Redshirt junior Brendan Cross appeared to have separated himself as the leading the candidate to be Price's backup. However, a virus kept him out for most of the first week of pre-season practice, giving more reps to redshirt freshman Kevin Sousa and redshirt sophomore Patrick Thompson. "Kevin's looked really good in some of our team situations and Patrick's looked really good in our skill situations," Elrod said. "It's a battle for the number two spot. I think that's good. Competition sometimes forces guys to take it to another level." Grobe added coming out of spring Cross was much closer to being a guy Wake could win with. "If he [Cross] makes those same improvements this August I feel pretty comfortable," Grobe said. "I felt much, much better about Brendan this spring."