's first year in 2014, graduated in 2018.
6:47
So I think around my junior year when I started working with SB
6:50
Nation with their site, doing some recruiting stuff and film
6:54
stuff. And then kind of as things went
6:57
along, you know, COVID was a big, you know, kind of driver of
7:01
people's lives doing different ways.
7:03
It was around 2020 is when, you know, I started having a little
7:06
more time to put more stuff into film.
7:09
And then 24/7 kind of approached me like, hey, you know, you're
7:11
doing a good job. Do you want to come over here,
7:13
do some stuff there? So really, I'd really say since
7:16
2020 is when I first started, you know, really dive into the
7:21
way forward speed. Nice.
7:24
Now are you still living in the Winston Salem area?
7:26
Have you moved back down to Atlanta?
7:28
So I was actually covering them remotely in DC.
7:30
I was up right outside of 14th St. for a bit, and then now I'm
7:33
down Charlotte. So I'll make the commute up from
7:36
Charlotte for football, basketball, whatever I need to
7:38
do. Awesome.
7:40
Nice, man. Nice, nice.
7:41
So. You got this thing going like
7:43
pretty steady for you about the same time we we we got going.
7:46
So this this podcast opened up 2020, OK.
7:49
Curtis is happy. We started, we started this show
7:51
about 2020. So yeah, COVID kind of, you
7:54
know, we, we, we, we got going just before COVID hit and been
7:58
riding that wave ever since, man.
8:00
Hey, you know, welcome. It's it's, it's, it is awesome
8:05
to see. I think over the last couple
8:07
years, especially Kylie, Brian, and I can say it's often to see
8:11
other fan bases, fans passionate about what they do, talking
8:15
their team. And it's really good because you
8:19
know, we dive into, you know, I dive into the stats, Shelton
8:22
who's not here tonight, guys into the analytics tally and
8:25
Brian both played so they can look at tape and like see who
8:28
they like and who they don't like, right.
8:31
So it's really nice to have all this and just it's, it's
8:33
becoming more of a community because, you know, we can have
8:37
conversations. Do we want to beat the pants off
8:39
on Saturday? Yeah.
8:40
Do you want to beat the pants off on Saturday?
8:41
Absolutely. I'd enjoy a win.
8:43
I'd enjoy an ACC win. There you go.
8:46
But you know, it's, it's awesome to see this and we appreciate
8:49
you taking the time tonight to jump on with us.
8:51
So now saying that you guys made a pretty big hire this year with
8:59
Dave Clausen stepping down, obviously someone you were super
9:03
familiar with and you guys go way out to Pullman, WA, just
9:08
outspoken where I've got some friends and you guys, Harold
9:12
hired Jake Dickard first of all, when it was how did everything
9:19
come down and how are you feeling so far about that time?
9:23
Yeah, I mean, that first Pete family tweet of Dave Clawson
9:27
stepping down, I remember I was at I was doing stuff for my desk
9:30
job and I just happened to open my phone and I see it for five
9:34
seconds ago and I was like, what do you mean he's stepping down?
9:37
You know, we're coming off of a season where we'll back-to-back
9:39
four and eight seasons for Dave Clawson, things that felt stale.
9:43
It really felt like a really pivotal offseason for him, you
9:47
know, was he going to change up things for the staff he had just
9:50
got done, you know, hosting about, I think 1516 transfer
9:53
portal visitors in his house the day before.
9:56
So we're all underneath the impression Dave's coming back
9:59
for next year. Fine, that happens.
10:01
And you know, it's peak portal season and you're like, well,
10:04
you don't have time to go on a full-fledged search.
10:08
And so things kind of snowballed really quickly.
10:10
I I kind of picked up myself that from some people that I
10:13
heard that Dicker was one of them, even the top two, top
10:16
three options. And it struck me a little bit
10:18
interesting because I've, I've watched a bit of, you know, the
10:21
the pack 2 as it was last year and I had really had some fun
10:25
watching, you know, John Mateer, I really like what they were
10:28
doing and wide receiver Kyle Williams.
10:30
I thought their corners were really good.
10:31
I thought there was some good stuff.
10:32
They fizzled at the end of the year, but I thought there was
10:34
good stuff happening there. But obviously money is a big
10:37
driver in what you can do both and IL wise, institutional wise,
10:40
I know with the big board of board of trustees meeting
10:43
Virginia Tech has today, trust me, muddy is is important at all
10:46
levels of everything. And so I was like, OK, I can see
10:50
it. But then you have the questions
10:52
of he's never coached past, you know, Wisconsin is about as far
10:55
as he's ever coached. And so, you know, coaching
10:59
recruiting in the South, what kind of staff would he bring in?
11:02
So when they finally announced it, I was like, OK, I understand
11:05
it, but I think there's some questions here.
11:07
But from the first day you talk to him at his introductory press
11:12
conference and then you got to spring camp, the word, the
11:15
buzzword was energy. And it was just it was a
11:18
different type of energy that you could see.
11:20
You know, Dave Clawson wasn't exactly, you know, done with
11:22
college sports at the time, but you could tell how he was
11:24
frustrated. He was a big developmental guy.
11:27
And when you have players like Sam Hartman, kind of, you know,
11:30
using his last year of eligibility to go to Notre Dame,
11:33
you know, you have guys like Jamal Banks leave and up and go
11:36
to Nebraska and you have guys just they're leaving your
11:38
program you've built up and you have to pick and choose who you
11:42
can keep because some everyone's getting poached left and right.
11:45
It it's really, it really kind of took a toll on him.
11:48
And but I think what you saw with Jake Dicker was a guy who's
11:51
been brought up in the NIL era. You know, he's a young coach, He
11:55
understands, you know, what it's like to be Aceo type of head
11:59
coach. And so I thought at first you
12:02
you people really enjoyed the enthusiasm.
12:05
Then the first couple of games of the season happened and you
12:07
were like, woof, what's what's going on here?
12:09
You have a 8:50 nail biting win over Kennesaw State.
12:12
You know again, Atlanta native. Not sure if Kennesaw State's in
12:16
the same waters of where you want to be having a slugfest
12:19
with you. Come back next week and have a
12:22
rain delayed. Pretty much just butt whooping
12:25
of Western Carolina. It's great.
12:27
And then you have a Thursday night, everyone's pumped up for
12:31
ESPN game against NC State. You come out in the first half,
12:34
you return the opening kick for a touchdown.
12:36
Your next opening, your next drive is a is a is a is a long
12:39
touchdown touchdown driver. Just say you're feeling great.
12:42
And then in the second-half, you don't get a first down.
12:46
Other than a targeting penalty, that's the only first you got in
12:49
the second-half. You know, things start sour.
12:53
And then you have a team like Georgia Tech coming in last week
12:56
where they want to drag you into a bar fight.
13:00
They want to just be tougher than you every single down.
13:03
And while you know, some some shenanigans happen towards the
13:06
end of that game, I think, you know, moral victories are dumb.
13:09
They're super dumb. But Wake proved down to down.
13:14
They were very willing to be that I did that toughness.
13:17
They were they had that identity of we don't care how tough you
13:20
are. We're going to be just as tough
13:21
of you, if not tougher. And I think that started getting
13:24
people a little bit back to, OK, remember, this is year one.
13:27
I understand what they're trying to build too.
13:30
So it's been a little bit of a roller coaster.
13:31
But I think last week, even with the law started saying, OK, this
13:35
is the idea of what we want. Before we jump into talking
13:40
about the offense a little bit, I want to circle back to Georgia
13:44
Tech and last week and the controversy towards the end of
13:47
that one with the offside. I'm going to kind of just give
13:51
you the floor here and let you vent a little bit and talk, talk
13:53
that through and kind of what the perspective is from both the
13:56
Wake Forest fan and kind of the fan base in general.
13:58
Yeah, I mean it, it was tough because I think where my seat
14:02
was, I'm pretty much on that line where play happened.
14:06
And so when he jumped offside, you could just see everyone in
14:09
the cross box going, OK, this game's just over.
14:12
It was in the game. Everyone was like, OK, cool,
14:14
we're all starting to write and figure and be like, this is this
14:17
is done. And then you don't see a flag go
14:19
up. You're just kind of confused.
14:22
And I personally have they didn't show it on the broadcast.
14:26
I've never seen Jake Dickard in the four games that animated of
14:30
what's going on here. Robbie Astor was the same way.
14:33
You know, come to find out on Monday, not only do they have to
14:35
admit that they messed up the, the lack of an onsize offsize
14:39
call, there was API on the play too of the receiver that was
14:42
being thrown at. And they were just like, and you
14:44
can when you go back and watch it, you, you start seeing, hey,
14:47
why is that corner playing? Like the only thing he needs to
14:49
do is just not give up a touchdown.
14:51
Like why, why is he all of a sudden just grabbing and
14:53
basically almost throwing him to the ground?
14:56
You know, it's tough because they it's really tough.
14:59
Because they thought. Yeah, I mean, he was playing
15:03
that way because he knew his guy jumped offsides.
15:06
That's the What do you do when your guy jumps off sides?
15:08
Make sure you do anything but give him a touchdown because
15:09
that's the only thing that matters.
15:11
There Well Cameron, don't feel bad because week 4-5 last year
15:15
we were in the same. The ACC made a business decision
15:19
on Saturday. With y'all.
15:21
It was tough. They did against Miami last
15:23
year. With us, it was just like.
15:24
The, that Miami, that, that Miami game was, was really,
15:28
really hard to watch, 'cause I, I'm sitting there, I'm sitting
15:31
there with actually a couple of my Virginia Tech friends that
15:33
are down here in Charlotte. And I was just kind of sat there
15:35
with them and was like, I'm not going to say anything if you
15:39
don't, right? We're good.
15:43
Anger. A lot of anger.
15:44
That night, it's tough, but it's tough.
15:46
And then, you know, sometimes you want to, you know, you don't
15:48
want to be the guy that's always complaining about the refs.
15:50
And I do think there was some stuff on the field that wig
15:52
frankly left on the field. And so there's some parts to me
15:55
that go, you shouldn't have gotten to that point.
15:57
And then there's also sometimes where I go, well, you know, I do
16:00
agree because Jake Dicker talked about it on Monday where he
16:03
thought that, you know, one of the big changes for college
16:05
football is for for penalties like that.
16:08
It's a it's that's not a judgement call.
16:09
You're offsides, you're not, you're in the neutral zone.
16:11
You're not you fall starter, not give them a challenge flag for
16:15
stuff like that. I think that's a pretty easy way
16:17
to go. Look, I can do this.
16:18
Throw a challenge flag. This review takes 20 seconds.
16:20
It's not a judgement call. Good.
16:23
I think that's something, especially because this is the
16:25
second week in a row we've seen kind of a pretty obvious
16:28
offsides not be called and it lead to a game changing play.
16:32
So I, I think something like that could easily be done
16:34
versus, you know, putting out a statement through someone else
16:37
and then going all right, Oh, you good.
16:38
Oops. We're sorry.
16:41
I mean, it doesn't matter now. Like, no, you know, apologizing
16:44
for it after the fact doesn't really change the outcome, so.
16:47
I hate when they do that. I hate whenever they know they
16:50
mess up and then they'll come and say, well, we messed up.
16:53
No shit you messed up. You screwed up a whole game.
16:57
You know, Auburn got done similar to, you know, they had
17:00
some stuff happen against Oklahoma last week and I'm like,
17:04
why even come out with a statement?
17:05
It don't matter. Are you going to pay them or you
17:07
can get them to win? You know you.
17:09
Reverse everything. For a team like Wake, that's,
17:12
you know, the one of the big goals of the year is making a
17:14
bowl game. You look at the schedule and
17:16
you're like, you know what, getting the 6th, you know, if
17:18
Wake ends up this season at 5:00 and 7:00, you look at that game
17:22
a lot and you're you're a little a little more upset afterwards.
17:26
Oh, yeah. And, and I mean, you know, we
17:28
saw it last week, last year with Miami.
17:31
It's like, I mean, and, and we admitted and you talked about it
17:34
earlier, like there were plenty of opportunities where we could
17:36
have won that game without it coming down to that situation.
17:39
But at the same time, I mean, especially in your case, I mean,
17:42
it was, you know, right there very easy there.
17:46
There was, there was no there, there, there was no question
17:49
about what that call should have been.
17:50
So you kind of feel bad for y'all, obviously.
17:52
I mean, I think that's one that, you know, hopefully you don't
17:56
end up looking at the end of the year like you said and sitting
17:58
at 5:00 and 7:00, you're like, oh man, we could have, could
18:00
have been bowl eligible with that.
18:01
One that'll that'll be a great final press conference with Jake
18:04
Dicker of the season if that happens.
18:06
Oh yeah. Right, well, man, we're going to
18:09
switch gears a little bit and just talk a little bit about
18:11
your OC before I let you get the floor.
18:15
I will say I'm I know a little bit about Mr. Mr. Ezel, Curtis
18:21
or Brian. Do y'all know what his claim to
18:23
fame is? Other than Rob.
18:27
Ezel. At South Alabama.
18:29
And he was in South Alabama. So he went.
18:32
A little further back to. Alabama, he went to Alabama, he
18:35
walked on to Alabama, played on the national championship team.
18:38
And if you go to YouTube right now and you Google or you go to
18:44
YouTube and you put his name in, that's going to pull up a whole
18:47
bunch of videos of him impersonating Nick Saban.
18:50
So that is his claim to fame. He was.
18:54
In the. Locker room, Yeah, he was in the
18:56
locker room. I mean, it was everywhere.
18:58
He was in the locker room. I'm talking about imitating
19:00
Nick. You know, they talked to Nick
19:02
about it a lot during that time. I think it was O 9 when it
19:04
happened, but a really cool video, you know, just kids
19:08
having fun at that time. Like you said, he did go to
19:12
South, he did go to South Alabama.
19:16
He got the quarterback paid pretty good to go to UNC.
19:20
So I know a little bit about him, like I said, because he's
19:24
been around these areas, but I will throw it over the camera
19:27
and let him tell us a little bit about his OC and what he likes
19:30
or doesn't like or what he's been seeing as of lately.
19:34
Yeah, I mean with Rob, there's some growing pains you have to
19:38
obviously expect. You know, he was a first time
19:40
play caller last year at South Alabama, had some really fun off
19:43
really fun offense. You know, Gio was really good.
19:45
He not doesn't look great this year, but Gio looked really good
19:47
last year. Fluff Bothwell, who I think is
19:49
now at Mississippi State was a really good running back back
19:52
had a 2 headed guy there. You know, he's had he's had a
19:54
fun offense last year and I think he started bringing that
19:57
over here to Wake Forest. I think part of the ups and
20:01
downs have been partially, you know, he'll admit there's some
20:03
there's sometimes. He hasn't put people in the
20:05
right places, but you know, with what he calls a power spread,
20:08
which I kind of likened to a triple option.
20:11
Just in the modern version, you know, there are a lot of moving
20:14
pieces. You've got a quarterback like
20:16
Robbie Ashford who you know, you can move him around the pocket,
20:19
you can put him in a true, you know, real, just a read option
20:23
and true in the speed option. You've got a guy like Damon
20:25
Claiborne who one of the best running backs in the ACC.
20:28
You can, you can move him around there.
20:29
Guys like Chris Barnes, Michael Mays, There's a lot of moving
20:32
parts there. They they brought in some some
20:35
offensive lineman that I think that's made some interesting
20:37
adjustments in terms of just cohesiveness.
20:39
But with Rob himself, I think it's been the good has been
20:44
explosives. I think there was some graphs I
20:45
kind of, I kind of retweeted the other day that Wake explosive
20:49
wise is on the same level as Ohio State this year.
20:52
They've been a very, very, very explosive team.
20:56
The problem and you know part of it again has been play calling
20:58
some some of it has just been execution as well has been they
21:02
are operating on the same success rate as you know, Iowa
21:06
and Kentucky. Oh, that's kind of so it's like
21:09
you know what you're you're hitting some deep balls or
21:11
hitting some really big ruins. That's great.
21:14
But down to down hasn't really been that that great.
21:19
And I think sometimes it is a OK, look, it's first and 10.
21:22
Let's just get let's just get into the flow of the offense.
21:24
You know, I think sometimes they're they get away from a
21:27
demon or Ty Clark or even a QB run from time to time.
21:30
And then sometimes it's you know, you look around and you
21:32
see a left guard kind of on his ass and you see a center getting
21:35
pushed back a couple yards and you're like, OK, So there's
21:38
there's a lot of moving pieces in terms of what could be
21:41
better. And I think we've seen some
21:43
really high highs and especially in the last two weeks of guys
21:46
just, you know, I think Robbie the last, you know, the first
21:48
half of NC State and most of the game last week looked pretty
21:52
good throwing the ball and running the ball.
21:54
I think there's definitely sometimes where it's just little
21:58
things like especially the red zone.
21:59
I think, you know, we'll probably talk about it later.
22:01
I think that's probably where this game's going to be won in
22:03
the red zone makes 133rd in the red zone offense.
22:06
When it comes to scoring touchdowns, there are, I
22:09
believe, three teams worse than them.
22:11
They are combined 2 and 10. So you know, you're you're maybe
22:15
a little bit fortunate to be two and two and two, but you're
22:18
you're doing everything right to get there.
22:20
It's just finishing there. I think that might if, if they
22:22
can with that switch with him, I think that might be what it
22:26
unlocks that offense. Yeah, gentlemen, you mentioned
22:30
that. Well, yeah, I was gonna
22:32
actually, that was one of the things I pulled out doing my
22:34
research this week, that lows 69% conversion.
22:38
The one thing I'll tell you about is guess who's 134 in red
22:43
zone defense? That sucks.
22:45
If you get down there, we let teams score.
22:48
But I want to talk about one of the guys you already mentioned
22:51
because he was a guy Virginia Tech almost landed.
22:55
That's Damon Claiborne, and he is having another good season.
22:58
Y'all did not lose him. He's actually from a little town
23:01
called King William, where me and Brian's friend Derek grew
23:04
up. Just West of here.
23:07
Literally, they want. I'm I'm a 15 minute drive from.
23:11
From he's a 15 minute drive from it and it is a small country
23:14
school. But why did he say because if
23:17
you look at his, you know, numbers over the three years at
23:20
weight, he's put up good numbers.
23:22
You know, 1000 yard rusher last year.
23:24
How did y'all hold on to him for this last ride down at weight?
23:29
I think first and foremost, you know, their degree, if you, if
23:32
you, I had I, that Damon's recruitment was one that I was
23:35
really kind of involved in. His mother wanted him to get a
23:39
Wake Forest degree. I think he, he, they really
23:41
wanted him to get just a degree from a top.
23:43
Not saying Virginia Tech's not a good one, but I think it's, you
23:46
know, you, when you had options like Wake, Virginia, Virginia
23:48
Tech, you know, when you end up at Wake, you're already there.
23:51
Why not finish what you started? And I think that's something
23:53
we've heard from Damon Quaybourne before is I want to
23:55
finish what I started here. I think Wynn also, you know, he
24:00
said he was coming back before Dave Boss had stepped down.
24:03
I do think having a new style of offense with Jake Dickard and
24:06
Robbie Zell has also helped also helped him tell him a little bit
24:11
more, not just saying, you know what, we're going to give you
24:13
the ball 40 * a game. Hope you stay.
24:15
But I think just in terms of, you know, there have been some
24:18
back and forth between, you know, does does the slow match
24:20
to RIP, you know, help hurt running backs in terms of their
24:23
decision making? And when you're a guy like Damon
24:25
who has really good patience, really good balance, really good
24:28
feet, you know, it really shines in that slow mesh.
24:31
But also now instead of you running just inside zone or just
24:35
outside zone, now you're running counter, Now you're running
24:39
power. Now you're really get into these
24:41
run concepts that you're probably going to be running at
24:43
the next level. Then all of a sudden you're
24:46
like, OK, you know, I think this might be, you know, I can, I can
24:49
go do this, this an Oregon. I can go to this in Michigan.
24:51
You know, I can go to this anywhere else.
24:53
I'm already comfortable here. They've put me in a great
24:56
position to succeed. Why not stay here for my final
24:59
year, get my degree, do the best I can and then go?
25:03
I'll go from there. Absolutely.
25:06
And, and so far this year, I mean, he, he's touched the ball
25:10
58 times and I'm doing the mathematics here for basically
25:15
right about 7.3 per touch, which means when he gets it, he's
25:20
getting up field. Now, Brian, what did I know?
25:23
You wanted to hit on something here?
25:25
Before we yeah, I just want to talk a little bit about the
25:27
offensive line. I know you said there's been a
25:28
little bit of inconsistency there.
25:30
You talked about some some guys on their ass earlier, but give
25:33
us a a picture of of what that offensive line is look like.
25:36
I know like historically, what I think what is kept weight pretty
25:40
competitive is that you guys have done pretty well in the
25:43
trenches on both sides of the ball.
25:45
So I'm, I'm interested to see what, what that offensive line
25:47
is looking like and how you feel about that.
25:50
You know, sounds like, you know, Claiborne's definitely getting
25:52
his his yards per carry there. So it's got to be something
25:55
going pretty well for them. Oh, yeah, I mean, you start with
25:57
that left tackle, Melton Siani, who you know, they brought up
26:00
from, I believe Temple was played for a year.
26:04
There was a was a right tackle moved over to left tackle this
26:07
year and had performed so well in fall camp that if The
26:11
Athletic reported it, they actually renegotiated his deal
26:15
because they were like, look, we don't want to go to the portal
26:17
after this year to get another left tackle.
26:19
Let's just go ahead lock you up. And he's pretty much been worth
26:22
that, you know, in terms of being a good left tackle.
26:26
Center has been Deva Kalani, one of their cap, one of the
26:28
captains. He's been up and down.
26:29
That's someone that I think they expect a little more of, you
26:32
know, in terms of their last week was a really tough match up
26:35
for him. And he battled.
26:36
There were times that, you know, he pushed a really good
26:38
defensive tackle back and sometimes he got pushed 2 yards
26:41
back. But I think it's, you know,
26:43
expecting a little more out of him is OK.
26:45
Right guard George Sell, guy that's been with the program
26:48
since Dave Clausman was there. He was the only holdover starter
26:51
on the line. He's been good because you have
26:54
really noticed him. I know offensive line is a very,
26:57
very one. You either see pancakes or you
26:59
see, you know, someone on their ass with them.
27:02
It's been, you know what, I don't notice you a lot.
27:04
And that's a really good thing because you're just sitting
27:07
there, you're doing your job. And that's kind of how George
27:09
Sell has been. He's put his head down.
27:11
He's been a really hard worker at right guard.
27:13
Right tackle was their big money addition, GOAT money.
27:17
In terms of Lily, Felipe Famo, they beat out.
27:20
He came over from Washington State.
27:22
He beat out, they beat out what, Nebraska, LSU for him as well.
27:26
They wanted him as a left half or right Taco as well.
27:28
And I think Lily is playing. Very good.
27:30
Yeah, the first game he did not have a good game.
27:32
But since then, Lili has been a very, very, very good tackle.
27:36
And I think someone that you could probably hear his name
27:39
being called on day three of the NFL draft next year if he keeps
27:42
this up. It's been it's been really good.
27:44
Left guard's been the spot that people have not so much worried
27:47
about, but it's just the most fluid 1.
27:50
So he started out the year this the year with Clinton Richard,
27:53
you know, who was a second year guy out of Atlanta, Fairburn
27:58
Heights, I believe, you know, really good guy, you know, big,
28:02
big strong, had some solid P4 offers.
28:05
And then, you know, had an injury.
28:06
I think he broke his leg essentially.
28:08
He broke his ankle on the like the last drive of the first game
28:12
of the of the season. And it was tough because they'd
28:15
already lost two guys that were kind of fighting for that
28:17
position too. They had both medically retired.
28:20
So you're now down to 1/3 option there.
28:22
He he's out for the season. You bring in a guy like George
28:25
Stee, who has, you know, he's shifting over from tackle and
28:28
you can see some really good things and some really not good
28:31
things out of a guy that frankly was kind of your fourth option
28:35
there. You know, you've seen some
28:36
really good of when they pull him, he pulls really well.
28:38
He moves really well for a guard.
28:41
But then sometimes it's technique, You know, it's not
28:43
easy going from being a tackle to being a guard.
28:45
It's just, it's, it's just a different type of technique and
28:48
you can see it a little bit when he, some people kind of power
28:51
rush him a bit of Nope, I can't just just go after him.
28:54
I got to make sure I'm actually using the correct technique.
28:56
So I think that's a little, a little tough because I think
28:58
Wake went into the season thinking they'd have 8 to 9 guys
29:03
that, you know, they could rotate in and that whittled down
29:06
to about 5 or 6 within about 3 weeks.
29:09
So it's been good. I think there are times and I
29:11
think that's part of the red zone worry as well as, you know,
29:13
there's, there's a play I, I pulled yesterday from, from
29:17
Saturday, that was, you know, if one guy doesn't get pushed back
29:20
by two yards, the, the tackle, the tight end can come across,
29:23
get his block Mons in for a touchdown.
29:25
Just little things like that in, in specific areas that I think
29:29
if they, if they fix that, you know, I think that makes it go a
29:33
little more. And the man behind the line and
29:37
you know, in the backfield with with Claiborne is, is why Robbie
29:42
Ashford, Alabama legend. He went to Hoover High School
29:45
here. You know, everybody probably
29:47
knows of Hoover High School if you know anything about, you
29:51
know, Alabama and Alabama high school.
29:53
But he's a legend because he has been to 95 schools.
29:57
Robbie Ashford graduated 4 star, went to Oregon, played baseball.
30:03
We actually committed to Ole Miss, ended up at Oregon, played
30:09
baseball at Oregon. Then he decided just to focus on
30:14
football, transferred to Auburn. A lot of people at Auburn like
30:18
them and what he did. But again, he can move, man.
30:21
He'll get out of the pocket. And you know, sometimes down
30:23
here, it's like they want somebody to, they want Greg
30:27
McElroy, they want somebody to sit back and throw the ball.
30:29
So left, left Auburn. I went to South Carolina.
30:35
Am I correct there? South Carolina, Yeah.
30:40
South Carolina to to wait. So he's kind of been, you know,
30:45
all over the place, but a talented kid, man.
30:49
I mean, you can see last week he got hurt before he got hurt, you
30:54
can see what was happening and then he gets hurt and he's still
30:57
gutting through it with that big ass brace on.
31:00
I think Robbie is is a person to watch.
31:02
I don't know how banged up he and Claiborne to be, but they've
31:07
got a good backfield between those two guys.
31:09
So I'll just let you talk a lot. I'll let you talk a little bit
31:12
about Robbie as well. What he's brought, you know,
31:16
Robbie, as you mentioned, he's a journeyman.
31:18
There's only so much you can, and I don't mean it's derogatory
31:21
wise, but there's only so much you really expect out of a
31:23
journeyman quarterback. You know, at a certain point you
31:26
kind of are who you are in that journey.
31:28
And I think, you know, during spring and fall camp, they tried
31:32
to put him in a little bit of a box he wasn't meant to be in.
31:35
It was a, you know, we're going to try and make you a pocket
31:38
passer here and there. And it's just that's just not
31:40
strength. And we saw a kind of, you know,
31:42
the first half of NC State and in this game against Georgia
31:45
Tech, where if you get him on the move, this guy is that's
31:49
he's going to be 1 of, if not the best athlete on the field.
31:52
And it was, it was actually kind of funny.
31:54
Funny you brought up the the baseball stuff, the play he gets
31:57
hurt on, he actually feels a bad snap like a like 1/3 baseman.
32:01
He feels it just directly to 3rd baseman and just takes off for
32:05
about 30-40 yards down the field before he ended up getting hurt.
32:08
And so you see the athleticism jumping at you.
32:12
I think some of the, you know, the, the negative has been kind
32:15
of the short to intermediate game.
32:17
You know, I think, you know, screen passes haven't really
32:19
been kind to him. You know, sometimes decision
32:21
making when they've tried to put him in some RPO stuff hasn't
32:24
been the best. And I think last on Saturday
32:26
they did a good job of taking that away, taking that toy away
32:28
from him. But that's where you see the
32:31
growth and where he's been good at kind of his entire career.
32:35
He's one of the best passers for PFF in terms of the deep ball
32:38
because if you, if you have him, Aaron, Aaron and out this guy, I
32:41
think, I think I wrote it down the other day was I think 22nd
32:43
time for 22nd best in terms of PFF grade.
32:45
You know, he's got 6 big time throws, doesn't have a turnover
32:48
where they play when he, when he throws downfield for whatever
32:51
reason, if you ask him to have a little stop and go route, he's
32:54
going to put that on the money. And I think that's something
32:57
that I think wakes really liked because it's, it's when you're
33:01
someone that wants to run the ball as much as with demonically
33:04
born with Robbie Ashford, you got to do something to get
33:07
people to back off of you. And I think they've done a
33:10
really, I've been charting kind of all season of they've done a
33:13
really good job of, and especially with Rob, they've
33:17
done a really good job of when teams try to stack 7-8 in the
33:19
box. Just saying, OK, if you keep
33:21
doing that, I'm just going to hit you over the top and like,
33:23
we're going to keep doing this until you stop it.
33:26
And so I think that's been one of the best things about Ravi is
33:29
he has been able to punish, you know, teams when they've tried
33:33
to take away what people think WIG wants to do this year.
33:38
Absolutely. Now you, you mentioned about the
33:41
struggle with the intermediate routes and everything and you
33:43
know it, it, it's reflected there, you know, 59%
33:45
completions. It's also reflected in when you
33:48
look at your leading receivers, Devin Claiborne's second leading
33:51
receiver on the team reception wise.
33:53
So I'm going to turn this over to you, Jimmy, one of your
33:56
receivers that you feel if they have a good game Saturday, you
34:02
feel better about your chances to win.
34:04
It's tough because the easy answer is Chris Barnes.
34:06
Little scatter bug that's 585. Not on a good day.
34:10
I'm going to go Micah Mays though.
34:11
I think Micah is someone that he's about 6263 ish, 190 lbs and
34:18
we've really started seeing some big plays out of in the last few
34:21
weeks of just, you know, with Chris, you know, he's like I
34:24
said, he's 5859. You can you can't catch him if
34:27
the dude ran like AA1019100 meter dash.
34:30
He's just fast. With Micah, he was a long jumper
34:33
in high school. So he's got the explosive and
34:34
not so much the speed. And I think being able sometimes
34:38
when you don't get someone necessarily schemed open.
34:41
And I think Virginia Tech's going to do a good job of not
34:43
necessarily just busting coverages, having a guy that can
34:47
just go up and get a jump ball. And I think Micah does a really,
34:50
really good job. But he's some really good hands
34:52
on him. He's got he's, he's taking some
34:54
hits over them over the middle. They love running some little
34:56
mesh rail with him. And he's always finding that
34:59
little soft, soft bar of the zone.
35:01
But I think Micah, you know, if they can, if you really can get
35:03
him going, you know, and I don't think, you know, getting going
35:05
is 10 is 10 catches. That's just not how Wade's going
35:07
to operate. But if you can get him going,
35:09
you know, four or five catches and get to that 7080 yard mark,
35:13
I think Wade feels like they're in a pretty good place right
35:17
there. All right, so we'll make that
35:19
note, Micah Maze. And before Brian jumps on the
35:23
defense, just one last question. What is what's going to be the
35:27
status of Robbie Asher? We know he's banged up, but
35:30
Thursday again, it's the ACC. Now we're going to figure we're
35:32
going to get to see the injury report.
35:34
What do you think he's listed as Thursday we're.
35:36
We're going to see both him and Damon Claiborne listen as the
35:38
questionable. I don't care if Robbie, Robbie
35:41
told us in the in the post game press conference on Friday, as
35:44
long as I'm not on Saturday, as long as I'm not dead, I'm going
35:46
to go out there and play on Saturday.
35:49
So, you know, I, I have a, a lot more of an expectation of Robbie
35:53
playing more or less just because we've talked to him with
35:56
demand. I think it'll be a full, you
35:58
know, he'll be queue and then they're not going to tip their
36:00
hand until they absolutely have to.
36:03
Right. Sounds good, man.
36:05
Sounds good. Yeah, we'll, we'll see what ours
36:08
looks like because we're in a situation where we're still
36:10
waiting to see are the guys that were out last week, guys that
36:13
are going to hit. The portal, Portal.
36:15
Are they here guys that are going to actually, you know,
36:16
yeah. So we're we're we're still
36:18
playing wait and see on our side as well.
36:21
So let's flip it over to defense.
36:23
We got Scotty Hazleton, defensive coordinator.
36:28
He's been coached a good while. He's got a fun beard to look at
36:31
too. I got, you know, got got got to
36:34
respect the Beard game there. But he's had several P4 stops
36:39
before getting to Wake Forest. Tell us a little bit about his
36:41
defense and what he brings to the table.
36:43
Yeah, I think Scotty Hazleton has done a really good job of
36:48
reinventing himself, I think at Michigan State, You know, I when
36:53
he when he was at Kansas State, I think he was a really good
36:55
defensive coordinator. I think the stop at Michigan
36:57
State, whatever was happening with him and Mel Tucker and that
37:00
entire program just wasn't working.
37:03
Just wasn't working because it was just yards after yards after
37:06
breakdown after breakdown after touchdown.
37:09
And you know, granted, again, you know, Wig hasn't seen the
37:12
best offense in the world with this team just yet, but one
37:16
thing they've been excellent at doing is just preventing
37:19
explosives. This team just does not give up
37:22
explosive plays through the ground, through the air.
37:24
You're not going to it. It'll be once in a blue moon
37:27
before you hit a 4050 yard play on them.
37:29
They it just doesn't happen. And so I think Scotty's done a
37:32
really good job of reinventing himself.
37:34
He was a guy that ran a lot of Tampa 2, which, you know, Tampa
37:38
two could be cover 3. There's a whole other stuff
37:40
about that. He, but he ran a lot of Cover 2
37:43
this year. He has been, I love that there's
37:46
a lot of King William kids going to see Blacksburg today on this
37:48
weekend. This year it's been a lot of
37:50
cover one. He's run some cover one.
37:52
He's gone to cover 3 from time to time, but Wake's been a
37:55
really heavy cover one team this year, which I think is pretty
37:59
interesting. That's not something I don't
38:01
think Wake would really ever dare to run.
38:04
I don't think Wake people ever think Wake has the personnel to
38:06
run a true Cover 3 at time press man sort of thing.
38:09
But he he's really trust trusted his receivers.
38:12
I mean, it's going to be his quarterbacks and they've
38:14
rewarded him more than often. He's trusted his run defense.
38:17
And, you know, I think it's a thing of it's it's still kind of
38:20
on an edge because I think Wake's done a really good job of
38:23
limiting damage. They're one of the best teams at
38:25
not giving up touchdowns in the red zone.
38:28
They're one of the best teams on not getting explosives and
38:30
they're pretty good on 3rd downs.
38:32
The problem is they'll be out there for a little bit and part
38:36
of it's the offense, part of it's their own doing on defense
38:38
for missing tackles of, you know, sometimes it's a, it's a
38:41
critical 3rd and like 3 or 4 and they're giving it up.
38:45
And it's, that's why it's a little interesting when you look
38:47
at wakes yards per game, they're all, they're probably middle of
38:50
the pack. When you look at their EPA,
38:52
they're, you know, down towards the bottom of the country and
38:55
it's they're giving up yards and they're fine.
38:57
But it's sometimes the the they break at the wrong time that's
39:00
been that's what's kind of kept them from being that next
39:03
echelon of good defense. Yeah, and, and something we hit
39:07
on beforehand and you, you immediately just shook your head
39:10
as soon as I said it. You know, teams running the
39:12
ball, I think right at 54% of the time against Wake 140, which
39:15
isn't bad. But I think what you're saying
39:17
in this case is the numbers don't look bad, but it's the
39:20
crucial situation. It's like you said, third and
39:23
two we're missing an attack on It's like you want to bang your
39:26
head against the wall when that happens.
39:28
And we do the same on this side. But let's talk about three guys.
39:32
Well, I'm I want to talk about three guys.
39:34
These two may have somebody else want to talk about, but I'll
39:36
talk about three guys that had really good games last week that
39:38
kind of showed out. And the first is Quincy Bryant.
39:42
You know, give give a little background on him, but maybe so
39:47
much. Why did he have such a good game
39:49
against Georgia Tech? Yeah, I think with Quincy, he's
39:54
been someone that's been with, he's another person that that
39:56
has been he's grown up with the Wake Forest program coming from
39:59
Parkview High School outside of Atlanta, really smart,
40:02
intelligent kid. And he's someone that that has
40:05
he hasn't fallen out of being a starter, but they've they've
40:08
been trying to run kind of a two by two side kind of things.
40:10
You know, there's Aiden Hall and Dylan Hayes and are set.
40:12
Him and Frank Cusano are set and Frank Cusano kind of missed the
40:15
game. We'll see if we'll play this
40:16
week and. The thing with Quincy I've I've
40:20
noticed is when Quincy's been expected to play about 7580
40:23
snaps a game, he just, it just hasn't been great, which I don't
40:26
think for anyone it's great. But when you've kept him around
40:29
that 30 to 40 sort of reps, he's been really good.
40:34
He is, he's he's fresh. He's a really good tackler.
40:37
Like I said, he's a smart kid. So he's very aware of what's
40:40
going on. I think he was a corner.
40:42
He he played a lot when he was at Parkview.
40:44
He played corner, he played safety, then he tried to
40:46
transition down the linebacker. So he's got kind of skills to be
40:48
all over the place. And it I think just with the
40:51
game against the, you know, hometown team and Georgia Tech
40:55
probably fired him up a little bit, but just a team that he
40:58
doesn't really have to be worrying about.
41:02
Am I going to drop back this game?
41:03
Am I going to go forward? I don't have to put a guess and
41:04
check is no, I need to go forward and go find wherever
41:07
Haynes King is. I think that's a style of game
41:10
where and I think, you know, that's someone we're going to
41:12
look forward to. When you're talking about a big
41:14
dude in Tyron drones where look, just go and get him.
41:17
I think that's that's somewhere where where Quincy Bryant really
41:20
likes to shine. Yeah, and, and Quincy last week,
41:23
just so everybody knows why I focused on him, 11 combined
41:27
tackles, had a TfL in there as well.
41:29
Was literally, and we know the way Georgia Tech likes to play,
41:33
you're getting 11 tackles. That is, you were in on a lot of
41:36
plays with the way Georgia Tech runs defense.
41:38
And so not even telling that TfL was on a fourth and one too.
41:41
Hanes King went on a QB power and and Quincy just got just
41:44
shot through a gap and just got there.
41:46
There we go. Nice Cali, Brian, who you want
41:50
to talk about next? Yeah, I mean, let's let's talk
41:52
about Ron Pruitt, defensive back.
41:57
He he had another big game against against Georgia Tech.
42:01
What sort of skill set does he bring to the table for Wake
42:04
Forest? Karon so Prunty is a is a guy
42:07
that it's very funny that he ended up at Wake Forest.
42:11
So Wake actually played North Carolina A&T last year and I
42:16
believe their opener and Dave Clawson's going through, you
42:19
know, making them look like like every coach does, making their
42:22
their team seem like the 85 Dolphins.
42:24
It's it's it's great. And he thought he gets the prony
42:28
and he goes, yeah, no, that dude's got to get a better draft
42:31
rate than any of our quarterbacks and just is a fairy
42:33
stoneface. And we're like, oh, no, he's not
42:35
fluffing. He's got this guy up.
42:36
He's like, that dude's good. And so when the portal hits, I'm
42:39
like, OK, let's see what this what's going on with this guy?
42:43
He ends up at at Wake and you're like, how are you at North
42:46
Carolina A&T? He was a freshman All American
42:48
when he was at Kansas. He's kind of dropped down to A&T
42:51
for a bit, but he's a legitimate 616-2190.
42:56
Like he is a big corner. He's strong.
42:59
He's not afraid to get in someone's face.
43:02
And I think that's something you see when he's going back and
43:04
forth with other wide receivers is, you know, I think a lot of
43:07
time people have have it's hard to find a 6162 corner.
43:11
Like when you're that big, it's hard to move, it's hard to be as
43:14
flexible. It's hard to have the right
43:15
stride. I think Quran has does a good
43:17
job of putting all those things together and that allows him to
43:21
work against these wide receivers that are 6263 and can
43:24
run. I think that's been a that was a
43:26
really good thing, you know, from last, from last game and
43:28
the game before where he's just not going to be afraid of
43:32
anyone. I guess he doesn't really care.
43:33
Every time you ask him about, you know, why do you want to
43:35
come back to the P4 level? And he's like, that's, this is
43:37
where I, I feel like I belong. And he, he feels like he needs
43:40
to show that every single week. Yeah.
43:43
And I mean around this part like a lot of people were kind of
43:45
upset that when the recruiting was going on for Friday that
43:49
that he was somebody that we missed on or didn't really
43:51
pursue with the with the vigor, I think a lot of people wanted
43:54
to. So seeing him kind of circle
43:56
back around there is really interesting.
43:57
From Portsmouth and of course he went to Norcom.
44:00
So, but you mentioned him about being out with Kansas.
44:04
I mean, he did it last week against GT3 past deflections
44:09
back in 2020. And I know that was an awkward
44:11
season, third in the Big 12 in past deflections.
44:15
That just that just says to me when you see a guy have a lot of
44:19
past deflection, they're understanding the route
44:21
concepts. They understand when they need
44:22
to get their hands in there. And I'm sure there's some P is
44:26
and stuff. But overall, that tally, let me
44:28
pitch to you real quick who you got.
44:32
So defensive line, I'm going to throw it to Cameron.
44:36
Who, who do we need to look at, who we need to worry about?
44:38
I think I know who you're going to say his first name is
44:40
probably Gabe. But who on your defensive line
44:43
do I need to worry about? Yeah, I mean, so actually the
44:46
first one I was going to, I was going to bring up will be his
44:48
running mate, Langston Hardy, kind of the other defensive end,
44:52
you know, when you kind of look through snap counts, Gabe, Gabe
44:54
has been a really good, good player at at his at his end, but
44:56
they've kind of gets club on his hand.
44:58
I think I'm pretty sure he broke his hand during fall camp.
45:01
Really hard to tackle when you have a club on your head.
45:05
But they've used him as a as a power rusher and he's been
45:08
really good both Langston Hardy Langston's turned into he came
45:11
over from UConn, his brother on the team as well, son of former
45:14
NFL player Kevin Hardy. Yes, you're that old.
45:17
It is Langston. Langston has returned to a true
45:23
just strong side defensive end. He's solid in the past game.
45:26
He's setting the edge in the run game like he is.
45:28
Well, sometimes it's not going to be as flashy as you wanted to
45:31
be. It's been it's been amazing.
45:33
But I think the the under The Dirty work guy Mateen, I'd be
45:37
Ragba, you know, transferred a couple years ago from Georgetown
45:41
red Cat. I think he redshirted last year,
45:43
but just didn't really play was getting used to adjusting to his
45:46
body. They brought him in kind of as
45:47
an end that could play tackle. And then now we find out.
45:50
Oh, no, no, no, you're you're a defensive tackle, big dog.
45:53
And you know, he's been one of the best, not in the ACC, but
45:56
nationally at getting pressures. He's just he's popped up on NFL
46:01
draft boards of hey, you know, I think it was the Senior Bowl
46:04
that nothing was Mike Renner that that posted something today
46:07
that was, you know, he possibly could be a top 100 pick in the
46:10
NFL draft. You know, Mateen has been
46:12
someone has the hands are great. He's hit their violent hands.
46:16
He's he's just he's cutting through double teams.
46:19
He's been a great guy in the run, the run game.
46:21
He has been kind of their stalwart and they they love all
46:23
their D TS. I think Jaden Lovin's been good.
46:26
Zach Lovitin's been good. Dallas Lava has been good, but
46:28
Mateen is kind of went from being a guy of that I during
46:31
spring and fall camp. I was like, OK, you know what,
46:33
let's see if he can be a rotational guy to being like, Oh
46:36
no, I need you on the on the field, as many snaps as you can
46:39
possibly handle right now. Very nice, don't have a hands
46:44
full with that defensive line guys always.
46:46
Always, always man trenches. Are always going to be a
46:50
struggle, man, They, they, they do such a good job up front
46:52
always, I mean. Technically sound.
46:54
Y'all are always Cameron. Y'all are always.
46:56
I mean, I can remember the game a few years ago.
46:59
We did win the game fortunately, but y'all are one of the more
47:02
technically sound on both sides of the line.
47:04
You never, like you said, there are certain guys you mentioned
47:07
on offense where well, you really don't notice them because
47:10
they're not getting killed. They're not doing anything
47:12
unbelievable, but they're not getting killed.
47:15
And sometimes that's what you need.
47:16
You need something to steady the ship.
47:17
So let me ask this for you as we kind of get ready to wrap it up.
47:21
And do you have been a wealth of knowledge you are educating the
47:24
public. So first of all, before I ask
47:26
this question, when do you when are you going to drop your
47:28
preview episode for the Hopies? I think I'll drop mine on
47:33
Thursday. I think that's when I'm.
47:35
That's inside the forest. So again, I think I'm loving to
47:39
hear what I can't wait to hear what you got to say about us.
47:42
But let's just go to this for you for this game.
47:47
Give a prediction if you want. If you're not there yet, that's
47:49
fine. But what is going to be like a
47:50
couple keys to you to say if Wake Forest on Saturday
47:54
afternoon, about 4:00 wins this game, it's because.
47:59
Besides injuries, I think the number one thing, emotions, you
48:02
know, it's really hard to quantify it, but that is that
48:06
was such an emotional game, regardless of how it ended with
48:09
the, you know, the, the offsides and stuff of that nature.
48:12
It's it's a that's a really hard game to play, win or lose.
48:14
Like you Wake Forest poured out everything they had in that
48:18
game. And even if they won, I'd still
48:20
be circling this game as a just man that this is the ultimate
48:25
let down spot. You've got a team that hasn't
48:28
necessarily quit on their interim.
48:29
It's homecoming. Blacksburg's always in just a
48:32
frustrating place for anyone to play.
48:35
How do you how do you get up again?
48:37
You know, how do you how do you get up again?
48:38
And I think that, you know, emotionally is wake, you know,
48:41
are they going to come out sluggish?
48:42
Are they going to come out with penalties, you know, left and
48:45
right? Or are they going to bust some
48:46
coverages for the first time? You know what?
48:48
What does that look like, you know, from a kind of a big
48:50
picture standpoint? But in general, I think, you
48:52
know, from on the field, I talked about it a little bit
48:55
earlier, You know, the red zone, I think this is a movable force
48:58
versus a stoppable object. That is what this is in the red
49:02
zone. And I think, you know, if Wade
49:04
can get down to the red zone and convert for touchdowns, they're
49:08
going to feel a lot better about where they are because I think
49:12
they're going to treat Kyron drones decently the same way
49:15
that they did Haines King, which was we're going to put everyone
49:18
in the box. You want to beat us with your
49:20
arm. Good job you, you got it.
49:22
Have fun. I don't know if, you know,
49:25
either team wants this to be a shootout.
49:27
I think both teams want this to be kind of a get out the mud.
49:31
Someone's going to have to win a bar fight here.
49:34
And I think, you know, if we can, it's whoever wins kind of
49:37
those scoring opportunities in a game that's going to be, you
49:40
know, probably somewhere around a 27 to 21 or a, you know, AI
49:45
don't know if it gets 30, but a 2824 kind of game, you know,
49:48
whoever gets the 2428 and not 24.
49:52
I think that's where that's going to be, you know, the most
49:54
critical part of who's who's kicking field goals versus who's
49:57
actually getting to the end zone.
49:59
So you got that winning line somewhere in the the mid to
50:02
upper 20s then? Yeah, I, I just with this Wake
50:05
team, I think, you know, in general, people before the
50:07
season kept asking, you know, this team's going to fly because
50:10
they're used to like the 2019 and 2022 week that was just
50:13
throwing the ball over the place.
50:14
And I was like, I don't know if they have the def to necessarily
50:18
play that. I think also it helps you a lot,
50:20
you know, especially if your team that likes to run the ball,
50:23
you know, you look up 6 minutes are off the clock and it's like,
50:25
well, man, we get we get a, we get a three and out here we can
50:28
just basically milk this entire first quarter.
50:30
This score is done. And so I think that's a fun way
50:33
if you're a team that's trying to find your identity and trying
50:36
to find being this tough team of cool, you don't.
50:39
If you don't get to touch the ball, that's your fault, not
50:40
mine. Yeah.
50:42
And I mean, it's it's going to be interesting, you know,
50:44
contrast to styles. I mean, we've we've definitely
50:46
been a team that has dominated in in most of the games time of
50:49
possession, but we don't really have a ton of points to show for
50:52
it in a lot of cases. So it's going to be interesting
50:54
to see what that looks like against a Wake team that's also
50:58
trying to, you know, ball control to a good degree for
51:01
most of the game. No, I'm I'm excited.
51:05
I think it'll be and I think, and I think The thing is, I
51:07
think when people say, you know, these low scoring kind of time
51:09
of possession games, those are boring.
51:11
No, I think those are some of the most fun games because I
51:13
think that's when you start seeing those third and two third
51:16
and three. Sort of everyone wants the wacky
51:18
kind of trick play and something that's where you'll see them.
51:21
It's I know I can't get two or three yards in the ground.
51:24
I got to figure out another way to do something like that.
51:26
I think that's where you start. That's that's where you start
51:29
seeing these wacky plays of Georgia Tech trying to do they
51:31
they ran a fake punt on four on 4th and eight.
51:34
Like that's where you start seeing the the the team start
51:37
actually getting in their bags and these kind of slower paced
51:40
games of trying to find that extra 2-3 yards.
51:45
That's kind of what we did, yeah.
51:47
That's what we kind of went into with the, the North North
51:50
Carolina State win, like you said, the low 20s, you know who
51:53
can get to 24 and win it. So now very good, very good
51:57
analysis. Cameron, we definitely
51:58
appreciate you spending a little bit of time with us.
52:02
Lemons being in your name. Life gave you lemons.
52:04
You made lemonade, all that good stuff, man.
52:06
We appreciate you coming in. Do you got any shout outs that
52:10
you want to throw out before we before we get you out of here?
52:14
I mean, the other thing I'll ever promote is my Twitter,
52:16
though you'll have some terrible takes on the Eagles, Wake Forest
52:19
and Braves. It's act and lemons and under
52:22
score. I'm afterwards, but I really
52:24
appreciate this. This is always I love talking
52:26
football, love talking ball. I'm always happy man.
52:30
We will remember this and appreciate you educating us
52:32
because that's what this is for. This is this is your team you're
52:35
talking about and we can do the research.
52:37
We can look, we look at the tape and and and you know, we know
52:40
some things, but this is your team.
52:42
So it's great to hear from you, man.
52:43
I appreciate it. Go ahead, Tally.
52:45
Before you let them go now I was just going to say everybody go
52:47
follow cameraman Cameron. If you if you see any of us on
52:50
Twitter X, whatever they want to call it nowadays, please, man.
52:54
Hey, we got bad takes and crazy takes too.
52:57
Definitely like you said, Braves, I feel your pain.
53:00
So we will be in misery together.
53:03
Oh, yes, Sir, Yes, Sir. We appreciate you, man.
53:05
Well, thank you, man. We're going to let you get out
53:06
of here, Cameron. Hey, guys.
53:08
Appreciate you, Cameron. All right, that was.
53:12
Cameron Lemons Debro bringing the Heat bringing all the info
53:16
about the Wake Forest Demon Deacons leading into the game
53:22
this Saturday at 1:00. Music.