Wake Forest Football Preview 2026: Time to Stop Overlooking the Demon Deacons

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Wake Forest Football Preview 2026: Time to Stop Overlooking the Demon Deacons

Pete Fiutak · College Football News

Sun, Jul 5, 2026 ·

8 min read

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Florida State is a football powerhouse, right? How many wins did it come up with over the last ten years? 66.

Georgia Tech is the hot ACC team. It won 58 games over the last ten seasons. Virginia Tech won 63, North Carolina , 61 ...

Wake Forest has won 70 football games over the last ten years.

Not to sound like a corny t-shirt slogan, but this team is overdue for some respect.

The Demon Deacons Return Loaded - and Better

Jan 2, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Jake Dickert ready to lead his team onto the field during the first quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Bank of America Stadium.

© Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Okay, okay, so Wake Forest went 4-8 in back-to-back seasons before Jake Dickert took over last year, and there were a few fortunate breaks along the way on the way to 9-4 - more on this at the end - but to go full Bill Parcells, you are what your record says you are.

Wake Forest won an ACC championship game. Miami hasn't.

Wake Forest has six bowl wins over the last ten seasons. Florida State has three, Louisville four, and ...

You get the idea. Wake Forest is good.

- 2026 Wake Forest Schedule Analysis

Wake Forest Quick Hits

Head Coach:Jake Dickert (2nd year, 9-4; 5th full season, 32-24)
Best Case / Worst Case:Be in the ACC Championship hunt until the end/Just miss out on bowl eligibility
Key Player: Gio Lopez , QB Jr.
2025 Record:9-4
Biggest Question:Can the Demon Deacons be sharper with so many transfers needing to play key roles?

Wake Forest Key 2025 Stats

1st Quarter Scoring: Wake Forest 103, Opponents 53
Penalties: Wake Forest 96 for 903 yards, Opponents 74 for 667 yards
Two Point Conversions: Wake Forest (5-of-8), Opponents (1-of-1)

Offense

Offensive coordinators Rob Ezell and Dan Enos will put together another efficient, effective offense, but it needs to be far more consistent.

The Demon Deacons found their stride over the last month of the season, but they have to figure out how to score against the good teams.

The transfer portal cranked up the talent level around a good base, and it should average more than the 394 yards and 28 points of last year.

What's Working

The running game should once again be great. Demond Claiborne isn't around anymore to carry the load, but the combination of Ty Clark and transfers Sawyer Seidl ( North Dakota ) and KD Daniels (Florida) brings a nice combination of quickness.

Run well, and everything else is just fine.The Demon Deacons went 7-1 when running for 130 yards or more, and that one loss was the overtime thriller against Georgia Tech.

Did the Demon Deacons upgrade at quarterback? Robby Ashford wasn't bad, and he ran well, but interceptions were a bit of an issue, and he wasn't quite accurate enough.

In comes Gio Lopez, the former South Alabama star before quarterbacking North Carolina last year. He doesn't throw a ton of picks, and he's a more accurate passer than Ashford.

What Needs Work

Scoring against the top teams.As it turned out, Kennesaw State was great - it won the Conference USA title - but Wake Forest should've beaten it by more than 10-9.

The offense put up 30 or more against most of the blah teams - the 32 against Duke weren't enough when the defense gave up 49 - and was saved by the D in tight wins over Virginia (16-9) and SMU (13-12).

The offensive line is almost all about the transfers.Guard Clinton Richard and tackle George Steih are back, and there's a little bit of homegrown depth, but four transfers will need to take over.
They're all good, but none are as talented as tackle Melvin Siani, who left for Texas .

It's all about the transfers at receiver, along with Carlos Hernandez, who led the team with 40 catches for 611 yards and three scores.

Like the offensive line situation, the replacements are all strong, but losing Chris Barnes (Oklahoma State), Sterling Berkhalter (Texas), and Micah Mays (Florida) isn't a plus.

Player to Watch

Ty Clark III, RB Jr.
The idea isn't to make him another Demond Claiborne, but he might turn out to be good enough to handle the bigger role.

The 6-0, 207-pounder has good size, and he can catch - 323 rushing yards averaging 4.3 yards per carry with three scores, and 17 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown - so the more work he can take on, the better.

Oct 4, 2025; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons defensive lineman Dallas Afalava (52) and defensive back Nick Andersen (45) celebrate a fumble recovery during the first quarter against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium.

© Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

Defense

Scottie Hazelton did a whale of a job with the Wake Forest defense in his first season.

The Demon Deacons went from 118th in the nation in total defense to 26th, with a great pass rush and a gut-check way of coming through when the offense wasn't quite working.

There's enough talent coming back to do it all over again.

What's Working

The Demon Deacons can get behind the line.They were great at getting to the quarterbacks, and even better at coming up with tackles for loss.

Langston Hardy is the star of the show at one end, but Gabe Krischke is a problem at the other with five sacks and nine tackles for loss last season.

The tackle combination of Dallas Afalava and nose Zach Lohavichan is coming off a great year, and now there's more depth with 355-pound Sydir Mitchell ( LSU ) and Matt Herron (Weber State) coming in.

The linebackers are in place.Frank Cusano and Aiden Hall combined for 118 tackles last season, and the transfer combination of Buom Jock (Cal) and Tylan McNichols (UAB) brings instant developed depth.

The safeties are terrific, too.Getting 80-tackle Davaughn Patterson back at his nickel spot, and Braylon Johnson is back with corner skills who can handle himself at safety, making 44 tackles with five broken up passes.

What Needs Work

The one area of need was corner, and the Demon Deacons nailed it cold.Deuce Blades played the last five years at FIU, broke up 17 passes over the last three seasons, and is ready to lock down a spot on one side.

Bernard Causey started out his career at LSU, moved over to Georgia State, and he should grow into the role on the other side.

So what's the problem? Between the two, they have a total of two career interceptions.

Don't allow a ton of points.Yeah, duh, but Wake Forest went 0-4 when allowing 30 or more, and was 9-0 when allowing fewer.

Going back to the end of 2022, the team is 1-17 when giving up 30 points or more.

Keep teams from completing passes.And it's not like the Demon Deacons need to shut passing games down cold.

They just had problems with the ones that hit everything.

Wake Forest went 1-4 when allowing quarterbacks to complete 62% or more of their throws, and 8-0 when giving up fewer.

Player to Watch

Langston Hardy, EDGE Sr.
It took him two years to get up to speed at UConn , put together a nice 2024, and got snapped up by the Demon Deacons before last year. He combined his quickness and experience to become one of the ACC's best pass rushers.

Coming off a 67-tackle, seven-sack, 17 tackle-for-loss season, he should be more of a national name.

Keys to the Season

Gio Lopez and all of the new transfers have to produce.
Be sharper - cut down on all the penalties, turnovers, and punting game issues.
Control the tempo better and be more consistent scoring.

Player Who Needs To Shine

Gio Lopez, QB Jr.
It wasn't his fault.

The North Carolina offense overall was a mess last season, but Lopez got better as the season went on, was accurate, and did what he could to get things moving.

Now he's the main man for the Wake Forest offense, and he should get far more help. Ask him to hit the midrange throws, make good decisions, and scramble once in a while, and he'll be great.

Biggest Concern

Score when there's a chance
For an offense that could run as well as Wake Forest did, and considering kicker Connor Calvert was terrific overall, the Demon Deacons were lousy in the red zone.

They failed to come away with points ten times, and it proved costly in the loss to Georgia Tech and made things tougher in tight battles with SMU, Kennesaw State, and Virginia.

Biggest Game

at Louisville, September 26With the ACC opener against Miami, and with four ACC road games in five conference dates over a second half stretch, the Demon Deacons have to steal a road win from somewhere. It might as well be early on.

Transfer Portal

The Demon Deacons weren't able to hang on to a slew of top players who left through the portal, but they made up for it with a great mix of players who fit what the team needs.

The secondary and receiving corps got a bulk of the best prospects, but there's a little something for everywhere.

Best Signing

Antonio Meeks, WR (Louisville)
Don't get caught up in the 17 catches for 189 yards and a score for Louisville last year - he was an important signing.

The Demon Deacons needed a speedy option on the outside, and out of all the receiver transfers coming in, Meeks will make one of the biggest impacts.

Biggest Loss

Mateen Ibirogba, DT (Texas Tech)No, he wasn't a statistical star, but reliable 6-4, 300-pound defensive tackles are worth their weight in gold. He made 21 tackles with two sacks last season, and now he'll be a key piece of the Texas Tech rotation.

Other Names to Know

Sawyer Seidl, RB (North Dakota)
Ryan Berger , OT (Oregon State)
Wondame Davis Jr., WR ( UTEP )

CFN Season Prediction

If a nine-win team from last year returned with this much starting experience in key spots, a coaching staff this good, and with a few upgrades - like, at quarterback - was named, say, Florida State or Clemson, the gushing would be unstoppable.

And to make it even crazier, last year's team was this close to being 10-2 in the regular season.

But last year's Demon Deacon team also had a bit of a perfect storm happening schedule-wise.

CFN Prediction: 7-5

It didn't have to deal with a Power Four team in non-conference play. This year, it goes to Purdue - don't knock it; this is a much, much better Boilermaker team this season.

Last year's team didn't have to play Miami or Louisville - those are the first two games of the ACC season.

It also didn't have to make a crazy-long trip across the country to Berkeley or Palo Alto, and this year it has to go to Cal at the end of a run of three road games in four weeks.

It catches a break by not having to deal with Notre Dame or Clemson again, but along with Cal, the rest of the ACC road games are Louisville, NC State, SMU, and Georgia Tech.

So, yeah, we're underestimating Wake Forest yet again.

And Wake Forest will probably just keep on winning.

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