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Maggio holds firm to commitment, ready to compete for his spot

Graduating high school early and getting a head start on a collegiate football career is a major step, and shows a combined commitment both from the program and the player.

Wake had three of its four January 2015 enrollees contribute mightily during the season, with the only exception being tight end Bowman Archibald, who injured his leg and transferred out of the program.

Garrett Wilson came in and successfully navigated the long snapping duties for the Deacs, playing in more than 100 snaps on the season.

Slot receiver Tabari Hines wowed fans and recruits alike in the spring, and became a part of a young and talented receiving corps in 2015 for the Deacs. He caught 32 passes on the season for 366 yards and three touchdowns.

Quarterback Kendall Hinton didn’t just push returning starter John Wolford in spring and fall camp, he pushed him all season long, creating a quarterback controversy of sorts that will linger into the start of the 2016 campaign. Hinton was an integral part of the Deacon offense, and was the player coach Dave Clawson considered the most explosive on the entire squad. Hinto passed for more than 900 yards and rushed for over 500 while contributing 11 touchdowns.

More than likely, players that enroll in January will heavily contribute in the fall. That’s why Deacons Illustrated is going to take a long look at the six guys slated to enroll at Wake in January of 2016, starting with punter Dom Maggio.

Dom Maggio at the 2016 Under Armour All-American Game practices
Dom Maggio at the 2016 Under Armour All-American Game practices ()
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Under Armour All American punter Dom Maggio was the first 2016 commit for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, giving head coach Dave Clawson his pledge in July of 2014.

Maggio compiled stellar senior-year statistics, earned great recognition and attracted the attention of many other schools, yet held firm with his initial commitment to the Deacs and will be one of six early enrollees in early January.

“Wake Forest was my first offer and it was everything I was looking for in a school. To get the offer so soon, I was a bit surprised. I was expecting offers to start coming perhaps later, but it was everything I was looking for in a school academically,” Maggio said. “They’re a top-25 school in the nation and then in football they’re in a Power-5 conference. I fell in love with the coaching staff and I fell in love with the campus. A month later, I decided I didn’t need to wait any longer. This was exactly what I was looking for. I made my commitment, stuck to it ever since and couldn’t be happier.”

Maggio had a standout senior season at Boys Latin High School in Baltimore, Maryland. He performed both punting and placekicking duties, averaging 45.1 yards per punt. He was also 11-for-16 on field goal attempts, with a long of 55 yards, was perfect on extra points and achieved a touchback on 34-of-39 kickoffs.

As he continued to excel on the field, did other schools reach out to him despite his early commitment to Wake?

“Ya,” he answered laughing. “Some schools are great about respecting my commitment and I appreciate that, but there were some schools that came to me and I had to tell them that I was committed to Wake Forest. My only other offer was Boston College, which came a year after I was committed to Wake Forest. Obviously I stuck with Wake Forest.”

Maggio built a strong relationship early with his area recruiter, Adam Scheier, who will also be his special teams coach at Wake.

“He did all the legwork behind my recruitment, no pun intended,” Maggio said, while chuckling again. “Coach Scheier is awesome. He’s great. I’ve been really close to him during this whole process, and I’ve been committed almost a year and a half now. I’ve gotten to know him really well. I just had a home visit with him and coach Clawson. Not only have I got to visit them where they work, but they got to come to my house, so that was pretty neat.”

Fans relate to Scheier’s no-hold-barred presence on social media, but recruits gravitate to him because of both his humor and his intellect.

“Coach Scheier is such a witty guy. As a Dartmouth guy, you know he’s smart. He channels that, obviously, into football as well as a friend and a coach,” Maggio said. “He’s hilarious. He’ll have our whole family cracking up, but he also knows when to be serious. That’s what makes him such a great guy and personable guy to get along with. I’ll find out how he is as a coach in just a few days.”

Just a few days indeed. It’s an insanely busy time for Maggio right now. He’s currently practicing with the Under Armour All American squad, but is reporting to Wake for move in day on Jan. 10. Jan. 12 will be his first day of classes on campus.

“I can’t wait. I’m so excited to get started. Coming mid-year is going to give me a huge advantage --- getting to start football and classes right away and getting into the swing of things,” Maggio said. “My parents, on the other hand, are a little sad that I’m leaving early. I know that, but they’re also very excited about the opportunity. I’m really excited.”

Though early enrollees typically are slated for early playing time, Maggio isn’t taking anything for granted.

“They wanted to get me in there, put some weight on me and get used to how things work at Wake. I’ll also get to do spring practice and that will be beneficial. With that said, you have to compete wherever you go,” he said. “The starting spot will be open for competition. When I get down there, I’m going to work as hard as I can. I’m going to compete for both kicking and punting jobs, even though there’s a bunch of great kickers on the Wake roster right now.”

If he does take over the punting duties, Maggio will be following in the footsteps on one of the most prolific punters not only in Wake Forest history, but in the history of the NCAA. Departing senior Alex Kinal owns the NCAA career mark for total punts (337) and total punt yardage (14,102). Kinal had just nine touchbacks his entire career and became a Wake Forest fan favorite.

“I love the fact that the punter got so much love, and rightfully so. He was a tremendous punter,” Maggio said. “It sets the bar that much higher and I know I have to work that much harder to meet the expectations of my coaches, my teammates and the fans. Personally I love it.”

Maggio will be rooming with another January 2016 addition, running back Cade Carney.

“We had our official visit together. That was the first time I’d met him. At the Duke game, we spent some time together,” Maggio said. “We’ve been talking a lot and are excited to be rooming together.”

Maggio said the improvement last season was evident despite the Deacs posting an identical 3-9 record as the year prior.

“It’s just unbelievable to see the offense change and the whole culture change. You can see everything start to build. The offense was fun to watch this year. We were in pretty much every game, which is definitely promising,” he said. “I believe in coach Clawson and the staff. Hopefully these next couple years we’ll prove to everybody what we’ve believed in during the recruiting process -- that we can compete and eventually win an ACC Championship. That’s one of our goals and is definitely attainable from what we’ve seen this year.”

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