Wake Forest Releases 2016 Depth Chart

The Wake Forest football program released the initial depth chart of the 2016 season on Friday afternoon. The Deacs have finished fall camp, and are now transitioning from camp work to game week preparation. Wake Forest begins its 2016 in just six days when they host the Tulane Green Wave. Let’s look and see if there were any major surprises on the depth chart.

Offense

I didn’t notice many major surprises on the offensive side of the ball. The primary position battles were at quarterback and running back, and Clawson announced the result of those battles earlier in the week. Honestly the biggest takeaway for me on this depth chart is the “or” next to Scotty Washington’s name. Coretz Lewis had a very good redshirt freshman campaign, and finished with 47 receptions for 611 yards and 4 touchdowns. If the staff thinks that Washington is good enough to earn an “or” next to his name on the depth chart, then wide receiver might be even stronger than we though.

Defense

I didn’t notice any major surprises on this side either. It sticks out to me a little bit that Wendell Dunn is starting over Chris Calhoun. Calhoun is clearly the superior pass rusher, but Dunn has an advantage at stopping the run. It’s also encouraging to see Nate Mays listed on the depth chart, as that shows that the redshirt freshman should receive a reasonable amount of playing time this season. Jessie Bates beat out Cameron Glenn for the starting safety role, but expect the trio of Bates, Glenn, and Janvion to rotate a lot, with true freshman Traveon Redd providing some relief.

Special Teams

Mike Weaver won the kickoff job. Ideally Adam Centers would have won that role and saved Weaver’s leg throughout the season, so this position will be one to monitor as the season progresses. Will Weaver’s leg wear down as we head to critical late season matchups against UVA, Syracuse, and Boston College? I hope not.

Are you all surprised by anything that you see? Let us know in the comments section below.