Associated Press
The spring football notebook …
WINSTON-SALEM ó Things looked better for former West Rowan star Tristan Dorty and the Wake Forest defense in Saturdayís spring game at BB&T Stadium.
Defensively, the Deacons ó ranked 11th in the ACC last season ó held the offense to three or fewer plays on half of the possessions, and had six different players record sacks. Dorty, who has suffered injuries during his career, is hoping this senior will be his best.
Offensively, running back Josh Harris knows the Demon Deacons have a lot to prove after suffering their worst finish in 10 years.
Harris showed Saturday why heís expected to be a key player in a turnaround, rushing for 85 yards and the only touchdown during Wake Forestís spring scrimmage.
Harris, a redshirt sophomore who led the Demon Deacons with 720 rushing yards and 7 TDs last season, found a hole and bounced outside for a 45-yard scoring run midway through the scrimmage. Instead of a traditional spring game, Wake Forest (3-9, 1-7 ACC) went with a controlled scrimmage and primarily worked the offense and defense, with very little special teams work.
ěI liked our physical play,î said Demon Deacons head coach Jim Grobe. ěOur guys donít seem to be shy at all about contact, which was a problem last year. Both sides of the ball had an attitude, which I liked to see.î
Sophomore quarterback Tanner Price, who started nine games at quarterback for the Deacons last season and is this yearís projected starter, went 7-of-14 for 49 yards.
ěI thought he had four or five nice throws today that we didnít do anything with,î Grobe said. ěThatís going to be a big thing for us ó weíve got a guy who can get you the football, but weíve got to catch it and do something with it.î
Redshirt junior Ted Stachitas, who started three games in 2010 before going out with an injury, was 8-of-11 for 73 yards. He led Wake Forest on its deepest drive Saturday, moving the ball to his opponentís 10-yard line before the drive stalled.
FLORIDA STATE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ó Without three offensive linemen who are projected as starters in the fall, Florida State’s offense often struggled to sustain drives.
So it was natural that the defenses made some of the biggest plays.
Greg Reid returned an interception for a touchdown and forced a fourth-quarter fumble that led to a Dustin Hopkins 33-yard field goal with 2:48 left in the game as the Garnet defeated the Gold 19-17 in FSU’s spring football game on Saturday.
AUBURN
AUBURN, Ala. ó Auburn coach Gene Chizik said fans shouldn’t read too much into the final score of the defending national champions’ spring game.
He might have been talking about the game itself, too.
The Tigers’ A-Day scrimmage Saturday before an announced crowd of 53,209 featured plenty of new faces, only one touchdown and a quarterback competition that will apparently continue into fall camp. It didn’t feature many big plays or traditional TDs.
ALABAMA
USCALOOSA, Ala. ó Alabama’s football team may have been split into Crimson and White sides for the annual spring game, but it was the players in black who received the most attention Saturday.
In addition to the two quarterbacks competing for the starting job, which will continue into the summer and fall, safety Mark Barron had two fumble recoveries including one for 96 yards for a touchdown even though he couldn’t hit anyone while recovering from a torn pectoral muscle. All three wore black, non-contact jerseys.
Nevertheless, the Crimson team, which had the first-team offense, pulled out a 14-10 A-Day game victory in front of 92,310 fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium as Alabama concluded spring practice.