Wake Forest continues to dig deep into the transfer portal class for the 2026 roster. The Demon Deacons picked up a couple of more transfers for the defensive side of the ball in the last day-plus.
Wake Forest Bolsters Defense
Defensive Line
Shakai Woods will be joining Wake Forest. He is transferring from Middle Tennessee State. Woods redshirted in 2023 after playing in four games. He started nine games in 2024, but played in all 12. He finished the season being named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team.
As a redshirt sophomore in 2025, Woods had a career-best 50 total tackles for MTSU. He also had two-and-a-half sacks and a pass breakup. His season-high in tackles was the nine that he had against Delaware, a common Wake Forest opponent in 2025.
The new defensive lineman is 6’-0”, 279 pounds.
Woods will have two years of eligibility left when he enters Wake Forest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the publication of this article, Woods has changed his mind. He committed to Wake but had yet to sign the contract. A social media post indicates that the decision is tied to academics/graduation.
Linebacker
Wake Forest is also picking up a new linebacker. Buom Jock (seriously) is transferring from Cal. His first name is pronounced “Boom.” His full name is Buomkuoth Jock.
Jock was a target for the Deacs prior to the 2025 season when he was in the portal from Colorado State. Wake was successful in getting Jock’s Colorado State teammates Gabe Kirschke and Nuer Gatkouth. But Jock opted for Cal. It did not work out the way he had hoped. He only played in four games, having a hard time finding playing time on an excellent Cal linebacker unit, and then ultimately redshirted. He mostly appeared on special teams for Cal.
In 2024, at Colorado State. He had 100 total tackles, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, and an interception. His biggest game of 2024 was against UTEP (and new Wake receiver Wondame Davis, Jr.). Jock had 13 total tackles in that game. Jock is 6’-4”, 235 pounds.
It is worth noting that current Wake Forest linebacker coach Adam Pilapil was Jock’s linebacker coach at Colorado State. Jock will have two years of eligibility left.
Moving Forward
This brings the unofficial total of transfer portal pickups for head coach Jake Dickert to 15. Dickert had indicated he was looking to fill 16 spots via the transfer portal. Although with the late-in-the-process decision of quarterback Deshawn Purdie to enter the portal, the Deacs may go above the 16 players in order to go after a second portal quarterback. Wake lost 18 players to the portal.
Main Image: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
