Wake Forest football: it’s new and … well, it’s new. First-year head coach Jake Dickert brought in 34 transfers and signed a 26-player high school class, which is the sort of turnover that’s starting to feel normal for a new tenure, and also makes early-season previews a bit of a challenge.
There’s no telling how Dickert’s tenure will eventually shake out, but he looks like a good fit for Wake, coming as he does from another difficult job, which only became more difficult as the Pac-12 disintegrated around it. Wake Forest has more resources than Washington State these days, though his ability to do more with less will remain important.
The Deacs are off to a 2-0 start, with a 10-9 slog of a win over Kennesaw State and 42-10 blowout of Western Carolina. Neither opponent tells us much, though Kennesaw went and lost 56-9 at Indiana the following week. Perhaps the Owls are conducting an elaborate experiment that involves scoring exactly nine points in each game—it’s simply too early to tell.
Wake’s offense is keyed by quarterback Robbie Ashford, who originally signed with Oregon, then transferred to Auburn, then went to South Carolina. His only significant playing time came at Auburn in 2022, when he made nine starts for the Tigers. He ran for over 700 yards, but completed just 49% of his passes.
He’s off to a nice start to 2025, averaging 8.9 yards per attempt with a completion percentage of 66.0—probably about what you’d expect from any halfway decent quarterback against Wake’s schedule. It’ll be important for NC State on Thursday night to put his decision-making to the test, since he has little recent experience to lean on, and we really have no idea how effective of a passer he can be at this point in his career.
That’s easier said than done given his ability to run with the ball, and he’s also got a very good running back in Demond Claiborne in the backfield. Keeping Claiborne in the fold was a big offseason win for Dickert, and I’d expect a heavy dose of run plays from Wake, especially after what UVA did to NC State’s defense last week. No doubt the Deacs will try to get up to similar mischief.
When they do throw the ball, ex-Wazzu receiver Chris Barnes has been Ashford’s favorite target, with a team-high nine grabs. Carlos Hernandez, who had 397 receiving yards and five TDs in 2024, also came with Dickert from Washington State. He’s another guy to keep an eye on, as is Micah Mays, who had four grabs in Raleigh last fall.
The Deacs lost their top four receivers from 2024—one to graduation, two to the SEC, and another to Virginia Tech. Wake is still figuring out what it’s got here, and forcing the Deacs to throw it more than they’d like to would be an ideal outcome. Doesn’t mean that it’ll end up working out, mind you, but that’s where NC State’s priority will lie.
Defensively, Wake Forest added some productive under-the-radar guys up front: nose guard Jayden Loving had a good season for Western Kentucky in 2023, finishing with 36 tackles; ex-UConn defensive end Langston Hardy had 7.0 TFL and 3.5 sacks in 2024 and leads the Deacs with 2.5 sacks this year; Gabe Kirschke had 10 TFL and 6.5 sacks at Colorado State in 2024.
They returned linebacker Dylan Hazen, who had 84 tackles last season, and have a talented safety duo in Nick Andersen (122! tackles in 2024) and Rushaun Tongue. Tongue is listed as questionable for Thursday night. Is this defense better than Virginia’s? Signs point to maybe.
It’s a lot of “maybe,” and “hmm,” and “who knows?” at this juncture.
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