Wake Forest HC Dave Clawson Interview

MUSIC PLAYING back room, drawing a ton of attention this offseason, but I actually want to start with your wide receivers, Dave, because year after year you guys have churned out great guys, great receivers, and this year it's going to be no different. Jamal Banks, Donovan Green and company. However, the man you've given so much credit to over the years for the development of these receivers, Kevin Higgins, he's transitioned to an off-field position.

Just how central has the receiver talent been to your success on offense, and given you haven't had so much turnover on your offensive staff, how important was the hire of all the professor? Well, Josh, that's a there's a lot of questions in one question. I haven't talked to you in a while. I'm super excited to talk to you.

Yeah, I'm sorry about that. So well, first off, I mean, our wide receivers here have consistently played at a high level, really the last seven years. I mean, the amount of thousand yard receivers we've had, I think we've had eight of them in like the past seven years.

The amount of all ECC players, the number of those players that are still active in the NFL from Greg Dortz to Kendall Hinton to Scotty Washington and Alex Bachman. And it looks like a Torian Perry is going to get drafted. And, you know, Kevin Higgins is, you know, to me, one of the best coaches I've ever worked with. Kevin and I go way back.

I worked for him back in 1994 at Lehigh University that he was the head coach. So Kevin's done a unbelievable job of recruiting, mentoring, developing our wide receiver room. But Kevin is going to step into another role. He's going to be our general manager and he'll contribute a lot of other ways.

And I think more than anything, Josh, because we've had really no turnover on our offensive staff, you know, it was just finding somebody that fit Wake Forest, our staff chemistry, our culture. And we're very excited about Audie Confessor. I coached against Audie back in the early 2000s when he was a standout player at Holy Cross and I was the head coach at Fordham. And so the name rang a bell. And then he worked for a really, really good friend of mine at Rhode Island by the name of Joe Trainer. And then Troy Calhoun, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, just spoke volumes of Audie and really how much he didn't want to lose him. And so he's a really good fit. And, you know, we're still pretty good at the position with Donovan Green and Jamal Banks and Keyshawn Williams and Taylor Marin and Wesley Grimes and Walker Morrell and Horatio Fields.

So it's probably still one of the strongest rooms in our football team right now. You mentioned A.T. Perry. The Carolina Panthers might have interest in a receiver in round two. That's the round that many believe that A.T. might go.

In fact, Daniel Jeremiah was with us yesterday saying he might be the best pure X receiver in this draft. But during the process, what kinds of questions have scouts and GMs had about A.T. and some of the things in turn he wanted to demonstrate in front of those scouts at your pro day a few weeks back? Well, Josh, a lot of that homework is done last spring in preseason camp. You know, at this point, you know, those questions are answered when the scouts visit us during the season. And it's really a remarkable job that they do and what a 360 approach. I mean, they're talking to our strength coach.

They're talking to academic advisors. They want to know from the special teams coach how willing are they due to special teams and their effort level. And so I think the big question with A.T. is just how fast was he? And then when he went to the combine and ran a four four seven, that was probably the big checkmark that he had to answer. And, you know, our feedback was after he ran a four four seven, he climbed up a lot of draft boards because that was really the only question on him. His production, his length, his wingspan, his ability to make contested catches, you know, that's on film.

That's well demonstrated. And now that he has documented speed, you know, hopefully that helped him get picked a little. It'll help him get picked a little higher. So we're excited for him and what the future holds.

Dave Klossen with us here. Spring game is Saturday at Truist Field, two o'clock, transitioning back to quarterback. You've had a lot of successful guys at that position at Wake, many of which are in the NFL or playing pro football elsewhere. And many of the guys you've had started young. John Walford, true freshman, as was Sam Hartman when he first was the starter before Jamie Newman took over the reins.

And now it's Mitch Griffiths' show, who we saw shine in the opener last year. And now he takes over the reins, correct me if I'm wrong, for year four in the program. And with multiple years of eligibility remaining, how much smoother has been breaking in a new starter at that position with Mitch than other springs you've had knowing you have to work in younger guys?

Well, Josh, in a lot of ways, you know, you just answered your own question. It is his fourth year. I don't feel like we're breaking in a new quarterback. We just have a guy getting a lot more reps with the ones. And that's where, you know, you look back to August when Sam was out for a few weeks. So we've seen Mitch in this role before. And it's not a red, you know, it's not a freshman or a redshirt freshman that doesn't have experience in the offense.

I mean, he's had, you know, if you had to count up the amount of reps he's had, I'm sure it's in the thousands. So that transition has gone a lot smoother than typically a quarterback transition will go. But still, when you get out there and play games for the first time, and you are the full time starter, and you've got that weekly preparation, you got to put yourself through, you know, that's always new.

And that's always different. But we're very confident in Mitch. And, you know, a lot of these guys were running with the twos when Mitch got here. So when Mitch got here, I mean, Jamal Banks is running with the twos and Horatio Fields. And so he's thrown a lot of balls to Donovan Green, Taylor Marin, Keyshawn, all those guys. So I don't feel like the receiver group feels like, okay, now they've got to get used to a new quarterback. You know, they've caught a lot of footballs from Mitch over the past four years. One quick thing on Sam Hartman, though, this is something on his behalf that frustrates me about perception.

We talk about how perception is a powerful thing sometimes, even though you can't control it. It's frustrating to me how the ACC's record holder in touchdown passes is still playing college football, mostly because it seems scouts holding against him, at least the way I view it, the mesh point offense, even though there were some games, as you pointed out, you don't even run the mesh, but 15, 20 percent of the snaps. But why do you think he still has more to prove since you had those conversations with him leading up to him deciding to transfer? Josh, I don't, you know, our offense has never come up with scouts as a negative with Sam. I just think, you know, Sam said it, that he wanted to go play in the NFL unless there was a financial opportunity too lucrative to turn down.

I mean, those were Sam's words and you can't blame them. So we're supportive, you know, that the amount of money that some schools are able to produce with name image like this right now in a lot of ways is more lucrative than if you're not a first or second round pick. So the feedback that we got was that Sam would be drafted somewhere in the middle and late rounds. And I think it's not just Sam Hartman, there's a lot of players out there that are choosing to come back and play an extra year of college football rather than go to the NFL or play an extra year of college basketball rather than go to the NBA because there is money to be made and then sometimes it might be better financially for him. And Sam gave us five great years.

He was a two year captain, three year captain. We absolutely love him. He did everything right by Wake Forest football. And if he has an opportunity to do something that helps his future and gives him another year of college football, we've been nothing but supportive and still think the world of him. You know, the only thing I mean, I wish he would have gone to a place we didn't have to play against, selfishly, because he's a good player. I'd rather not go against a quarterback as talented as Sam Hartman.

But you know, the whole mesh offense and hurting his draft value, that really didn't have, I don't think, anything to do with his decision. It's good to hear. Dave Claussen with us here. The last time I saw you, you were in the front row watching NCAA tournament games in Greensboro last month.

It was the first time in 11 years the Triad has hosted tournament games. How much did you enjoy that? I really enjoyed it. I was able to go with my dad, who's a huge basketball fan. My dad played a little junior college basketball. And Greg Christopher, the athletic director at Xavier, is a really good friend of mine. And so to be able to see Greg, you know, see his wife, see his daughter, connect with their family, spend an afternoon with my dad watching college basketball. It was a great day, Josh. I really enjoyed it. Dave, thanks for doing this. We'll see you on Saturday. You're welcome. Thanks, Josh.