Wake Forest football finished the 2022 season with a solid 8-5 record. The Demon Deacons only lost to Clemson, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, and Duke. Interestingly, all of those games except for Louisville came down to single digits. As for wins, the highlight of Wake Forest’s season was a 31-21 win over Florida State at the beginning of October. In this post, specifically, we’ll be making our 2023 Wake Forest football predictions in our season preview.
DraftKings Sportsbook the Wake Forest win total at 6.5 with the under juiced to -120. Wake Forest also sits at +8000 to win the ACC, which ranks just ahead of Boston College, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Virginia. With that said, let’s dive into Wake Forest’s season preview.
2023 Wake Forest Football Predictions & Season Preview
2023 Wake Forest Football Season Preview: Coaching Staff
In place since 2014, Dave Clawson will return for another season as Wake Forest’s head coach. Clawson has a 59-53 record with Wake Forest, but he has now brought the team to seven straight bowl games after going 3-9 in his first two seasons. Traditionally a difficult place to win, Clawson has done an excellent job with this program.
On offense, he retains long time offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero, who also took over in 2014. These two go back all the way to the Bowling Green days. On defense, Clawson hired Brad Lambert ahead of 2022, making this his second season on the job. Overall, this coaching staff has solid continuity heading into 2023.
2023 Wake Forest Football Season Preview: Offense
Quarterback
At quarterback, Wake Forest lost Sam Hartman to Notre Dame this offseason, leaving Mitch Griffis and Michael Kern as the two quarterbacks with any sort of experience on the roster. Griffis now has 56 career attempts, 404 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception in his career. Griffis initially ed Wake Forest as a three-star dual threat recruit and the 605th ranked player in the 2020 recruiting class. So far in college, he has 17 rush attempts and 12 rushing yards. It appears he may have a little more mobility than what he has displayed so far.
Behind him, Kern has 42 career attempts, for 376 yards, and one score. Kern initially came to Wake Forest as a three-star recruit in 2019, but he fell behind Griffis on the depth chart last season. The favorite for third string duties looks like Santino Marucci, who initially ed the program as a three-star recruit in 2021. Ultimately, this quarterback room lost one of the top quarterbacks in the country with Hartman’s departure. It would be almost impossible for this unit to live up to the results from the Hartman era.
Running Back
At running back, Wake Forest uses a notorious ‘running back by committee’ approach in their slow mesh concept. They lost their second and third leading rushers Christian Turner and Quinton Cooley, but they return their top back in Justice Ellison.
Last season, Ellison rushed 170 times for 699 yards and six scores, while catching six es for another 62 yards. Wake Forest notoriously does not throw to their running backs with much frequency. Ellison stands 5-10, 208 pounds and averaged 3.05 yards after and forced a missed tackle on 22.4% of his attempts.
With Turner and Cooley out of the picture, Demond Claiborne and Will Towns should take on a larger role. Claiborne rushed 14 times for 57 yards last year, while Towns checked in for 12 carries and 71 yards. Claiborne initially came to Wake Forest as a four-star recruit from 2022. He was the 149th ranked prospect in the country. Towns came to Wake Forest as a three-star recruit in 2021. Ultimately, Turner and Cooley weren’t difference makers in last year’s offense, which could set up this backfield for a similar season in 2023.
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