Wake Forest Football: Demon Deacons picked to finish sixth

The Wake Forest football team was picked to finish sixth in the ACC preseason poll.

The Demon Deacons are coming off one of the best seasons in recent year, finishing 8-5 last season. These are the most wins under head coach Dave Clawson and the most since 2008.

However, the media isn’t confident this trend will continue as they were picked to finish sixth in the Atlantic Division. They received the fourth fewest points in the ACC and were picked to only finish ahead of the Syracuse Orange in the division.

The Demon Deacons will enter the 2018 season with plenty of questions at the quarterback position. Last year’s starter, John Wolford threw for 29 touchdowns and ran for another 10 and the expectation was Kendall Hinton would be his replacement. Hinton threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns last year in relief appearances.

However, Hinton won’t be available for Clawson or this offense for the first three games. The redshirt junior, along with tight end Thomas Cole, were suspended for the first three games of the season for violating team rules.

This leaves a big unknown at the position as the team will be forced to go with redshirt sophomore Jamie Newman or true freshman Sam Hartman. Newman last year only completed two passes on four attempts for eight yards with one interception.

The good news for the player that earns the job is that the Demon Deacons are talented and deep at the wide receiver position. Greg Dortch and Scotty Washington are back after combining for 98 receptions, 1,433 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. The player that could have the biggest impact is Sage Surratt, who Clawson believes could breakout in 2018.

Next: Wake Forest Football: Top 4 Key Games of 2018

The Wake Forest football team will begin the season on Thursday, August 30th at Tulane on the CBS Sports Network.