Wake Forest will play their bowl game on Saturday without their best player. Greg Dortch, has officially been ruled out of action for the Demon Deacons in the Birmingham Bowl, according to a report from Conor O’Neill of the Winston-Salem Journal., via Twitter.
“If there was any way he could play tomorrow, he’d be playing,” Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson told reporters, referring to Dortch’s unavailability. “But that’s football.”
Dortch injured his finger in Wake Forest’s regular-season finale blowout against Duke that clinched bowl eligibility for the program. Since the injury, Dortch had been missing from practices with his status appearing to be in limbo as the team was preparing for their bowl matchup with Memphis. This will be the third year Dortch has not been able to play in Wake Forest’s bowl game; he redshirted in 2016 and had a season-ending injury last season.
Dortch is Wake Forest’s leading receiver with 1,078 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Dortch has also returned two punts for touchdowns and has handled kickoff duty as well. Not having Dortch on the field against a talented Memphis team is a serious blow to the entire Wake Forest offense and special teams.