Justin Kontul Answers Question No. 5

Defensive end, Langston Hardy has nine and a half tackles for loss, but he's questionable too. What makes him successful and what would the impact be if he can't play? Yeah, so this season, all of the success Wake has had defensively has really started with the defensive line. When they're putting pressure on the quarterback, that is when they are at their best, and they've been able to do it pretty well here the past few games. And Langston specifically, as a guy who came back, was really high, I remember, in the ACC last year in tackles for loss I don't remember the exact number but he he may have even led the ACC in tackles for loss he was really high up there was a great playmaker on the defensive side of the ball and really took on a bigger role this season had a little bit of a slow start to the season but has really come on recently had what coach Dickert said was maybe his best game as a demon deacon against NC State last weekend um and his his and he also is really fortunate because on the other end of that defensive line, Gabe Kirschke is another name to watch. Those two together put a lot of pressure on opposing offensive lines and really can converge at the quarterback quite frequently. And then also the interior defensive line, guys like Dallas Afalafa, Zach Loavich, and Kadir Dembele, those guys have all, really, the whole defensive line being such a force and so dominant has allowed Kirschke, I mean, has allowed Hardy to take a lot of steps and to continue to grow throughout the season he's really finding himself he's just a hard guy to guard off the edge like he is he's really quick he gets off he gets off with a with a head of steam and he is able to just really make big plays in the backfield and you see with wake in general the tfl numbers the past few weeks have just been really big which has put teams behind the behind the chains and has contributed to a lot of success so if he's not able to go that would be uh really damaging for the defense um you would still have Kirschke who's probably well off the other edge but you know defenses could then mitigate his impact more because they don't have to worry about Hardy and also wake is already tyler walton who is another depth piece is already out on their defensive line so they will be really that would be a position where they're thin at edge rusher um so that would give more opportunities for cal to maybe extend plays, better pockets, the ability to get the ball upfield and really open up their passing game, I think would be the big thing that they're able to do if he's not able to go.