Lamar Jackson suspects Wake Forest anonymously hated on him, which Wake denies

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson is a college star. He won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore last season, and he’s a contender (though not an outright favorite) to become the second repeat winner in history this season. Whether he pulls that off or not, Jackson’s among the handful of best college QBs in recent years.

There’s some disagreement about whether he’ll amount to much in the NFL. In a Sports Illustrated story published in January, an anonymous ACC coach compared Jackson to Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and said of the Louisville QB:

“Jackson has no shot at playing quarterback in the NFL. None. He can’t make the throws and can’t read coverages. He’s not going to have a chance.”

Jackson thinks he knows which school that line came from.

“Yeah, I heard Wake Forest. I heard (it was) the Wake Forest coach,” Jackson said during Louisville’s 2017 media day on Saturday, according to the Courier-Journal’s Gentry Estes. “But we won, so I don’t really care.”

Louisville came back from a 12-0 deficit just before halftime to beat Wake last November, 44-12. Jackson was 14 of 26 passing for 145 yards and a touchdown, while he ran 22 times for 153 yards.

“I’m in college still,” Jackson said Saturday, Estes reported. “He can’t judge the future. God could. Not him. He’s not God. So I’m not worried.”

It sounds like Jackson’s referring to Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson, but that’s not certain. He might be talking about an assistant on the Deacons’ staff. He also might not be correct. Wake’s denying it:

“This is what’s called fake news,” Clawson said Monday after practice.

Wake Forest officials reached out to to UL Sunday to assure them that Clawson was not responsible for those comments, nor did he believe them to be an accurate representation of Jackson’s ability.

“I never said those things. I have great respect for Lamar Jackson as a football player,” Clawson said. “I think he is one of the elite players not only in the ACC, but in the country. I respect the way he plays the quarterback position, and those comments in no way reflect the respect I have for him. I would never say that.”

SB Nation’s Dan Kadar, in a way early 2018 mock draft, has Jackson going in the top 11.

Before the game, Louisville got ahold of some Wake Forest game plan documents. That kicked off what’s now known as Wakeyleaks, the football spy thriller of the millennium. The scandal caught up a few other teams, and Wake Forest publicly identified a mole: former assistant and now-former radio announcer Tom Elrod.

Louisville later suspended assistant coach Lonnie Galloway in connection with the case. He and Elrod had a text exchange before the game that might explain how the Cardinals came to be in possession of parts of Wake’s game plan.

Louisville maintains that head coach Bobby Petrino knew nothing about any cheating.

Thanks to a buildup of tensions over several months, that’s going to be one of the zestier games on the ACC slate this season. Who’d have thought that?