A Look Back
Wake Forest finished the 2005 season 4-7 overall and tied for fourth in the Atlantic Division with a 3-5 league mark … it’s the fourth time in five years under head coach Jim Grobe that the Demon Deacons have reached three wins in conference play … led the league in rushing offense at 197.5 yards per game - marking the fourth time in the last five years the Deacs have led the league in that category ... paced the ACC in net punting with an average of 41.4 yards a punt … registered more than 100 yards rushing in 10 of 11 games in 2005 including two games of 400+ yards on the ground.
Who’s Gone
The Demon Deacons lose just seven starters from a year ago (five offense, one defense, one specialist) including QB Cory Randolph, RB Chris Barclay and P Ryan Plackemeier … Barclay, a unanimous first team All-ACC selection, became the fourth Wake Forest player to earn conference Player of the Year accolades after leading the league in rushing yards per game at 112.7 ... Plackemeier became Wake’s first consensus first team All-American in 29 years leading the nation in punting average (47.2) and net punting (41.4).
Senior Offensive Tackle
Steve Vallos
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A Look Ahead
Wake Forest returns a league-high 18 starters - including 10 on defense - six of which started at least nine games a year ago, including S Patrick Ghee, DE Matt Robinson and CB Alphonso Smith, who started all 11 games in 2005 … the team’s top eight tacklers all return in 2006 with LB Jon Abbate leading the way with 76 tackles, six tackles for loss and a pair of sacks last year … on the offensive side, seven starters return, including four offensive linemen who combined for 83 career starts … among those starters is senior Steve Vallos who has made 34 consecutive starts on the offensive line for the Demon Deacons.
Numbers
5 - After leading Wake Forest in tackles over the last two seasons, LB Jon Abbate will look to become just the fifth player in Deacon history to lead the team in tackles three times during his playing career.
6.1 - The Deacs ranked third in the ACC and 20th nationally a season ago in punt return yardage defense, allowing an average of 6.1 yards per punt return.
14 - Jim Grobe needs one more league win to pick up his 14th career ACC victory…the win would equal the most in Demon Deacon history, a record currently held by Bill Dooley, who coached from 1987-92.
18 - In the five seasons under head coach Jim Grobe, Wake Forest has scored 18 defensive or special team touchdowns, including three interception returns in 2005 – two by Josh Gattis and one by Alphonso Smith.
62.1 - Appearing in 10 games last season for Wake Forest, TB Micah Andrews posted career highs in rushing attempts (110) and rushing yards (621) en route to ranking seventh in the ACC at 62.1 yards per game … among rushers averaging at least 40 yards per game, Andrews was second in the league, averaging 5.6 yards per carry.
86 - PK Sam Swank connected on 19-of-24 field goal attempts to finish third in the ACC in field goals per game (1.73) and field goal percentage (.792) and fourth in scoring with 86 points … the 86 points tied Swank for the fifth-most scored by a freshman in ACC annals.
126 - Starting FS Josh Gattis returns to the Deacon lineup after posting career-highs in interceptions (five) and interception return yardage (126) last year.
In December 2000, Jim Grobe was hired to take over a Wake Forest football program long regarded as an afterthought in the ACC. Now, in only his sixth season, football observers have already recognized Grobe’s efforts in transforming Wake Forest as one of the rising programs, not just in the ACC, but on a regional and national basis. Grobe is already in the company of Wake Forest’s most successful football coaches, including Bill Dooley, Al Groh and John Mackovic. In 2006, Grobe will likely become the school’s second-most victorious coach in history. Even as the ACC has become arguably the nation’s best football conference, Wake Forest has become even more competitive and successful. Grobe has won 13 games against conference rivals. Only Bill Dooley won more ACC games as Wake Forest’s head coach, winning 14 games in six years. That is particularly impressive given the recent ACC expansion that introduced three nationally-prominent programs to the league. The levels of excitement and expectation surrounding Demon Deacon football have reached unprecedented heights. That is a tribute to Grobe and his staff who believe the best is yet to come. But the tide has already been turning. In the past five years under Grobe, the Deacons have defeated seven of nine ACC pre-expansion rivals, plus opponents from the Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA and Pac-10 (Oregon). Grobe owns a 26-32 record after five years at Wake Forest, 59-65-1 in 11 overall seasons as a head coach. Before Grobe arrived at WFU, the Deacons went a combined 26-63 in eight previous seasons. He came to Wake Forest after turning a struggling Ohio University program into a Mid-American Conference contender. In the 10 seasons before Grobe’s arrival in Athens, the Bobcats won 17 games. In the six years under Grobe, they won 33 and finished with winning records in the Mid-American Conference five straight seasons. A native of Huntington, W. Va., Grobe earned his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in 1975 and 1978 from Virginia where he was a two-year starter for the Cavaliers. Grobe and his wife, Holly, have two sons, Matt and Ben.
