Don’t Count Bud Out
He might be limping, but when Bud Noel came to Nashville this week for the Music City Bowl, he came to play.
So what’s new?
“The nice thing about Merrill Noel is he comes to play,’’ coach Jim Grobe said last week. “He really comes to play. When Saturday rolls around, that guy comes to play.
“And the bigger the game, the harder he plays.’‘
Noel, a redshirt freshman cornerback for Wake who was named the ACC’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, turned his ankle in the cold, driving downpour of Tuesday morning, while Grobe was putting the Deacons through their final paces back in Winston-Salem before boarding the plane for Nashville and tomorrow’s game against Mississippi State at LP Field. It was bothering him Wednesday, but even then he was telling friends he expected to play.
“He always has, that’s the thing,’’ Grobe said. “But you never can tell.’‘
My hunch is that Grobe is more than happy to leave a little doubt in the minds of Coach Dan Mullen and his staff at Mississippi State. That way, in the event Noel does start for the 13th straight time tomorrow, then the Bulldogs might be willing to do what few Wake opponents have been over the course of the season.
They might actually throw a pass or two in the Noel’s direction.
“It gets difficult at times,’’ Noel said last week. “But it makes me feel good about myself to know that I’m helping the team out by playing my coverages that the coaches call and being in the right place at the right time.
“And that gives more opportunity for the older guys to make more plays on their behalf.’‘
Grobe said he’s not nearly as confident about the availability of sophomore linebacker Mike Olson, who sprained his ankle in Wednesday’s practice. Given the severity of the injury and the short window of recovery, I’d be surprised to see him againt the Bulldogs.
It would be a blow to the Deacons, considering Olson battled his way into the starting lineup for the final three games of the regular season and finished fifth on the team with 57 tackles. But even so, Wake would still have a pretty solid three-player rotation at inside linebacker with sophomore Justin Jackson and juniors Riley Haynes and Scott Betros. Olson is faster than either Haynes or Betros, but the two older players may be more physical.
And against the brawny Bulldogs of the SEC, Wake might need all the physical strength it can get.