A Mixed Bag from Jake Dickert at Wake Forest Practice

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Getting a mixed bag from Jake Dickert on a Tuesday lends itself to some useful give-and-take with some interesting results.

Dickert met with the media after practice early Tuesday. Fall camp was somewhat officially over. And game prep for week one was somewhat officially starting. Fall camp ended with last week’s scrimmage. There was a practice scheduled for Saturday, but Dickert gave the team the day, feeling a sense of needing some fresh legs for this week. With the Akron game nine days out, it was time to start preparing for the Zips. But there was also stuff that showed up on the tape from Thursday’s scrimmage that needed cleaning up.

A Mixed Bag from Jake Dickert

The Tale of the Tape

“Obviously we’ve got to clean up a lot of the technical pieces. Especially on the perimeter, the penalties, the formations. We’ve got to be better. I think that’s on coaching. That’s the biggest thing I learned from Thursday. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to clean that stuff up,” Dickert said. “We’ve come a long way. We’ve got a long way to go.”

He gave praise to the defensive unit, saying the players were very far along in terms of the schemes. He added that the twos and threes had elevated their play in recent days as well.

Making the Transition

“When you’re not on the field for four days, you get out of rhythm quick,” Dickert said Tuesday. “We get two runs at this. We get two Tuesday practices for Akron. So, we’ve got to have a lot of learns.”

Among those needing to learn, Dickert said, is his coaching staff. “I thought even from a coaching standpoint, I thought we were a little sloppy today. We’ve got to pick it up.” He added that it is time for some players to get out of their emotions. They may not have finished Fall camp where they wanted on the depth chart, but it is time to move forward. “That’s your role right now. That’s your initial role. It’s a vital role on this team. It carries a lot of high value, and those guys have got to execute those roles.”

Healthy Deacs

Wake is going into the season healthier than it did last season. “Zero season-ending injuries to this point, which is ultra-positive coming out of camp,” Dickert said. It is a step up from last year for sure. He said there were a couple of uncertainties as they pertain to the week one game, but of course would not elaborate on who the players were or the extent of the injuries.

Since the school is only mandated to release depth charts/injury reports prior to conference games, we will all likely be in a wait-and-see mode together.

Demon Deacon Style

This is not a reference to any clothing line available at your favorite Wake Forest apparel outlet. It is about what Dickert wants to see on the field when the game starts next Thursday night.

“There is always a style in which we need to play. That’s my whole focus for the next nine days is what’s the style of football that is Wake Forest Demon Deacons in 2026? How do we need to play to win games? How do we need to leverage the strengths of each side of the ball?”

Counting the Votes

Wake Forest has named six captains for the 2026 season. Defensive back Davaughn Patterson, linebacker Aiden Hall, defensive lineman Langston Hardy, quarterback Gio Lopez, tight end Matthew Lusardi and offensive lineman Will Way.

The selections came after consultation with the team leadership group and a vote of the players.

Dickert said 17 players got 10 or more votes, and he called it the most he has ever seen in his years of coaching.

Lopez and Way joined Wake for the first time in the Spring. A quarterback being selected as a leader, even a new quarterback, is not exactly stunning. But Way has quickly worked his way up from a lesser-known FCS transfer to the leadership council in the Summer to now a team captain. “He’s super comfortable leading from the front, and we’re going to need that, especially on the line of scrimmage,” Dickert said.

Crazy Times

It is impossible to talk to any coach on any day and not discuss the utter chaos that is rampant throughout college sports. The structure changes as frequently as one day to the next. Players who were part of a lawsuit filed in the state of Louisiana have been given a temporary injunction against the NCAA and granted a fifth year of eligibility. Some are making moves to schools just one week before the first full slate of games. That is, of course, pending the NCAA getting a stay of the injunction. Then those players will be ineligible just as quickly as they picked up their uniforms.

Dickert was told that just an hour or so before he met with the media, the Big 10 was going to announce a new rule that any player who moved on to pro sports, with or without a contract, cannot come back to play college ball at any Big 10 school. The ACC is in discussions over a similar rule.

“A hundred percent,” Dickert said when asked if he would be in favor of the rule. “We’re in the wild, wild west here. And I don’t want anyone taking opportunities away from different players. We have an organization [the NCAA] that can’t govern our organization because of all these lawsuits. Sometimes we have to govern ourselves, and just hearing that [the Big 10 news], I think that’s a step in the right direction.” He added that the new flow of players would stop if coaches stopped taking them.

Yes, There Is Space, But No Thanks

To that last point, Wake Forest is not at the roster limit. There is one spot left. But Dickert, as he said weeks ago and reiterated on Tuesday, will not be checking the NFL waiver wires for a former Wake player who can come back for a fifth year. “We’re going forward with our team,” he said, adding that he believes adding a player this late in the game would be disruptive to the process. “I’m excited about what our team can do.”

Show Up

Dickert took note that the incoming freshman class at Wake Forest is the largest in school history (1,591 new students). He made the hardcore sales pitch to get the students (who often show up in large numbers but are gone by the second half) to show up en masse. “Six Saturdays a year (it’s actually four, with a Thursday and a Friday thrown in), Allegacy Stadium needs to be packed,” he said with a tone of urgency. “We’re working on not letting everybody study abroad in the Fall,” he added, only somewhat joking. “If we want this program to be where we want it to be, the support needs to be there.”

He threw in that he has favored cancelling classes on game days if it helps get the student population there. When advised that it would make more sense to cancel classes the day after a weeknight game, he laughed that maybe the school can do remote learning on those days.

Main Image: Grace Sorrells (ShotwithGrace)