Deacons Stockpiling Running Backs
If Josh Harris is the talent the Wake Forest coaches think he is, that begs the question of why the Deacons signed three running backs yesterday on national signing date.
After redshirting last fall as a freshman, Harris, a 5-10, 190-pound speedster from Duncan, Tx. should be in the thick of competition for snaps at running back. The position is one of the best-stocked on the roster, with Josh Adams back next season as a senior and Brandon Pendergrass back as a junior. Other players on the roster who can play either running back or wide receiver are Lovell Jackson, Michael Campanaro and, conceivably, even Devon Brown.
Now you can add to the mix the three who signed yesterday, Joseph Byrd, Ben Emert and Nick Knott. I asked Coach Jim Grobe why the Deacons invested three scholarships on running backs.
His answer was interesting on several levels. First off, there’s a question if Byrd will play next season or decide to grayshirt and not enroll until next spring semester. He tore an anterior cruciate ligament midway through his senior season at Ida Baker High School in Cape Coral, Fla., but will postpone surgery until after the spring track season. He finished second in last year’s state championship in the 100 and 200 meters, and feels he can do better even on a torn ligament.
Grobe said he’s not worried about backs others might consider damage goods because of the success both Kevin Marion and Chris Givens had after tearing ligaments in high school.
“We don’t have any doubts (Byrd) will be full speed,’’ Grobe said. “We just don’t know when.’‘
But with Riley Skinner no longer eligible to play quarterback for the Deacons, he felt he might need more running backs than before.
“I think without Riley, we still plan on throwing the ball a lot,’’ Grobe said. “But I think there’s a good chance that we’ll run the ball more than we have in the past. And if we do that, then we’ve got to make sure that if we get them knocked down a little more than normal, that we aren’t just counting on Josh (Adams) and Brandon—that we’ve got some other guys to plug in.
“We took (Byrd) late, just because we didn’t feel comfortable with the number of running backs and knowing it may take him awhile before he’s fully healthy.’‘
Grobe said that Jackson, a promising kick returner, will enter spring drills as a wide receiver.
“But another thought for us is that, in what we’re going to do, that Campanaro could play some running back and I think Devon Brown—like we did with Kenny Moore—could play some running back,’’ Grobe said. “And I think (Jackson) could be in there at running back. Maybe Quan Rucker. We’ve got a bunch of guys who could go inside and play running back for us.
“To be honest with you, our bottom line is footspeed. We want as many kids we can run fast as we can get.’‘
Knott, who gained 1,021 yards on 152 carries for Wylie (Tx.) High School, is the brother of Givens. He’s a small back, at 5-10, 170 pounds.
Emert, who gained 1,486 yards on 173 carries for West Forsyth High School in Ball Ground, Ga., is a bigger back at 6-1, 225 pounds. Grobe said he’s more of a fullback.
“If you look at Tommy Bohanon right now, you’ll see he’s lost a bunch of weight,’’ Grobe said of the freshman who played in the fall in his first season at Wake. “Because one of the things we’ve got to have out of our fullbacks, they’ve got to be able to run the football. We can’t just have a big road grader that’s going to go knock people down.
“And I think that’s what Ben is going to be able to do. When I watched some of Ben’s highlights, you’re talking about a kid that a kid that almost rushed for 1,500 yards and only had about 170 carries. He’s a guy who’s going to be a fullback. That’s what we plan on him being. I think we’re going to do a lot of (shotgun) and split-back stuff, but if we’re in the I very much, I think he could play either fullback or go back and be a tailback.
“He’s kind of a big Kevin Harris is what he is.’‘