Wake Forest QB eager for in-game experience: ‘He’s beginning to see himself as a leader’

Mitch Griffis has been enrolled at Wake Forest for four years, yet he’s only a sophomore — by football standards, anyway.

His freshman year was impacted by COVID, granting him an extra year of eligibility, and he redshirted his second season with the Demon Deacons, making last year his first without restriction.

Entering 2023 as a redshirt sophomore, Griffis is poised to take over the starting quarterback role.

“It’s a dream come true. I grew up an ACC football fan, growing up wanting to be a starting college quarterback,” he said. “So the fact that it’s here it’s kind of surreal, but I’m really excited for it.”

It’s his offense to lead. But Wake returns only five offensive starters, and he has big shoes to fill.

Quarterback Sam Hartman, who transferred from Wake to Notre Dame in early January, led the 2022 Deacs to a 8-5 overall record and their fifth bowl win in the past seven years.

Wake’s record the past two seasons with Hartman at the helm was 19-8, and in 2022 it finished with 36.1 points per game and a program-record 43 passing touchdowns. On top of that, each of the past three Wake quarterbacks earned All-ACC honors when they were starters: John Wolford (2017), Jamie Newman (2019) and Hartman (2021-2022).

Still, there’s no better option than Griffis to lead the Deacs, especially with three years of experience learning under solid teammates and a consistent coaching staff.

Other than the change at quarterback, Griffis says the offense will remain largely the same from last season. What is changing is the character of the person taking the snaps.

“Personality-wise, we’re a little different,” Griffis said about Hartman. “I would say I’m a little bit more relaxed and goofier. We work just as hard, we just go about it in different ways.”

His high school resume — compiled at Broad Run High School in his hometown of Ashburn, Virginia — is what propelled Griffis to Winston-Salem in the first place.

He led Broad Run to a 43-7 record while collecting every school passing and total offense record. As a senior, he threw for 3,000 yards and 40 touchdowns on his way to being named to USA Today’s All-Virginia Second Team.

Though he’s only appeared in 14 games for the Deacs, he’s tossed six career touchdown passes, five coming in the past year.

“He is extremely accurate. He has good arm strength. He is athletic. He has really good instincts, great work ethic, super teammate, and he is genuine,” head coach Dave Clawson said. “I think just having that experience of being the starter will help him this year.”

Fans were treated to their first glimpse of Griffis as a starting quarterback at Wake Forest’s spring game on April 15. Despite sitting out for most of the fourth quarter, he completed 19 of 29 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns.

His only other starting experience came in the first game of the season last year against VMI, when Hartman was unavailable. Griffis went 21-for-29 for 288 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-10 victory.

He’s looking ahead to a full season of daunting nonconference and ACC competition, including a matchup with Hartman and Notre Dame on Nov. 18.

At this point in the offseason, getting more real-time play is the final piece to his preparation. There is only so much he can do to substitute for taking hits and throwing passes in a regular-season game.

“I think, as of today, up to this point in the offseason, I’ve worked the hardest I can. I think I’ve maximized my skills up to today,” Griffis said. “There’s still room for me to get better. ... I think the way for me to grow the most is going through experiences.”

Now a captain, Griffis is stepping into even more of a leadership role. He said he lives by the quote, “they don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care,” working to get to know each of his teammates individually.

Fellow captain and interior lineman Michael Jurgens said Griffis is constantly communicating with his linemen and isn’t afraid to take criticism.

“People have seen him as a leader for a while, but now he’s beginning to see himself as a leader,” Jurgens said.

In preparation for the season, Griffis said he’s had to force himself to watch film from the last year, cringing at his past performances. He believes he’s much better now, but also thinks it’s healthy to look back and recognize improvement.

But most importantly, he said, he reminds himself that he’s playing the game he grew up to love at one of the highest levels possible. Now, it’s just about gaining experience on his way to achieving his full potential.

“At the end of the day it’s all football, it’s 11 on 11, playing on a 100-yard field, so it doesn’t matter who you’re playing,” he said. “It’s all good experience.”