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Wake Forest’s 2016 fall camp began today, and it began with some unfortunate news. Zack Wary, a redshirt sophomore linebacker out of Arkansas, will no longer play football after listening to the advice of doctors. Les Johns, now of Demon Deacon Digest, was at practice this morning and announced the news via Twitter. What does this mean for the linebacker unit?

Zack Wary was a member of the 2014 recruiting class, which was Dave Clawson’s first at Wake Forest. He was a consensus top-40 inside linebacker in the class, and chose Wake Forest over Arkansas and Boise State. He played 185 snaps last season over 8 games and accumulated 12 total tackles. I was expecting Wary to take on a greater role with the defense this season, given the departures of Brandon Chubb and Hunter Williams.

Look for Jaboree Williams and Marquel Lee to be definite starters, with Grant Dawson and possibly Kalin McNeil being the backups. Thomas Brown and Demetrius Kemp should compete for the starting rover job. Overall, Wake should be faster at linebacker and rover than they were a year ago.

We wish Zack the best, and respect that he made the best decision for his long-term health.