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Wake Forest walk-on freshman safety Nick Andersen makes a diving tackle attempt on Virginia quarterback Iraken Armstead in a game last Saturday.
Times-News
[ACC pool photo], Times-News
WINSTON-SALEM — It’s not often a true freshman football player makes an immediate impact in his first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Especially at Wake Forest, where in seven seasons under coach Dave Clawson, the Demon Deacons have built a successful program by developing under-the-radar talent and into starters over a period of several seasons.
It’s almost unheard of for such a true freshman contributor to be a walk-on.
Then there’s safety Nick Andersen, who qualifies as both, even if some of his own teammates can’t tell.
“I knew he was a true freshman; I didn’t even think he was a walk-on,” redshirt senior Traveon Redd said. “I ain’t gonna lie, I ain’t know he was a walk-on.”
Those labels mean nothing to Andersen, the defensive back from Clifton, Va.
“For me, no different than anything I’ve been doing my whole life,” he said. “The whole basis of hard work, coming in and why just come in and be a guy that sits on the sidelines? Why not compete and help the team?”
It’s a mentality that has served Andersen well. For the second straight game and again against a team from his home state, Andersen is listed as a co-starter when the Demon Deacons play host to No. 19 Virginia Tech (3-1 overall, 3-1 ACC) this afternoon.
A week ago in a victory against Virginia, Andersen made his first start, racking up nine tackles and two pass breakups for the Demon Deacons (2-2, 1-2).
“I just try and do what our coaches tell me to do,” he said. “I line up, try and help the defense stay organized. If the play is there to be made, and I'm the one who has to make it, that's what we practice every day.”
Andersen
Times-News
Courtesy of Wake Forest Athletics, Times-News
Andersen, who the coaching staff discovered at a Wake Forest prospect camp, didn’t waste any time hitting the ground running on Zoom meetings in the summer, where he would routinely ask questions, defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill said. Andersen wasn’t done there — outside of meetings he would text Hemphill with additional questions.
The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t all bad news. In Andersen’s case, it allowed him to stand out among a group of young players when the Demon Deacons split up their practices in an effort to prevent coronavirus cases in the program. Injuries in the secondary allowed for Andersen to get additional reps, of which he took advantage.
“I don't know in a normal camp if we would have discovered him,” Clawson said. “It was almost because we split the practices and we were able to give him starting reps in the starting practice, and he just made plays and he picked up the defense and he was really vocal with the checks.”
Through preseason camp it became increasingly obvious to the Wake Forest coaching staff that Andersen had the intelligence and the ability to make an impact as a freshman.
“Before you can help us win, you've got to make sure the person can get aligned and doesn't get you beat,” Clawson said. “He's so smart and instinctive that he could get lined up. Then he just kept coming on and on. Lyle Hemphill, just at some point in camp, said, ‘This guy is going to help us this year, regardless of what our injury situation is.’ ”
Sure enough, the player with just three Division I offers (Butler, Columbia and New Hampshire) coming out of Centerville High School in Virginia, has helped the Demon Deacons, perhaps more than anyone expected.
Anyone except for Andersen, that is.
“I really just believed in myself,” he said of the recruiting process. “I didn't get discouraged or put my head down and quit. If I just kept going each and every day, I knew that at the end of the day, I would come out better. I didn't really try and pay attention to any of that stuff. Just, I knew that wherever I was going to go, I was going to try and make an impact as early as I could and have a good career.”
Here are three areas worth watching in today’s game:
Halting Herbert
Success starts with stopping the run, or at least slowing it down, for the Wake Forest defense.
That figures to be a tough task as Virginia Tech running back Khalil Herbert leads the country with 148 rushing yards per game.
“They've got a running back that's playing as well as anybody in the country right now in Herbert,” Clawson said. “He’s averaging almost 10 yards a carry, which I've never seen that this deep into a season. He's a home run hitter, he's a load, he's got a great stiff arm, he's very hard to tackle.”
The Kansas transfer averages a national-best 240.5 all-purpose yards, boosted by a 32.8-yard average on kickoff returns.
Wake Forest allows 198.3 rushing yards per contest, registering as the second-worst mark in the ACC.
Running right back at ‘em
Virginia Tech’s defense isn’t much better at stopping the run.
The Hokies allow the third-most rushing yards per game (192.2) in the conference and two weeks ago, gave up 399 rushing yards in a loss to North Carolina.
That bodes well for Demon Deacons running back duo of Christian Beal-Smith and Kenneth Walker III.
“I think we feel really confident if we go in there and just execute,” Wake Forest offensive lineman Sean Maginn said, “and not having missed assignments, we can win this game.”
Walker has scored three rushing touchdowns in two of Wake Forest’s last three games.
In all three of those contests, he eclipsed the 100-yard mark. The last Wake Forest running back to accomplish that feat was Matt Colburn II in 2017.
Meanwhile, Beal-Smith is all clear to play after suffering an injury last week against Virginia.
“(Virginia Tech's) defense, they're getting healthy,” Clawson said. “So I think that the defense you saw (last week) against Boston College was a dramatically different defense than you saw against North Carolina. They've got some guys healthy now.”
Off the Hook
Hendon Hooker, a Greensboro Dudley alum, provides the Virginia Tech offense with a dual-threat option at quarterback.
Hooker made his first start of the season last week against Boston College, running for 164 yards and three touchdowns while completing 11 of 15 pass attempts for 111 yards and a score.
“Hooker, the last six quarters is just playing incredible,” Clawson said. “Throwing the ball well, such an elusive runner, he's fast, he's strong, he's powerful. He does a really nice job on their power-read scheme. And again, it's not like he's just a runner, he throws the ball very efficiently as well.”
Since Hooker replaced Braxton Burmeister in the second half against North Carolina, the Hokies offense has found more consistency in the passing game. Hooker has completed 64 percent of his passes in comparison to Burmeister’s 46 percent.
Hooker has a bevy of options at the skill player positions, including receivers Tayvion Robinson and Tre Turner, a Northwest Guilford alum. Tight end James Mitchell leads the Hokies in receiving yards (215) and receiving touchdowns (three) on the season.
“One of the players that I think is really special for them is their tight end, Mitchell,” Clawson said. “This guy does everything for them. He’s a tight end, he's a slot, he's an outside receiver. They'll hand him the football in the backfield. He allows them to line up in a personnel group and make it a different group. So you think it's two tight ends, but then he plays receiver.
“So it makes it really difficult to call defenses against. Everything they do is extremely well thought out. They have an answer for whatever you're going to present. So this is going to be a real challenge for us defensively, because of the scheme and the talent level.”
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