Willie Taggart comments on Wake Forest playmaker Greg Dortch and shuffling the O-line

Greg Dortch is Wake Forest’s Swiss Army knife. In the words of Willie Taggart he is a “dude.” And Taggart is right. He is THE dude for the Demon Deacons, accounting for a large portion of their offensive production.

Coming into the game Dortch has more receiving yards (592) than the four guys behind him combined and leads the group with five touchdown catches. Not only is he a problem for defenses, but he has also returned two punts for touchdowns in the first half of the season.

Dortch caught 10 balls for 110 yards against Florida State last year as a redshirt freshman. FSU was able to escape with a win, but the defense will look to limit Dortch the second time around.

“He can catch balls, whether it’s receiving it or punt return, or whatever they want to do with him,” Taggart said. “He’s a dude. They find ways to get him the ball and you have to know where he’s at at all times.”

This week in practice we’ve seen a pair of FSU freshman receivers wearing Dortch’s number three to try and emulate him for the Seminole defense. Adarius Dent and D’marcus Adams are similar in size to Dortch, and according to Taggart, the pair have been frustrating the defense all week in practice.

“Adams, at receiver— who else did we have there? Adams did a great job for us at receiver. Him and Dent, they did a great job,” Taggart said. “They gave our guys a great look this week. It was actually cool to see those guys make some plays, but it was cool to see our defense get ticked off. They told them they were going to do it and then went out and got our defense ticked off. We had some good practices behind it.”

Another focus this week was the offensive line trying out some new combinations in practice. However, today, with a smirk, Taggart said he wouldn’t invest too much into the different look along the line.

“When did you see that, Tuesday?” Taggart said. “Some guys were playing center. It’s to get some guys some reps in there as we move around and go. But, I wouldn’t buy too much into that. It’s practice.”

We also reported yesterday that OL Cole Minshew was not present during the open portion of practice, but Taggart, again with a grin, said he was fine.

“You didn’t see Cole? Yeah, Cole is good.”

Taggart also gave an update on Derrick Kelly.

“It’s good to see him back out there practicing and having a full week of practice— a full couple weeks of practice— so he can get our there and play,” Taggart said. “He played in the Miami game and didn’t have much practice that week, but he played in that game. It’s great to have him back out here. Again, a senior who played a lot and a guy who you were counting on from the beginning to be out there and help you. It’s nice.”