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| Yulman Stadium |
Coach Dave Clawson is handing over the keys to team's offense to a true freshman, Sam Hartman. If that name rings a bell with North Carolina high school football fans, there's a good reason for that. Hartman played high school ball at private school powers SouthLake Christian and Davidson Day before that school was forced to fold its program. Hartman will be only the second true freshman to start a season opener in Wake Forest football history and one of five at the FBS level in 2018 (Rutgers, Nebraska, Minnesota, USC).
Looking to be on the receiving end of Hartman's passes on Thursday night will be a crew of young receivers, led by speedster Greg Dortch. Dortch was on a leading all freshmen in the nation in touchdown receptions and receiving yards before an injury ended his season early. Coach Clawson was excited to have the redshirt sophomore back this season. "He looks good. He's healthy, and obviously he's a big part of our offense, so we need Greg to be Greg Dortch. We need him to be elusive, and certainly he can be a huge role on special teams for us. But a lot of what we do on offense goes through the slot position, and we feel we have a pretty good one there."
Lining up at wideout with Dortch will be Sage Surratt, a former two-sport star who played his high school ball at East Lincoln and Lincolnton. "He's a guy that I think is capable of a breakout season. He's one of the best athletes on the team. His hand-eye coordination is exceptional. He's competitive. He's smart. And we're very excited to see what he can do this year" Clawson mentioned at the ACC media day.
Kickoff from Yulman Stadium is scheduled for 8:00 ET. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
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