More Deacons Arriving Ready to Play
Jim Grobe’s philosophy on redshirting hasn’t changed.
But his program has.
And that’s the short version to the answer he gave yesterday when I asked him about playing nine first-year freshmen over the past three seasons after playing only a total of 10 over his first seven seasons as the Deacons head coach. One game into this season, quarterback Tanner Price and cornerbacks A.J. Marshall and Kevin Johnson have already been thrown into the fray.
The long version is as follows:
“There’s a fine line there,’’ Grobe said. “You can have a philosophy that you’re trying to get the best four years for every kid. And typically, I think, the best four years are going to be the last four. That kind of makes sense, that a 23-year-old can play better than an 18- or 19-year old. But at the same time, your goal is to win football games and play the best players. So I think one of the things that we may have done in a couple of situations – and I can’t be specific about it – is we have probably kept a kid on the shelf to our detriment, where he might have been the difference in one more games or two more games. It might have slid us into a bowl game where we didn’t go.
“We’re still not trying to waste a year’s eligibility, but if we’ve got a talented kid who we think can help us win, and get enough snaps to not waste his year, then we’re going to put him out there. So that’s where we are. It’s kind of twofold. Let’s do what’s best for the kid, but at the same time let’s do what’s best for the team, as far as winning.’‘
Grobe has consistently maintained that the Deacons’ recruiting has improved steadily during his time at Wake. And he says it should improve, given the recruits of yesteryear were lured to Wake after 4-7 and 5-7 seasons, whereas the ACC championship of 2006 and the three straight bowl trips opened some doors that had previously been closed. Signing with Wake these days is not the leap of faith it once was.
It shows up when the classes show up for August practices.
“We’re getting better players – there’s no question about that – overall,’’ Grobe said. “We may not have the strongest guy on the team that we’ve ever had, or the fastest guy on the team that we’ve ever had. John Stone won the 100 in the ACC. We don’t have that guy right now. But we’ve got a lot of fast guys. We’ve got more fast guys than we’ve had. We’ve got more strong guys than we’ve had, more good football players.
“And that helps you get freshmen on the field quicker, when you know they’ve got the kind of talent that can help you.’‘