A Class for the Ages
Has there ever been, and/or, will there ever be another class at Wake Forest like the football recruiting class of 2004?
Sitting here on vacation this week, having collected Nate and Rebecca from college for the summer and attempting vainly to pull our hacienda and grounds back into order, I came across the note on Heather Dinich’s ESPN blog that all the seniors from Wake’s class of 2004 had graduated this past Monday. I took special note because I have long since quit using the verb “graduated” in reference to a departed senior. Not knowing in most cases whether the person had actually walked, I took to the phrase “exhausted his eligibility,’’ just to be sure. Now I don’t have to parse the point when it comes to any Wake player that arrived in 2004 and remained for four years in the case of Jeremy Thompson or five in the case of Aaron Curry, Alphonso Smith, Stanley Arnoux, Chip Vaughn, Kevin Patterson, Chip Brinkman, Demir Boldin, Sam Swank, Richard Belton, Anthony Davis, Antonio Wilson, Kerry Major and Chantz McClinic.
The number I gleaned from the media guide of 2004 is actually 14. There were 19 in the original class, and Allan Holland, Eric Berry, Brandon Drumgoole, Mike Causey and Eric Gaskins left the program before their senior years. Really, 14 out of 19 is not a bad rate of attrition, but for every player who remained to graduate with his class is just another remarkable accomplishment for a most remarkable class.
Jim Grobe had the program heading in the right direction before the class arrived. The Deacons were 7-6 with a bowl victory in 2002 and 5-7 in 2003, with a 3-5 ACC record both seasons. The 2003 team was tantalizingly close to a winning record, but lost by six to Purdue and by three at Virginia. But with the players from the Jim Caldwell tenure passing out of the program and Grobe’s own recruits coming in, the Deacons dipped to successive seasons of 4-7 in 2004 and 2005. By the time the class of Curry, Smith, the self-proclaimed ``Fresh Deacs,’’ were sophomores, it was playing a integral role in Wake’s run to its first ACC championship in 36 seasons. The class remained the backbone of a program that won nine in 2007 and eight in 2008 and was in the thick of the ACC race both seasons—an unprecedented level of success at Wake Forest.
Of the 14, four—Curry, Smith, Vaughn and Arnoux—were drafted by the NFL, with Curry being the third player chosen overall. Three more—Swank, Boldin and Patterson—signed free-agent contracts. Counting Thompson, who already has a season with the Green Bay Packers on his NFL resume, that’s eight out of 14, a fairly healthy percentage.
The impact was apparent. The legacy will be known in years to come when we see just what those who followed the Fresh Deacs learned about standards of excellence and commitment to the task at hand. There are big shoes left to be filled, the biggest ever in Wake Forest history.