Breaking Down new Wake Forest DT Kevin Pointer

Depth, depth, and even more depth.

After the departure of Redshirt Freshman Malik Puryear to the transfer portal, the immediate outlook of the defensive tackle room still was rosy, however when you took a step back the view wasn’t so pretty.

At the end of the 2022 season, Sulaiman Kamara, Miles Fox, Tyler Williams, and Dion Bergan will all have exhausted their eligibility, leaving the team with 4 DTs currently on the roster and then newcomers. With the injury luck Wake has had over the past ever, keeping that depth is important, and apparently was important enough for Dave Cohen to prioritize bringing someone in right now, vs using it on an incoming freshman.

But just what is Wake getting in the RS Fr from Louisiana-Monroe?

Run Stopper

Pointer shows a very good ability to do, well what he’s asked to. The numbers are the gaudiest for him: 38 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 2 QB hurries last season. However, as a DT, you’re not asked every play to penetrate and get to the football. A lot of the time their job is solely to just hold the point of attack and not get pushed off. When he’s assigned to push forward, he does a really good job of using his hands to shed blocks and get to the football. When asked to clog, he just doesn’t move no matter how hard the guard or center want him to.

Sure Tackler

I’m aware that at times last year, tackling was.. an issue. Whether it was not being able to practice due to COVID, shuffling assignments around to protect certain groups which put others in impossible situations or just genuine bad tackling, there were issues. According to PFF, Pointer only missed 7.3%(or 4 out of 41) of his tackling attempts. The only other returning players who were sub 10% are JaCorey Johns and Chase Jones.

Deceptive Speed

My favorite description in all of football returns! In all seriousness, Pointer’s motor and speed at that size is impressive. On plays that break down, while he’s not winning a foot race against a 4.4 guy, it bodes well for when he plays on a team that gets a lot of pressure, that he’s fast and athletic enough to make a play in the backfield.

Overall

As a whole, I don’t see much downside at all. Wake is left with 3 spots left for transfers for the 2021 season and while the numbers are still currently slim for 2022, experience is mostly going to win out when looking at a transfer versus a high schooler, unfortunately. He has almost 400 snaps to his name from last year, it’ll create competition, even though it’s not bringing in a bonafide starter, it’s not as if the DT needed a star given all the bodies there.