Wake Forest Football Walking the Fine Line

As Wake Forest enters bowl week prep, there is a fine line to be walked. You want the players to have fun. After all, making a bowl is a reward for a good season, and taking part in the activities of bowl week has its merits. But there is also the effort to win, to not finish the season on a losing note.

Mixing Business and Fun

Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert is walking that line this week, along with Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby.  The week leading up to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl for the players and staff includes going to the Hornets games, getting a NASCAR tour of Charlotte Motor Speedway, and tending to the community at Second Harvest Food Bank. And there is the matter of trying to win the game.

Dickert met with the media on Tuesday morning after the Demon Deacons’ practice at Providence Day High School.

“I think anytime you sacrifice what winning requires, you’ve got a problem,” Dickert said. He said Monday’s workout was not quite up to his standards. So in the team meeting before Tuesday’s practice, he addressed specific concerns. “I think the message was clear today. I felt the energy. Felt the finish habits.”

He said there is the challenge of not having played for five weeks, starting a week of workouts, taking days off for Christmas, and then getting into specific bowl week workouts. But he added that while there is the fun and the rewards, it does not erase the work that goes into winning. “We’re sitting in a room this morning at the Westin in downtown Charlotte, in a place that nobody thought we could be 11 months ago. We built a process, and everybody needs to buy into it,” he said.

Stepping Up

There are plenty of players farther down the regular-season depth chart who will get extra looks this week. Running back Demond Claiborne is on his way to training for the NFL workouts ahead. Receivers Chris Barnes and Micah Mayes will be entering the transfer portal when it opens on Friday, as will defensive lineman Mateen Ibirogba. “Whether you’re going to the NFL, or you’re a freshman guy, or you’re a guy that’s trying to be a backup to a starter, growth is required.” He said the guideline is what each player did as an individual with the 13 extra practices they have had over the last three weeks.

Dickert said the Wake offense works from the inside out. Accordingly, he is encouraged that the offensive line will be there intact for Friday’s game. As for the other positions, “We’ve had 13 days to narrow in on their role and their responsibility.”

And then there is the quarterback position, where one is playing in his last college football game, while the other is trying to make an impression to stake a claim for next year. Dickert said he will make in-game decisions on the playing time of veteran Robby Ashford and Deshawn Purdie. “We’re going to play series to series. My obligation is to win this bowl game, and we’re approaching it that way.”

Coaches Settling In

And there is the matter of getting the coach in game-ready status. “In five weeks, coaches get restless and start drawing up a bunch of s**t against the wall and see what sticks,” he said with a laugh when it was suggested he might go deeper into the playbook than he would in a conference game. “So there is always that, and having fun and executing some of those types of plays and moments,” he continued. “But I will say it again. There’s only three other teams that have nine-plus wins in Wake Forest history. What a cool opportunity for this team.”

That’s not to say some of the fun of the week does not come into play for the coach himself. “We’re going to get in a race car here in a little bit at the motor speedway. [I’m] really jacked up and excited about that to be honest,” he said. “I think my wife’s a little nervous.”