Wake Forest nose guard Nikita Whitlock had another outstanding season in 2011, making many of his best plays behind the line of scrimmage.

But nearly every one of those plays happened while playing run defense. This year, Whitlock wants to boost up his tackles behind the line with more sacks -- an area he has worked hard to improve on during the offseason.

Because let's face it: Wake Forest needs all the help it can get to improve on a pass rush that generated just 11 total sacks last year, ranking No. 115 in the nation.

"Playing nose guard, we’re not really looked at as pass rush players," Whitlock said. "The big thing for me is to get better and help my team by getting more sacks and creating more hurries and things like that. I did a lot last year with hurries, but I don’t feel I was productive enough. That’s the part of my game I’m looking to improve this year."

Last season, Whitlock started all 13 games at nose guard and ranked fourth on the team with 64 tackles, including a team-leading 14 tackles for loss. That ranked him fifth in the ACC in tackles for loss, with 1.08 a game. Whitlock goes into this season ranked second among active ACC players in career tackles for loss with 24.5, behind Brandon Jenkins of Florida State.

He knows the run stopping part of his game is where he wants it to be.

"I think I did a great job, I averaged almost 1 1/2 tackles for loss last year, which is great for a nose guard," he said. "That part of my game is good. It’s solid right now. But I really didn’t do much in the pass rush. That’s something I need to work on and get better at."

Whitlock did tie for the team lead with 3.5 sacks, and also had three quarterback hurries. But he clearly wants to do more. So he worked on three crucial areas this summer. First, Whitlock put on 10 pounds to put himself in better position to fight off double-teams, something he saw plenty of last season. He is now at 265, better than the 255 he played at in 2011 but still undersized for an inside player.

Second, Whitlock worked on endurance, so he will have the energy and strength to play as well in the fourth quarter as he does in the first. Finally, Whitlock worked on improving his footwork.

"I like to stumble every now and then, which is something you saw in the bowl game," Whitlock said. "It’s something I see more prevalent now. So that’s one of the things I did, a lot of ladder work to improve my feet. Also with putting on some pounds, I’m undersized and I’m shorter than most of the guys but that shouldn’t keep me from being as strong or as physical as some of these guys."

Whitlock also worked with offensive linemen during the summer so he could go over some of his pass rush technique. Now he hopes all that hard work pays off, especially since expectations are higher for him this season than last.

After earning second-team all-ACC honors last year, Whitlock goes into 2012 as the first Demon Deacon to be named to the Preseason All-ACC team since 2008.

He has plenty to live up to, and plenty to improve upon.