By Mark Pszonak
Some football programs such as Colorado, Florida State and Indiana have tried to change their identity through the transfer portal. Others just pick and choose a few players through the portal to fill some roster holes. Wake Forest used to be grouped in the later, but after a head coaching change they have quickly become one of the more aggressive portal teams in the ACC.
The Demon Deacons recently gained attention for signing transfer quarterback Deshawn Purdie, who initially signed with Florida during this cycle before quickly changing his mind and eventually finding a home in Winston-Salem:
#GoDeacs 🎩 pic.twitter.com/1QEzOcMDad
— Deshawn Purdie (@Dpurdie0) January 17, 2025
But Wake Forest’s change of philosophy began almost immediately after new head coach Jake Dickert was hired on December 18th after Dave Clawson stepped down. During the previous three portal cycles Wake Forest only signed 12 players in total, while they have added 21 since Coach Dickert’s hiring a little more than a month ago.
As happens with many new head coaches, several (7) of his former players followed Coach Dickert to Wake Forest from Washington State. The other 14 players arrive from a variety of schools and levels. Quarterback Robby Ashford (South Carolina) adds even more depth to the position, Jacob Dennison (Ohio) and Melvin Siani (Temple) improve the offensive line and several successful FCS players, WR Sawyer Racanelli (Montana), S Sascha Garcia (William & Mary) and CB Karon Prunty (North Carolina A&T), will immediately push for starting roles.
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However, is this a winning philosophy? It can be, but by no means is it guaranteed. Looking at examples of programs that are annually active, it obviously worked for Colorado this season but flopped in 2023. The exact opposite happened to Florida State. Indiana hit the lottery this season, but as was proven by the Buffaloes and Seminoles, that isn’t guaranteed to lead to success next season.
Wake Forest needed a jolt though, and Coach Dickert has brought that. Coach Clawson was a very good coach who succeeded with the Demon Deacons, but the portal and NIL chaos is what drove him away. Coach Dickert is embracing the current chaos, but now everyone will have to wait and see if that translates to success on the field.
