Wake Forest Demon Deacons 2026 Season Preview

Lopez is the whole ballgame. Under Ezell at South Alabama in 2024 he was responsible for better than 3,000 yards of offense and 25 touchdowns, completing 66 percent of his throws with an 18-to-5 touchdown-to-interception mark and better than 460 rushing yards. His lone season at North Carolina was a clear step back, 10 touchdown passes across 11 starts for a team that never found its footing on offense. The bet is that familiarity with Ezell's system, plus a settled pecking order that Wake lacked a year ago, lets him recapture that 2024 form. Behind him it is all inexperience, with redshirt freshman Steele Pizzella and highly regarded true freshmen Grant Lawless and Gannon Jones waiting in the wings.

The room was gutted. Carlos Hernandez is the lone proven holdover, a senior who caught 40 passes for 611 yards (15.3 per grab) and scored five ways last fall, three through the air, one on the ground and one on a punt return. Everything else is imported. Ny Carr, in from Miami, and Chase Tyler, over from Duke, bring big-play juice, Tyler averaging a gaudy 30.0 yards a catch, while Wondame Davis Jr. from UTEP and Kam Shanks from UAB and Arkansas add speed, with Shanks also the likely punt returner. Antonio Meeks joins from Louisville. Tight end pairs senior transfer Kamrean Johnson with Landon Morris. The group must replace real production, including Chris Barnes and Micah Mays Jr., whose 16.8-yard average made him a downfield threat before he moved on.

The backfield must move on from Demond Claiborne, a significant loss after the game-breaker ran for 907 yards as a senior and stood as the roster's top overall player. Wake generated roughly 40 percent of its offense on the ground last year and would like to keep that balance. Ty Clark III gets the first crack, a junior who saw the field often and gained 323 yards (4.3 per carry) as the third option, though he has yet to be handed a full workload. Florida transfer KD Daniels and North Dakota State's Sawyer Seidl, who cleared 890 yards, join what shapes up as a committee of complementary skill sets rather than a single feature back.

The line is the puzzle. Wake has to settle on a top five after heavy losses up front, and while there is no shortage of bodies, most are newcomers. Guard Clinton Richard is the building block, a sophomore whose role grew down the stretch. Around him the staff will blend returnees and transfers: senior John Ohnegian brings 35 career starts from Bucknell, Weber State's Will Way and Oregon State's Ryan Berger add starting experience, and New Hampshire's Tolu Olajide, an all-conference FCS tackle, and George Steih figure into the mix. Until the group gels, it projects a notch below last year's front, which is the biggest swing factor on this side of the ball.

This is where Wake wins games. Both starting ends are back, and both can rush the passer. Gabe Kirschke, a Colorado State transfer, and Langston Hardy, who came over from UConn, combined for a dozen sacks and 26 tackles for loss a year ago, Hardy pairing seven sacks with 10 stops behind the line. Inside, seniors Dallas Afalava and Zach Lohavichan anchor a tackle rotation that returns intact, with all four front-line starters back and a handful of transfers layered in. Depth, from Tyler Walton to Camden Hardy, will decide how disruptive the front stays across a full schedule, and getting to 30 sacks again as a unit is the stated goal.

Experience returns here too. Aiden Hall is the ringleader, a senior who racked up 73 tackles and eight tackles for loss and finished third on the team in stops. Sophomore Frank Cusano mans the middle, and Colorado State import Buom Jock, a 100-tackle producer in 2024, adds proven volume to the rotation. The group has to cover the departure of its leading middle linebacker, but it has the returning bodies and portal reinforcements to hold up.

The back end features a budding star in Davaughn Patterson, a junior nickel who piled up 80 tackles and a team-best nine pass breakups and profiles as the roster's top professional prospect. Fellow safety Braylon Johnson, with 44 tackles and five breakups, gives Wake a trusted tandem, and getting Rushaun Tongue back from injury helps soften the loss of program pillar Nick Andersen. The corner spots are the open question, with FIU transfer Deuce Blades II and his 32 career starts, Travon West and North Alabama's Ashaad Williams competing to replace two departed starters. Iowa State transfer Joshua Patterson, Davaughn's younger brother, is a name to watch as the secondary looks to boost a paltry four-interception total.

Kicking is settled, punting is not. Connor Calvert was excellent as a redshirt freshman, hitting 18 of 22 field goals with a pair of makes from 50-plus, one of them a walk-off winner against SMU. Punting, by contrast, was a glaring weakness, and Australian import Ethan Hyams will battle Jack Ploszay to solidify the job. The Deacons were dynamic in the return game and should have no shortage of options despite losing Chris Barnes, with Shanks lined up to handle punts.