Few things about the transfer portal are certain other than the system’s inarguable fallibility. But only a few weeks into Jake Dickert’s era at Wake Forest, we do know one thing. Dickert is getting a chance to do things Dave Clawson never did. Tracking the transfer portal activity has become a daily must-do for Deac Nation.
During the transition between the head coaches, it was all outgoing talent from the Wake Forest perspective. But with his new coaching staff nearly complete, the numbers in the incoming/outgoing ledger are clearly balanced, with maybe even a slight edge to the new Wake Forest roster.
What’s Different
So, is Dickert better at managing the portal than Clawson was? Or have the circumstances changed in Winston-Salem?
For the last couple of years, Clawson has proclaimed the challenges of getting portal players through the admissions office at Wake Forest. The school, he reminded people, has a policy that you must have 50% of your total credits come from Wake, in order to graduate with a degree from the school.
To Clawson, that meant that players who had spent two or three years at a previous school were not going surrender a large number of their existing credits in order to play at Wake. That left him to comb the fields for grad transfers and freshmen.
Jake Dickert Is Getting a Chance To Do Things
Is Dickert Getting Help?
Wake being Wake, and a private school at that, no one will acknowledge there might be a little more leeway for Dickert. It is common for a prospective new coach to look over the landscape of his suitor and give a brief laundry list of things they will need from the school to have a chance to succeed. Any coach coming into takeover football would want some transfer help.
Back in the Fall, we opined on the academic/transfer status as being one of the reasons the Wake Forest job had too many obstacles.
No one is suggesting that Wake Forest is caving on its academic standards for the sake of some football players. But it is feasible that when looking at the incoming portal players, some malleability was found. Many of the incoming portal class are grad transfers and/or have one year of eligibility left. But some are coming to play at Wake Forest that have two or even three years left.
Dickert also has money to work with, as the national revenue-sharing system is expected to start this Summer. It would have been there for Clawson as well had he stayed.
Outgoing
The glut of players leaving Wake hit two positions the hardest. The offensive line and wide receiver groups had the biggest losses.
Nick Sharpe, Zach Vaughn, Keagen Trost, Matt Gulbin, and Luke Petitbon were the linemen who left Wake via the portal. The Deacs will be seeing Petitbon at some point next season as they go to Tallahassee to play against his new Florida State team. The irony is that the turnover on the Wake roster is so substantial that only a few will even know him from his Demon Deacon days.
The receiver group lost Donavon Greene, Deuce Alexander, Horatio Fields, and Walker Merrill. Greene did not play much in the last three years because of various injuries. Merrill was plagued by injuries that happened in Spring and Fall camps after his transfer from Tennessee. He did not see much game action in his two years. Fields and Alexander are loaded with potential and talent and will be harder to replace.
The unofficial total of Wake Players leaving is 16. We call it 15 because Mitch Griffis is included in all the databases. But since he had already left Wake and did not play anywhere last year, we are not counting him against the Demon Deacons’ numbers.
Incoming
The term unofficial plays a large role here. Players go on social media to announce they are committing to a school. There are a couple of digital media sites that are eager to be first with the news and report the conceptual commit. Our numbers reflect what is only official. That is to say, the player has passed the academic/admissions litmus test, has signed their paperwork, and will be in Winston-Salem at some point in the near future.
By our very unofficial count, that number, as we write this, sits at 17 new players. That could change the minute this is published. That is the pace with which the new coaching staff is operating.
While there will be time to get to know some of the new faces as they rise up in Spring camp in a couple of months, there are a few certainties now.
Dickert has done a lot of selling on the virtues of playing for him at Wake Forest to his “former” players at Washington State. The current count is seven former Cougars following their coach to the other side of the country.
This has certainly angered much of the WSU social media base. But the reality is that this is the way the system goes. Curt Cignetti turned Indiana into a real football program in his first year by bringing a slew of his players from James Madison with him. Of course, G5 schools expect to lose players to bigger programs. But the system is still no different at the FBS level. And with Washington State, along with Oregon State, still being in a college sports wilderness, selling certainty can go a long way for Dickert.
Help Where It Is Needed
Dickert has put out a concentrated effort to fill holes in the offensive line. There are five new linemen slated to come to Wake Forest. Three of them played for Dickert in Pullman. AJ Hasson is one of the few incoming offensive linemen who has more than one year of eligibility left. By our count, he has three years in front of him.
Dickert also potentially filled a need at quarterback. Hank Bachmeier and Michael Kern are out of eligibility. Charlie Gilliam is in the portal, albeit with no school chosen yet. And those who remain have never taken a meaningful snap in a college game, including the highly touted Jeremy Hecklinski.
In comes Robby Ashford who most recently was back up at South Carolina. Wake Forest will be Ashford’s fourth school. He has also been at Oregon, (where he did not play), and Auburn, (two years). He has thrown a grand total of 309 passes in three years of playing. But that puts him far ahead of anyone else currently on the Wake roster. That is not to say the quarterback shopping in the portal is finished.
There are also four receivers coming in. Sterling Berkhalter spent his previous college years at North Carolina A&T and Cincinnati. Carlos Hernandez and Chris Barnes are both coming from WAZZU. Both have multiple years of eligibility left.
Questions To Be Answered
The window to enter the portal is closed for most players around the country. But because of the coaching change, the Wake Forest players have until January 16th. Could there be more movement out? It is possible. Another addition to the quarterback room could compel some movement. Others could leave as they see portal players at their position make the move to Wake. There are only nine days left for the outgoing portal for Wake. But it could also be a long nine days of waiting.
The post Jake Dickert Is Getting a Chance To Do Things Dave Clawson Never Did appeared first on Last Word on College Football.