Why injury to Wake Forest WR Donavon Greene is noteworthy ACC development

Maintaining a similar level of offensive productivity was already going to be a challenge for Wake Forest after losing star quarterback Sam Hartman to Notre Dame and leading receiver A.T. Perry to the NFL. Now, the team that tied for No. 1 in the ACC in scoring offense last season has another significant challenge on offense to overcome.

The loss of wide receiver Donavon Greene, who suffered a knee injury on the first day of Wake Forest fall camp that will sideline him for at least a few months, is an unfortunate development for both Wake and Greene as well as a noteworthy fall camp development within the ACC landscape.

Although he wasn’t selected to the ACC’s official preseason all-conference team and wasn’t named first-, second- or even third-team preseason All-ACC by Pro Football Focus, Greene was quietly regarded by some in the ACC and some in the NFL scouting world as one of the top wide receivers in the conference heading into this season. After missing 2021 with an injury, Greene was second behind Perry on Wake Forest last year with 642 receiving yards and had multi-touchdown games against both Clemson and North Carolina. For his career, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Greene has averaged 18.6 yards per catch.

He was one of the selections for an On3 list in late July on highly regarded NFL draft prospects not being talked about enough, which was based on feedback from NFL scouting sources. At least some NFL scouts viewed him as a potential top three round possibility for next year’s NFL draft prior to the injury.

“Donavon Greene is a great player and an even better person,” Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson said Monday. “He will play a key role off the field this season as he works towards a speedy and safe recovery in the coming months.”

Fortunately for the Demon Deacons, they do have a lot of depth at wide receiver. Five Wake receivers tallied at least 553 receiving yards last year. The Demon Deacons still have three of them even after the loss of Greene — juniors Jahmal Banks, Taylor Morin and Ke’Shawn Williams. Banks and Morin tied for second on the team with nine touchdown catches last season.

Regardless, it’s tough to lose a talent the level of Greene, especially with Hartman and Perry both also gone. 

Mitch Griffis, a Class of 2020 three-star recruit, is set to replace Hartman as Wake’s starting QB. Griffis, whose one career start to this point came last year against VMI, finished spring ball on a strong note with 319 yards and two touchdown passes in the Demon Deacons’ spring game. Greene, though, was on the other end for 111 of the yards and one of the touchdowns.

Under Clawson and offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero, Wake Forest has finished no worse than fifth in the ACC in scoring offense any of the last six years and no worse than third any of the last three seasons. The Demon Deacons finished last year 8-5, the fourth time in the last five full seasons that they’ve posted at least eight wins.

Wake opens this season against Elon August 31.