Wake Forest Enhances Area Presence

By Paul Tenorio

Friday, December 19, 2008

As Wake Forest went through its practice at Episcopal High School yesterday morning, rehearsing its offense, defense and special teams in preparation for tomorrow's EagleBank Bowl, River Hill senior Michael Campanaro stood on the sideline chatting with Stone Bridge seniors Mike Olson and Patrick Thompson.

At times, Demon Deacons defensive coordinator Brad Lambert jogged over to talk to the group. And during breaks in the action, some players sauntered over to mingle as well, laughing and joking with the three area football standouts, each of whom has orally committed to play at Wake Forest.

Further down the sideline, Steven Chase, who graduated from Thomas Johnson last spring and will enroll at Wake Forest next month, stood next to Thomas Johnson junior linebackers Nick Forbes and Jeremy Grove, two highly touted recruits who were greeted by several Demon Deacons players as they watched the practice.

In the back yard of other Atlantic Coast Conference rivals, Wake Forest has found what recruiting coordinator and defensive tackles coach Ray McCartney labeled a "niche" in the Washington area.

And with two players from the region already on their roster -- safety Chip Vaughn (Robinson) and wide receiver Devon Brown (Stone Bridge) -- and five area athletes committed to join the Demon Deacons, an established pipeline between Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Washington area certainly has formed.

NCAA restrictions prohibit Wake Forest's coaches from commenting on any recruits who have not signed their national letters-of-intent. But McCartney agreed that the Demon Deacons had been successful in recruiting the area and hoped to build on those efforts.

"It's like mining coal," McCartney said. "If you mine a good amount of coal with low sulfur content, you want to go back to those mines. If you can develop more than one or two crucial areas for the recruitment of good student-athletes, it's going to enhance your ability to win. . . . So if you can find an area with a lot of good-fit kids that are maybe getting overlooked, you ought to expand your program to that area."

Wake Forest's increased presence in the area can be traced to the program's appearance in the Orange Bowl in January 2007. The bowl game increased the program's profile as more than just a strong academic school, Coach Jim Grobe said, and the Demon Deacons looked to capitalize and increase their recruiting base.

With coaches on the staff who had experience in the Washington area during tenures at Marshall and Georgia, Wake Forest decided to try to tap into the talent in the region. The results have been overwhelmingly positive.

Vaughn, a fifth-year senior who was on the roster during the Orange Bowl season, is third on the team with 79 tackles. Brown, a redshirt freshman, is fourth in all-purpose yards and has shown flashes of his game-breaking ability.

This year, the Demon Deacons continued their success, receiving commitments from several of the area's top players.

Campanaro was the 2008 All-Met Offensive Player of the Year, while Olson and another Wake Forest commitment from Stone Bridge, Zach Thompson, were first-team All-Met selections. Patrick Thompson, Zach's twin brother and a two-time All-Met honorable mention honoree as a quarterback, will enroll at Wake Forest in January 2010.

Playing in a bowl game in the area will only increase local awareness of Wake Forest's program. But Grobe emphasized how difficult it is to recruit in an area where Maryland, Virginia and Virginia Tech have strong presences and said the program hopes to merely "pick our spots."

"Honestly, we know that getting too far from home and trying to butt heads with the Hokies and Cavaliers and Terps and that kind of stuff is not going to be easy," Grobe said. "But at the same time, there are a certain group of coaches that recognize the opportunity at Wake Forest and when we find those coaches, when we find those schools ... then we've got to try to take a shot."

Tagged: high school sports, Stone Bridge High School

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