Got to talk with coach Clawson off and on for over an hour along with a few other media members. Here is a synopsis of what he had to say
On the QB Situation: Kendall Hinton will be the starter going into camp with John Wofford as the 2 and Jamie Newman as the three. Clawson said he wants to have one QB who can play the entire season and is tired of having Hinton and Wofford get hurt. He doesn't want a 2-QB system and said it is important they get Newman ready based on history and the need for three QBs, but ideally either Hinton or Wofford will win the job outright in fall camp.
On the defensive switch: Said that the new DC Sawvel kept a big chunk of what Elko ran and add some pieces and removed a few things he didn't think worked well. They will use a mix of 4-2-5 and 4-3 as the base defense and do some different things on 3rd downs.
On offensive progress He said they were very conservative for two years because of the lack of playmakers on offense and the D was the only way to win games. Said those days are gone and he expects to be able to score 30+ points and win a game now. Said the offense now features a lot of 3rd and 4th year guys in the system and that makes the difference on how much he trusts them to take shots and make big plays and be competitive. He said he is done holding back the offense because they have playmakers at multiple positions now.
On Sage Surratt: He and Sage would both prefer he redshirt, but if he can pickup the offense he is probably too dynamic to sit on the bench. Expects he has a good chance to play this year if he can grasp what to do because his hands and skills are a big improvement at WR.
On playing App State on the road Clawson talked about regional rivalries and his desire to play in games the fans can go to instead of just playing random games in Logan, Utah for example. Said they need to embrace some of these games, though he wishes App was coming off a 2-9 season instead of a good year.
On his recruiting philosophy: Clawson said they have one of the lowest attrition rates in the nation in the P5 and highest APR and graduation rates. He said they changed how they recruited to make sure they were kids who wanted to be at Wake long term versus kids who just wanted a P5 offer.
On Kick/Punt Returners: Clawson said he expects that Greg Dortch will be the guy and he has a chance to win both jobs outright. He has a knack for making the first guy miss and is very good at judging punts.
On the number of support staff: Clawson said if he were Dabo and had those resources he would have a ton of support staff, but most schools aren't like that and they have camps on scholarships, assistant coaches and graduate assistants so they need caps on support staff members.
On the early signing period: He is very against it, talked about how kids can now take OVs for 8 months out of the year and yet the HC can't even go see a kid until December or January AFTER they may have signed. He had a lot of questions about how it will work with coordinators leaving of head coaches and that the calendar is all screwed up. He said every ACC coach opposed the new rules.
On a breakout player on offense and defense that fans don't know: He said that Arkeem Byrd or Greg Dortch will be the offensive breakout guy and that Carlos Basham will be the breakout guy on DL. Said that Basham reminds him of a young Duke Ejiofor in his third year.
Clawson on 9-game ACC schedule: Said that it is unfair to teams like Clemson, GT and FSU that have rival games out of conference, he prefers a pod system where they could have a Carolina pod. Said that it sucks that Dunn has never played at Miami and kids will have never played at UNC or VaTech or UVA.
On the starting offensive line: Right now it is Justin Herron is LT, Phil Haynes is LG, Ryan Anderson is the center, the competition is 3 for 2 spots on the right side with Patrick Osterhage, Jake Benzinger and Nathan Gilliam for RG/RT and A'Lique Terry is probably the next guy up, so that is the top 7. Terry played out of injuries last year a lot. Je'Vointe' Nash to develop and the rest of the R-Fr group Tyler Watson and Taleni Suhren. Said the backups are all basically R-Fr.
On the starting D experience level: Jessie Bates III at safety, Cameron Glenn at safety, Cedric Jiles now at CB as a SR, LB Grant Dawson a senior, Jaboree Williams a senior and Demetrius Kemp a fourth year JR, Zeek Rodney at DT who is a fourth year, Wendell is a fifth year senior, Duke Ejiofor who is a fifth year senior and Willie Yarbury is a fourth year junior. The defense at Wake inherited great players and they had a great plan and they always had JR and SR starters and the offense was just nothing, now playing the JRs and SRs who have played a ton of football, just may be the first year they see the field a ton more.
On the QB Situation: Kendall Hinton will be the starter going into camp with John Wofford as the 2 and Jamie Newman as the three. Clawson said he wants to have one QB who can play the entire season and is tired of having Hinton and Wofford get hurt. He doesn't want a 2-QB system and said it is important they get Newman ready based on history and the need for three QBs, but ideally either Hinton or Wofford will win the job outright in fall camp.
On the defensive switch: Said that the new DC Sawvel kept a big chunk of what Elko ran and add some pieces and removed a few things he didn't think worked well. They will use a mix of 4-2-5 and 4-3 as the base defense and do some different things on 3rd downs.
On offensive progress He said they were very conservative for two years because of the lack of playmakers on offense and the D was the only way to win games. Said those days are gone and he expects to be able to score 30+ points and win a game now. Said the offense now features a lot of 3rd and 4th year guys in the system and that makes the difference on how much he trusts them to take shots and make big plays and be competitive. He said he is done holding back the offense because they have playmakers at multiple positions now.
On Sage Surratt: He and Sage would both prefer he redshirt, but if he can pickup the offense he is probably too dynamic to sit on the bench. Expects he has a good chance to play this year if he can grasp what to do because his hands and skills are a big improvement at WR.
On playing App State on the road Clawson talked about regional rivalries and his desire to play in games the fans can go to instead of just playing random games in Logan, Utah for example. Said they need to embrace some of these games, though he wishes App was coming off a 2-9 season instead of a good year.
On his recruiting philosophy: Clawson said they have one of the lowest attrition rates in the nation in the P5 and highest APR and graduation rates. He said they changed how they recruited to make sure they were kids who wanted to be at Wake long term versus kids who just wanted a P5 offer.
On Kick/Punt Returners: Clawson said he expects that Greg Dortch will be the guy and he has a chance to win both jobs outright. He has a knack for making the first guy miss and is very good at judging punts.
On the number of support staff: Clawson said if he were Dabo and had those resources he would have a ton of support staff, but most schools aren't like that and they have camps on scholarships, assistant coaches and graduate assistants so they need caps on support staff members.
On the early signing period: He is very against it, talked about how kids can now take OVs for 8 months out of the year and yet the HC can't even go see a kid until December or January AFTER they may have signed. He had a lot of questions about how it will work with coordinators leaving of head coaches and that the calendar is all screwed up. He said every ACC coach opposed the new rules.
On a breakout player on offense and defense that fans don't know: He said that Arkeem Byrd or Greg Dortch will be the offensive breakout guy and that Carlos Basham will be the breakout guy on DL. Said that Basham reminds him of a young Duke Ejiofor in his third year.
Clawson on 9-game ACC schedule: Said that it is unfair to teams like Clemson, GT and FSU that have rival games out of conference, he prefers a pod system where they could have a Carolina pod. Said that it sucks that Dunn has never played at Miami and kids will have never played at UNC or VaTech or UVA.
On the starting offensive line: Right now it is Justin Herron is LT, Phil Haynes is LG, Ryan Anderson is the center, the competition is 3 for 2 spots on the right side with Patrick Osterhage, Jake Benzinger and Nathan Gilliam for RG/RT and A'Lique Terry is probably the next guy up, so that is the top 7. Terry played out of injuries last year a lot. Je'Vointe' Nash to develop and the rest of the R-Fr group Tyler Watson and Taleni Suhren. Said the backups are all basically R-Fr.
On the starting D experience level: Jessie Bates III at safety, Cameron Glenn at safety, Cedric Jiles now at CB as a SR, LB Grant Dawson a senior, Jaboree Williams a senior and Demetrius Kemp a fourth year JR, Zeek Rodney at DT who is a fourth year, Wendell is a fifth year senior, Duke Ejiofor who is a fifth year senior and Willie Yarbury is a fourth year junior. The defense at Wake inherited great players and they had a great plan and they always had JR and SR starters and the offense was just nothing, now playing the JRs and SRs who have played a ton of football, just may be the first year they see the field a ton more.
