Dave Clawson, like former Wake Forest head football coach Jim Grobe, has a history of redshirting. Ideally he likes to play 1/3 of the freshman class, and redshirt the remaining 2/3. This helps him balance classes, and also allow players more time to develop before they make their college debuts. Last year we saw RS FR such as Cortez Lewis, Justin Herron, Phil Haynes, and others make big impacts. Today we begin our series that takes a look at which redshirt freshmen could make solid impacts in 2016.
We begin this series by taking a look at wide receiver Steven Claude. I absolutely loved this kid coming out of high school, and am a little surprised that he didn’t play last year as a true freshman. Claude comes from Miami, Florida, and was all-state in high school while playing in Florida’s Class 2A. He has the speed, route running, and catching abilities to be a very solid receiver for the Demon Deacons. He ran a 4.4 40-yard dash, and I think that he can definitely break away from defenders after he gets the ball.
Wake Forest’s best position is wide receiver, and while Claude may not start, he should compete with Jared Crump for a lot of playing time as the S-receiver. Claude chose Wake Forest over Duke, Louisville, Syracuse, and many others, so expect him to have a nice season for the Deacs.
