Mitch Griffis or Santino Marucci: Who starts for Wake Forest vs FSU football? What we know

Who will be the quarterback for Wake Forest when they host Florida State football this weekend?

The Demon Deacons have been dealing with a rash of injuries at the quarterback position in the past couple of weeks.

Starting quarterback Mitch Griffis missed last week's victory over Pittsburgh with an undisclosed injury, while backup QB Michael Kearn is out due to a shoulder injury. Griffis was benched in favor of Kearn in a 30-13 loss against Virginia Tech.

Santino Marucci, a redshirt sophomore, made his first career start last week.

Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson updated the status of his QB room during a press conference Tuesday.

"Mitch is back this week. We're giving both of those guys reps. We'll kind of play that out as the week goes on and see how Mitch is," Clawson said. "We'll continue to bring Santino along and every week he plays he can do a little bit more of the offense."

The No. 4 Seminoles (7-0, 5-0 ACC) will face Wake Forest (4-3, 1-3) looking to snap a three-game losing streak in the series at noon Saturday at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Broadcast: ABC).

Griffis - who has been seen as the heir apparent to now-Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman - has had his ups and downs this season. He has completed 100-of-169 (59.2%) of his passes for 1,211 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions.

"We just have to keep evaluating Mitch's health. We anticipate him being ready," Clawson said.

Griffis was benched in favor of Kern after going 6 of 11 for 27 yards and an interception against the Hokies.

Marucci stepped up as the starter last week and completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Hite with 7 seconds remaining to finish off a 21-17 comeback victory.

The Demon Deacons had been trailing 17-14 with 51 seconds remaining when Pitt quarterback Christian Veilleux slid too early and was marked short of a first down. Wake Forest got the ball back and went 48 yards to score.

Marucci bounced back from an interception which seemed to end the chances of Wake Forest winning a drive earlier.

"He did great, he was the winning quarterback," Clawson said of Marucci. "The job of the quarterback is to win the game and we're limited. We had to scale down the offense, not because he's not capable, but because of the limited reps."

Griffis is listed as the starter for this week against the Seminoles, while Marucci is the backup.

"There's a chance", Clawson said of both quarterbacks playing Saturday. "We just have to evaluate Mitch's health and see where he is. We anticipate that we're going to have him, but you've got to get both ready because when one is coming off of an injury. ... Whenever a player is coming off an injury you hope they're fine, you hope they're good to go. They're probably a little bit more vulnerable.

"They're both getting reps with the first offense this week. We'll evaluate as the week goes on, I'm not going to tip my hat."

FSU head coach Mike Norvell said at his Monday press conference the team is going to be prepared for whomever the Demon Deacons throw out at quarterback.

"We're going to obviously plan for their starting quarterback," Norvell said. "I know he was day to day for this last week. We'll plan for him and be able to adjust to whatever shows up and whatever the situation is."

GAME INFORMATION

Who: No. 4 FSU (7-0, 5-0 ACC) at Wake Forest (4-3, 1-3)

When/where: Saturday, noon, Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium, Winston-Salem, N.C.

TV/Radio: ABC/94.9 FM

Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @Ehsan_Kassim, @jackgwilliams and @JimHenryTALLY on X, formerly Twitter

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Will Mitch Griffis, Santino Marucci be Wake Forest QB vs FSU football?