{"id":85400,"date":"2026-02-11T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=85400"},"modified":"2026-02-11T08:29:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T13:29:51","slug":"85400-a-different-type-of-rebuild-at-wake-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/02\/11\/85400-a-different-type-of-rebuild-at-wake-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"A Different Type of Rebuild at Wake Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebuilding a college football program today is a different endeavor than it used to be. In the age of unfettered player free agency, a coach has to rebuild on a yearly basis, and a long-term stamp on the program is difficult. It is with these circumstances that Jake Dickert begins his second rebuild at Wake Forest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to take a team that went 4-8 the previous season and lost a boatload of talent to the transfer portal. It is a wholly different task to rebuild a team that you took to a 9-4 record in the previous system, including a bowl win. But a rebuild is what Dickert has to do in order to fill some huge holes in the roster.<\/p>\n

A Different Type of Rebuild at Wake Forest<\/h2>\n

Going Over the Details<\/h3>\n

Dickert met with the media on Wednesday to talk about the players, new and returning, as his roster is now complete for the 2026 season. The press conference coincided with the first Wednesday in February, which used to be the signing day for high school recruits. Now that it happens in early December, Dickert has spent the rest of his time rebuilding through the portal.<\/p>\n

Wake Forest is bringing in 42 new players, according to Dickert. There are 20 new players coming from the high school ranks and 22 through the portal. He added that there are 56 \u201choldovers,\u201d or returning players. The total roster sits at 116 players, including walk-ons and DSA\u2019s (non-scholarship designated student athletes whose spots are protected by the House v. NCAA settlement).<\/p>\n

Dickert talked about the evaluation process in the current era, and Wake getting some transfers from smaller schools. \u201cWhen you walk in these doors, nobody cares. Nobody cares where you came from,\u201d he said, adding that the Deacs took a player from Dayton just as easily as they took one from LSU. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to come in here, and you\u2019ve got to make sure you are willing to put in the work. No one\u2019s going to give it to you in our program.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Quarterback<\/h3>\n

Of utmost priority, at least on the surface, is the quarterback spot. Robby Ashford\u2019s eligibility has expired. And the heir apparent, Deshawn Purdie, unexpectedly went into the transfer portal and moved on to Liberty University.<\/p>\n

Dickert answered the need by signing Gio Lopez<\/a>, the transfer from North Carolina. This will be Lopez\u2019 third school in four years, having previously played two seasons at South Alabama prior to UNC last year. \u00a0He is expected to be medically cleared to resume full workouts in a couple of weeks after suffering a right leg injury at the end of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Lopez is already familiar with the Wake Forest offense. His offensive coordinator at South Alabama was current Wake Forest OC Rob Ezell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s what I love. He\u2019s got a chip on his shoulder,\u201d Dickert said of his new quarterback. \u201cHe\u2019s been told for the last four months that he\u2019s not good enough. He has the type of DNA we need here to lead a football team.\u201d Lopez’s best statistical year was his second season at South Alabama under Ezell. He threw for 2,559 yards, 18 touchdowns, and five interceptions.<\/p>\n

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The Running Back Room<\/h3>\n

There is also a significant departure at running back, where Demond Claiborne is now working on his hopes for an NFL contract. Wake already had depth with Ty Clark III and Jamar Searcy. They added transfer KD Daniels from Florida and Sawyer Seidl from North Dakota.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be an ultra-competitive room,\u201d Dickert assessed. \u201cI think we know what Ty is. But I want what Ty can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebuilding Areas<\/h3>\n

At the end of the 2025 season, Dickert said he knew the receiver room was going to be a rebuilding project. He said the recruiting effort was based on \u201cdynamics over dimensions.\u201d He said he feels good about the role returnees Bryce Kania and Jack Foley can play. Dickert also signed Chase Tyler from Duke. He said that Tyler will bring a high level of athleticism to the position. Dickert said there is also a lot of potential for Kam Shanks, the transfer from Arkansas, despite his 5\u2019-8\u201d, 169-pound frame. \u201cWho\u2019s going to be explosive and who\u2019s going to put in the work to see how these guys most succeed in getting the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dickert emphasized multiple times throughout the press conference the need to get bigger. When it comes to the incoming freshmen, he said in today\u2019s pre-college football environment, personal trainers are over-emphasizing on-field athleticism. \u201cBecause of the trainers of some of these kids, they think development is a bad word,\u201d Dickert said. \u201cWe are very detailed to the process of it,\u201d he added. \u201cSome of those freshman players are on such a developmental track,\u201d he said, noting that many of them are lifting more in the weight room than they have ever done before. \u201cWe are in a bulk phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Line<\/h3>\n

Dickert said there is a need on his offensive line to get bigger and stronger. \u201cI told the team, we\u2019re not strong enough, physically,\u201d he said. “And I think we have a lot of skills. I think we\u2019re more explosive. And I think we\u2019re faster. I\u2019m looking to get stronger at the line of scrimmage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that is the loss of Melvin Siani, who left Wake Forest within days of signing his 2026 agreement. Within three hours of going into the portal, he was signed by Texas. Dickert talked about the landscape of players being able to buy their way out of their contracts. He said the process has brought about what he called the most overused word, tampering<\/a>. \u201cAs a sport, we need to honor contracts. If we don\u2019t have the honoring of contracts in our game, what do we have?\u201d He made it a point multiple times in the press conference to say that Wake Forest honors its contracts. He said the school will \u201cFully enforce the buyouts in the contracts.\u201d Thus, Siani was allowed to leave by paying whatever the dollar amount was that the contract called for. Dickert thinks there could be help from the NFL in laying the groundwork for college football player movement.<\/p>\n

Year to Year<\/h3>\n

The difference from year to year is clear in how the players came to be Demon Deacons for the 2026 season. In 2025, with Dickert in his first year, 12 players followed him from Washington State. Another eight followed their coaches as they took new jobs on the Wake Staff. There was a known product for at least 20 of the new players. \u201cNow you\u2019re looking at 22 high school guys who we really vetted, that we really know. And 20 guys through a quick process [in the portal] with skill sets that you like.\u201d He said it is a different room and a different mentality than it was last year. It will also likely be different next year.<\/p>\n

The New Vision<\/h3>\n

Dickert painted a picture of his recruiting trails coming off a 9-4 season. \u201cWhat a difference a year makes. Just the reverberations of Wake Forest football in North Carolina has completely changed,\u201d he said. He called the recruiting process very detailed, saying he has traveled to every corner of the state. \u201cI don\u2019t travel with an entourage. It\u2019s just me out there. There\u2019s no area recruiters. There\u2019s no player personnel guy. There\u2019s just me and my truck hitting North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Photo from Tony Siracusa<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebuilding a college football program today is a different endeavor than it used to be. In the age of unfettered player free agency, a coach has to rebuild on a yearly basis, and a long-term stamp on the program is difficult. It is with these circumstances that Jake Dickert begins his second rebuild at Wake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":85408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,17,35643],"tags":[9582,34724,35396],"class_list":["post-85400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc","category-featured","category-news","category-wake-forest-demon-deacons","tag-jake-dickert","tag-rob-ezell","tag-ty-clark"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85400"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85409,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85400\/revisions\/85409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}