Wake Forest Football: Sam Hartman pushing for starting QB job

Wake Forest Football will be looking for a new starting quarterback this year and Sam Hartman will make the decision tough for head coach Dave Clawson.

The past few seasons Wake Forest football head coach Dave Clawson has not had to worry about his starting quarterback with John Wolford under center. He was one of the most prolific passers in the ACC last year with 3,192 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He also helped the Demon Deacons finish second in the ACC in total yards in 2017.

However, this season is a different story as the Demon Deacons will be looking for a new signal caller with Wolford graduating. The job was expected to go to Kendall Hinton, however he will be serving a three game suspension to the start the year.

This means the QB competition will be between Jamie Newman, the redshirt sophomore, and true freshman Sam Hartman to start the year.

According to Les Johns of 247Sports’ Demon Deacon Digest, Clawson says right now it is too close to call and fans may see both under center this season.

"On Sam Hartman and Jamie Newman being closeClawson: “They are very close. Every day you go back and forth. It’s a great battle and they’re making each other better. I wouldn’t be shocked if we didn’t have to play both of them this year. They’re both young, and the ability with our offense to play at that level and process things for 80-90 plays a game isn’t easy. If we need to play two, we’ll play two. Their skill sets are probably a little bit closer than maybe what Kendall (Hinton) and John (Wolford) were, in terms of the offense wouldn’t change at all. There will be a guy who starts. Whoever starts game one might not be the starter for game four or game eight. It’s going to be an ongoing battle, but we have to keep them both going for sure.”"

The two quarterbacks bring a different skill sets to the position with Newman being more of a dual-threat and Hartman as a pocket passer. It certainly would make sense for Clawson to want to have both on the field, if there is not a clear cut winner and the job doesn’t go back to Hinton, throughout the year to give opposing defenses different looks.

Whichever quarterback sees a majority of the snaps, they are certainly set up for success. This offense has one of the deepest wide receiver groups in the ACC, led by Greg Dortch.

The redshirt sophomore led the Demon Deacons last year in receptions and receiving yards, even though he missed the last few games of the season due to an abdominal injury. The rest of the position is rounded out by Scotty Washington and Sage Surratt. These three players have the potential to make this an explosive passing game in 2018.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons open the 2018 season in Tulane on August 30th.