April 19, 2008

Three Wake Forest quarterbacks combined to throw for 488 yards as the Demon Deacons concluded spring drills with their annual Spring Game Saturday afternoon at the Doc Martin Football Practice Complex on the Wake Forest campus.

The Deacons ran 66 offensive plays during the scrimmage that lasted just over one hour. An estimated crowd of 4,100 fans jammed the Doc Martin Complex on an overcast afternoon.

Wake Forest's quarterbacks combined to complete 35 of 45 passes for 488 yards and three touchdowns. Riley Skinner completed 15 of 18 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns. Brett Hodges was successful on 13 of 17 attempts for 181 yards and one score. Ryan McManus hit on seven of 10 attempts for 62 yards.

Skinner threw scoring passes of 35 yards to tight end Ben Wooster and also hit wide receiver Chip Brinkman on a 44-yard scoring strike. Wooster had five catches for a scrimmage-high 138 yards and two touchdowns. Brinkman caught three passes for 79 yards.

Hodges threw the longest pass of the scrimmage, a 65-yard touchdown pass to Wooster.

Wake Forest rushed the ball 21 times with Brandon Pendergrass leading the way with 25 yards on three carries. Anthony Williams had one carry for 18 yards and Brinkman added a 13-yard run.

C.J. Washington and Josh Adams scored the first two touchdowns of the scrimmage, each rushing over from one yard out. Sam Swank added a 38-yard field goal and tallied three extra points while Shane Popham converted on both of his PAT attempts.

The Deacons ran nine offensive series with each quarterback engineering three drives.

Head coach Jim Grobe was pleased not only with the team's performance on Saturday but also with the fan turnout.

"When we started here you couldn't find a fan with a search warrant," said Grobe. "This was fun. It's nice to have this game on campus. If you hold it at the stadium, the fans don't have the access to the players that they do here and they don't have the opportunity to meet the guys afterwards."

Grobe was also impressed with his group of wide receivers.

"I thought our receivers made some nice catches today," said Grobe. "Devon Brown had a couple of circus catches out there. We did some nice things in the passing game today, it was encouraging."

Grobe and his staff will spend next month handling spring recruiting before starting preseason camp in early August.

"I want our guys to understand that we have the talent to become a very good football team," said Grobe. "But there's a lot more to it than that. We need to have team chemistry, no big egos, people caring about your teammates. That's all a part of becoming a successful football team."

Scoring Summary Wake Forest Spring Football Game Saturday, April 19, 2008

Josh Adams 1 run (Sam Swank kick) C.J. Washington 1 run (Swank kick) Chip Brinkman 13 run (Shane Popham kick) Ben Wooster 35 pass from Riley Skinner (Shane Popham kick) Ben Wooster 65 pass from Brett Hodges (Sam Swank kick) Sam Swank 38 field goal Chip Brinkman 44 pass from Riley Skinner

Rushing Brandon Pendergrass 3-25, Anthony Williams 1-18, Chip Brinkman 1-13, Chris Langley 2-7, Aaron Williams-Simmons 4-6, C.J. Washington 5-5, Willie Dixon 2-2, Josh Adams 2-1, Devon Brown 1- -12)

Passing Skinner 15-18-245 yards, Brett Hodges 13-17-181 yards, Ryan McManus 7-10-62 yards.

Receiving Ben Wooster 5-138, Chip Brinkman 3-79, Devon Brown 5-33, D.J. Boldin 3-19, J.T. Dixon 2-46, Mike Rinfrette 3-55, Andrew Wright 3-48, Brandon Pendergrass 2-21, Josh Adams 1-1, Matt Hartford 4-21, Anthony Williams 1-13, Jordan Williams 1-7, Willie Dixon 1-4.