Wake Forest Starts Rebuilding Process

Wake Forest is off and rolling in the transfer portal. The Demon Deacons have many holes to fill, but they are wasting no time in getting some new personnel. Even as Wake was preparing to play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl last week, head coach Jake Dickert had a war room going on campus with staff setting up meetings and calls with players going into the portal. By the day of the game, Friday, Wake was attacking the first day of the portal window as best they could under the circumstances.

The results so far are four solid commits from players at positions of need.

Wake Forest Starts Rebuilding Process

Secondary Help

Safety Joshua Patterson is leaving Iowa State for Wake Forest. Patterson had his visit to Wake over the weekend, and it did not take him long to make his decision. Of course, he had a good sales pitch from someone. His brother Davaughn is one of the most valued returnees for the 2026 Deacs. The younger Patterson (5’-11”, 195 pounds) played four games in his one season at Iowa State, so 2025 will be his redshirt year. He had four tackles, one pass deflection, and one interception in those four games for the Cyclones.

Georgia State Bernard Causey III signed with Wake Forest on Monday. Causey has already had a journey. He was committed to Ole Miss for the 2024 class but signed with LSU. Causey saw little playing time and used the year for his redshirt. He dropped down to G5 Georgia State. He played in 10 games and was one of the few bright spots for a GA Southern team that went 1-11 last year. The one knock on Causey is that he is 5’-11”, 165 pounds. Not much to be done about his height, but he will need to add some weight to have the physicality to play in the ACC.

Running Back

The Deacs got an SEC running back on Monday. KD Daniels announced he is transferring from the Florida Gators to Wake Forest. It’s a position of need for Wake as Demond Claiborne and Jamario Clements have no eligibility left. And Tate Carney and Drew Pickett have said they are going into the portal, although according to the most reliable of database trackers, the paperwork for both is not presently accounted for.

Daniels signed with Florida for the 2024 season in the early signing period (December 2023). He was a four-star recruit in the 247Sports Composite ranking. He is now considered a three-star transfer prospect. Daniels redshirted in 2024. He was used sparingly in 2025, carrying the ball 28 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Having used his redshirt already, he has three years of eligibility left.

Receiver Room

Dickert has made it clear that one of the top priorities for the staff in looking at the portal is “Rebuilding the wide receiver room,” as he told us two weeks ago. He got some help in that area on Monday when Duke’s Chase Tyler announced he would be transferring to Wake Forest. Tyler is a big body receiver at 6’-2”, 200 pounds. He redshirted in 2024. In 2025, he had four catches for 120 yards, including a 62-yard reception.

Wake is losing a lot at the position. Sterling Berkhalter, Karate Brenson, and Sawyer Racanelli have no more eligibility left. Chris Barnes, EJ Reid, Micah Mayes, Ben Grice, and Reginald Vick have all said they are going into the portal. But strangely, the paperwork for each of them is not yet registered with the clearinghouse.

Dickert said two weeks ago that they were hoping to sign 16 players via the portal. While the portal window officially opened last Friday, Monday was the first day of heavy activity in terms of players committing to new schools. The window is open through January 16^th to enter. But you can exit at any point.