A little past the midway mark of his sophomore season, safety Evan Slocum earned his first collegiate start, a reward for his hard work and determination, battling back from an injury that cut short his spring camp.
That reward included often having to line up opposite All-ACC wide receiver Zay Flowers from Boston College.
“It was fun and exciting, just being out there with my teammates,” Slocum said. “I’ve got a lot to work on still. I feel like we did a good job overall of holding them down in terms of explosive plays.”
Flowers certainly got his yardage, but the Demon Deacons largely held the Eagles in check, coming away with a 43-15 victory.
“It was his first start, he had what I’d call a very tough matchup,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “Here’s your first start, by the way you have to cover Zay Flowers. Nobody is covering him. But he competed, the play he made on the screen, it was a huge play. He’s a good player, he was playing as well as any safety in the program when he got hurt in the spring.
“He’s finally healthy and I think he’s just going to get better every week. He’s a very conscientious, smart football player who is competitive.”
Slocum has become a staple in the Demon Deacons defense during the second-half of the season.
“Coach Clawson is big on making sure our best players are on the field,” Wake Forest safeties coach James Adams said. “He’s always looking at the guys who are the core group of guys who will help us win the game. It wasn’t a hard decision. There was no second thought about starting or playing him.
“We’ve seen him grow and develop since coming back from that injury. It wasn’t a surprise for us. I was really pleased and happy for him, to see that he went out there and held his own. He would say there’s a lot of things for him to improve upon, and he’s right. I was just happy to see he didn’t flinch. But that’s just him. That’s his personality, as a person and a player.”
The ascension into the starting lineup is even more remarkable considering Slocum had to work his way back from a lower-body injury that cut short a spring camp in which he was playing well.
“There’s a good side and a bad side to it,” Slocum explained. “I learned a lot through the whole experience. It’s never good when you get injured, but I feel like I’ve grown as a person and a player having…
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