Moore, Marion, Jarvis: Hoping to Stick in the NFL

Quick update today on the NFL whereabouts of some of our favorite Deacs:

Kenny Moore, 5th round draft pick of the Detroit Lions, has been participating in rookie minicamp and was interviewed by a Michigan newspaper here. Looks like Kenny knows his place for now.

The W-SJ reports Kevin Marion has been signed as and undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers and will be attending camp this weekend, hoping to latch on as a kick returner.

Finally, thejetsblog.com reports long snapper Nick Jarvis is one of two snappers who has been invited to New York Jets rookie camp, with one of them likely to be invited back for the summer.

Exams

Exams are starting up here on campus and, as is probably not surprising, my schedule is pretty swamped. I apologize for not being able to post more than I will over the next week. If anything big happens I'll make sure to get something up about it, but other than that things will be slow.

Don't want to worry about checking back every day? Subscribe to the RSS feed or email updates so that you'll always know when something happens.

To those of you joining me in taking exams, best of luck!

John Tereshinski Signs with San Diego

Although he didn't get drafted, tight end John Tereshinski signed a free agent contract with the San Diego Chargers today.

Tereshinki had a great career as a TE here at Wake, averaging 11.6 yards per catch over his career on 60 catches.

I had heard San Diego was interested in him and it's good to see they followed through. He certainly won't be able to complain about the weather!

Green Bay Interview with Jeremy Thompson

A Green Bay newspaper/blog got a hold of Jeremy this afternoon and had a conversation with him, which you can read here.

With his brother in Green Bay already that sounds like a pretty good fit. Hopefully it will work well for him.

Steve Justice to the Colts

It took longer than I expected, but with the 35th pick in the sixth round and the 201st pick overall, the Indianapolis Colts drafted Steve Justice.

I'm not sure why he fell this far. ESPN had him ranked as the 2nd best center in the draft, yet four other centers were drafted ahead of him. I suppose it doesn't really matter at this point, and hopefully Indianapolis will be a good fit for Justice.

I think those will be the only Demon Deacons taken in the draft. Micah Andrews and long snapper Nick Jarvis may be undrafted free agent signees, but other than that I think we've seen what we're going to see.

Old Gold & Blog wishes all these guys the best in the NFL (even if may end up having to root against them at times).

Kenny Moore to the Lions

With the first pick of the fifth round the Detroit Lions selected WR Kenny Moore.

This is really awesome news for Kenny, as this was much higher than projected for him. There is the issue of the Lions having about 20 wide receivers already on their roster, but I don't think he's going to be complaining too much. He'll just have to work hard and I know he's that kind of guy.

Big congrats to Kenny!

Now about Steve Justice...

Jeremy Thompson: First Demon Deacon Drafted

"With the 103rd pick of the 2008 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers select....Jeremy Thompson, Defensive End, Wake Forest."

So there it is. After three rounds of anticipation (not that the first two were particularly suspenseful) the first Wake player has been taken as the third pick of the fourth round.

I'll spare you all the details about him - as Wake fans we know what an asset he was and I know everyone wishes him the best in the NFL.

The Packers website has yet to say anything about Thompson, and the they apparently have yet to talk to the press there today (they're showing the press conferences live on the website). I'll keep my eye on that and let you know of something happens.

Obviously center Steve Justice should be the next player taken, and I'm guessing it will be later in this round or maybe in the 5th.

Also, for what it's worth, I'm not too impressed with ESPN for barely mentioning Jeremy. Apparently NFLN did a little bit better, but come on ESPN.

Also... I have no idea what's happening with Steve Justice. At worst he was the second best Center in the draft, and now three others have been drafted, including two in this fourth round. I'm not worried about him getting drafted, I just can't believe teams are reaching past him.

Update - Packers Front Office on Jeremy Thompson:
"He's got good quickness, he's a night athlete. He's smooth and fluid, he can drop his weight and make good hits. Good length, really good arm length."

"They asked him to do a lot of things at Wake Forest. He drops into coverage, he plays the run really well, he's a pass rusher. They didn't let him pin his ears back like at a lot of schools and just go go go. But he's a great kid, really smart, loves football, loves the weight room."

"Mostly right end, but he would flip on occasion if needed because of an injury."

"When you see his frame - he's kind of a workout freak - he loves the weight room and he keeps his body fat pretty low. He eventually could grow into a 275/280 pound guy. I think he was 264 at his workout so he has a chance to get bigger without losing his ability."

"The one thing I really liked about him was that he stays on his feet. He's a really good athlete, he doesn't get knocked down. He's not a 300 pound set the point of attack guy, but he uses he length, he drops his weight, stays on his feet, keeps things alive that some guys can't do. He's got enough speed and range and chase when the ball's running away from him that he'll make plays on the backside, too."

"I'll be interested to see when he gets the chance to just pin his ears back more. At Wake forest I thought they asked him to do a lot of things, read and react type stuff rather than just set him out in a wide stance and let him come off the corner. I'll be excited to see that and see how he develops in camp with that. Getting more opportunities that way. His sack production I don't think was great and I think that has a lot to do with it."

"When you watch him as an athlete you don't see an limitations (from the ACL injury). You talk to the trainers and the coaches and stuff but they didn't have any problem. He loves the weight room, he's really conscientious about rehab and all that kind of stuff, and then you watch him move around and you don't see any limitations."

New Wake Forest Academic Logo Leaks

There you have it. The new logo for the academic side of Wake Forest, scheduled to be released next Wednesday, April 30, was found today on the official Wake Forest website somewhat hidden (but not very well) in documents for next year's freshmen.

A couple of important things to mention:

1. This logo is not in any way affiliated with the branding of the athletics side of Wake Forest. It is for the academic side of things, replacing the logo that featured the university's name between black and gold bars.
2. I don't take credit for being the one to find this logo. Members of the DeaconSports message board community (WakeGal was first I believe) found the logo today by clicking on the 2008-2009 Undergraduate Bulletin link on this page of the school's website. I have also heard that it was on display today at the "All Access" event in Charlotte with President Hatch, Jim Grobe, Dino Gaudio, and new Calloway Dean Steve Reinemund.
   

This morning President Hatch sent an email out to the entire campus notifying us of the presentation being made on April 30. He called this the "Visual Identity Project," and said that "this project will strengthen the implementation of our strategic plan and includes a new logo as well as specific standards that will help all of us in developing printed and electronic communications. We are very enthusiastic about how this will help all of us communicate the many strengths of Wake Forest."

Although many on the message boards have been critical of the new design, I personally don't have a problem with it. I think it is a fine upgrade to the previous logo. I suppose it may evoke thoughts of the Volkswagen logo and some have said that finding an "F" in the shield is a bit difficult, but all in all I don't have any real problem with it.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure they were looking for it to look like a "WF." Some had said it looks like some of the arches on campus, others that it looks like trees, etc. "WF" may be the first thing people think of, but there may be more to it. I'm interested to hear what Hatch has to say about it next week.

I'd be interested to hear from those who do have a problem with it (as well as those who don't) about what really bothers them about it. When I imagine someone not affiliated with Wake Forest seeing this logo I do not imagine them thinking it looks bad in any way.

That's just one man's opinion. I'd love to hear what others think, so leave a comment below.

Skip Prosser 3 on 3 Classic: An Immediete Success

Saturday afternoon, while many Wake Forest fans were on the practice fields watching the spring football game, another group of Deacons were busy honoring Skip Prosser’s legacy by playing a basketball tournament on the Collins Court blacktop.

The first ever Skip Prosser 3 on 3 Classic was the culmination of many weeks of hard work by a dedicated group of students. “It started with the on-campus organization called L.E.A.D.” said one of the event’s organizers, Matt Six. “It’s for freshman and sophomores and it basically teaches you leadership traits, and in the process you put together this proposal; some way to improve campus.”

“We identified the problem that Skip was not adequately honored and we wanted to build his legacy. Yes, he was honored at the Fairfield basketball game and has been honored with a couple of awards here and there, but we really wanted an on-campus event to honor his legacy because he really was such a unique individual in the Wake Forest community.”

Wake’s director of basketball operations Walt Corbean, who played under Prosser at Xavier, opened the afternoon by saying a few words about Skip. Shortly thereafter the 27 participating teams got down to the business of playing basketball.

This year’s event raised about $500, which will be donated to the American Heat Association in memory of Coach Prosser.

The Skip Prosser Classic does not expect to be a one-and-done event. “The event has been very successful; we’ve got 27 teams,” said Six. “We hope to keep on expanding year after year. The goal is to get as many participants out here as possible. We’ve got a couple of local teams, teams from the law school and the MBA program. We want to get the whole community involved.”

The leadership of this project deserves a lot of credit for getting this event organized and making it a success. I hope to see it continue to thrive for years to come.

2008 Spring Game: A Solid End To a Successful Spring

Approximately 4,100 of the Wake Forest faithful came out to the practice fields today for the annual spring football game. Somewhat surprisingly, they were treated to an offensive performance unlike any other this spring.

The scrimmage started with the first team offense against the second defense. Skinner and the offense threw the ball a lot today, a departure from the focus of last weekend’s scrimmage. On the first drive Skinner completed a pass of about 30 yards to Chip Brinkman and then threaded the needle to Mike Rinfrette who made a great catch before being tackled on the 1 yard line. The drive was capped by a one yard touchdown run from Josh Adams.

On the next series between the second offense and first defense the offense continued to control the game, with the offensive line giving Brett Hodges enough time to complete several good passes to guys like Andrew Wright and J.T. Dixon. CJ Washington had a solid drive, including a good run down to the goal line before punching it in two plays later.

In the second series for the first string offense they tried some different formations, including one that had both Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass in the backfield as well as formations that split fullback Mike Rinfrette out to a tight end-like position. Chip Brinkman scored the offense’s third consecutive touchdown on a 13 yard end around.

On the day Riley Skinner completed 15 of 18 pass attempts for 245 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Brett Hodges was effective as well, completing 13 of 17 attempts for 181 yards and a TD.

Chip Brinkman and tight end Ben Wooster had big days catching the ball; Brinkman had 4 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown, while Wooster had 5 catches for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. Y’lou had 5 catches for 46 yards and D.J. Boldin had 3 for 46.

The Deacs didn’t run the ball as much today; no running back had more than 5 carries and none gained more than 25 yards. The 25 yards belonged to Pendergrass on 3 carries, while Josh Adams, C.J. Washington, and Chip Brinkman all scored running TDs.

How did coach feel about the offensive performance?

“We got a little bit better player out of our interior,” said Coach Jim Grobe, “but certainly our skill guys made some plays – Ben and Mike and the tight ends all did some nice stuff today. It was just a good day offensively.”

Although that comment makes it sound like Coach is damning the offensive line with faint praise, they definitely showed continued improvement today and for the most part did a decent job keeping the defense off of the quarterbacks. That kind of improvement had been seen with the first string for the last week or so, but today I also noticed the second line doing a better job as well.

“Our offensive line is getting comfortable enough to where we don’t panic,” said left guard Russel Nenon. “When everyone starts blitzing we just pick it all up we just let Riley and Chip and all them do there thing.”

“The articles on the internet aren’t as harsh as they once were, so that’s a good sign obviously,” concluded Nenon, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

There’s still one glaring hole for the Demon Deacons. After four weeks of practice they still haven’t been able to shore up the issues at long snapper. In some brief work with the punting team today almost half of the snaps weren’t on target.

“We’re still going to be looking (for a long snapper),” said Grobe “It was a little bit silly today to have the punt team out there without a punt return team on the field but I really wanted our guys to snap the ball with the crowd around them. I wanted them to go out there and have a bunch of people’s eyes on them and it was obvious today watching it that we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

“There’s nothing more glaring than that. You can be a pretty good football team but then you have two or three bad exchanges in the punt game and you’re not going to win many games. Of all the areas we’ve got right now that’s the most wide open.”

Overall Grobe was satisfied with the scrimmage. “I thought they had fun. I though it was real competitive. I liked seeing the offense make some plays. Defensively we didn’t play the ones very much; we had a lot of mix on that side. But more than anything else I don’t think we read too much in to our last scrimmage. We try to let everybody play and the thing that was pretty obvious was that our guys had some fun.”

I agree with Coach about the scrimmage, but I don’t agree with him about having the spring game at the practice facility. “I like the environment,” said Grobe. “I like being over at the practice field letting the fans be at ground level with our players. It’s a little more up close and personal and I think that’s one thing that attracts some of the people out here. They get a chance to be a little closer to our team.”

Although I understand where he’s coming from, I don’t like that it’s much harder for people to really see what’s happening on that field. I’m sure some fans like being able to have their kids run around and things like that, but for people who really want to see the football it isn’t really a great environment for that many people.. It wouldn’t be too difficult to let everyone down onto the field at BB&T afterwards if that’s what they wanted to do. I hope they move it back there next year but Coach makes it sound like he doesn’t want to do that.

Nonetheless, the day was still a success and I think Deacon fans will be in for a special season.