Starting this off with a commitment in the same week as signing day for the previous class.

Wake's first commit for 2026 is Rhett Morris, an offensive lineman from New Jersey. Good size, he's an interior OL. Assume Rivals will get a ranking on him over the next few months as we transition from class of '25 to '26.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Not exactly "one thread to rule them all" type of stuff here but this is where I'll attempt to track what Wake's roster looks like next season.

Here's the update on the eve of the regular-season finale:

Guaranteed departures
Cameron Hildreth (eligibility)
Hunter Sallis (eligibility)
Kevin Dunn (walk-on, eligibility)
RJ Kennah (walk-on, eligibility)

Exiting via transfer portal
Efton Reid III (senior, no eligibility without winning lawsuit against NCAA)
Ty-Laur Johnson (junior, announced 3/19)
Parker Friedrichsen (junior, announced 3/19 | committed to Davidson)
Davin Cosby Jr. (junior, announced 3/21 | committed to Kennesaw State)
Mason Hagedorn (r-freshman, announced 3/28)
Churchill Abass (junior, announced 3/31)

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Going to start this thread to round up all of the transfer news and anything else like ...

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

There's going to be a lot of new things about Wake's football program moving forward. That much is obvious with a coaching change but probably worth reiterating every now and then before the season starts.

Here's a story on Wake's spring game (showcase) being open to the public but not televised.

As something of a programming note ... I met with Dickert last week and was encouraged to see how open he wants to make media access. That was always a burning question for me, post-Dave Clawson, was whether we'd get the same access to practices. There aren't a whole lot of programs left in the country that will let media see as much as Wake Forest allows.

So, we will. Which is great for coverage moving forward.

Obviously, it's going to be hard to get to spring practices (they start March 18) before basketball season ends. But I'll do my best once my schedule allows.

This broke about 45 minutes ago and I'm not sure I have much information other than to make yall aware of the situation.

On3 has bought Rivals from Yahoo! | Here is a story on On3's website about it.

I don't know what this means for Deacons Illustrated in the near future. If I'm being completely honest, it's jarring news -- since we're a direct competitor with On3 and have been told to not even credit them on things. But I don't want to alarm anyone -- in the near future, we'll keep humming along here and adjust as necessary.

Just wanted to get something up here, open up a thread for any questions you might have -- and post updates as they come in the next few months.

Here is a quick rundown of Wake's outlook for the ACC tournament.

To elaborate on pitching decision for Wednesday: Was told last night it was 85% Morningstar, 15% Lunceford.

I'll be there Wednesday morning for Wake's crack-of-dawn game (being dramatic).

Going to pin this thread to (attempt to) keep track of all developments -- visits, offers, pending commits -- on the basketball recruiting front.

To start things off:

Wake Forest doesn't a commit in the 2023 class yet and that should be alarming to absolutely nobody. If you read the State of the Program breakdown of recruiting (linked here), you know the changing landscape of recruiting and Steve Forbes' thoughts on the situation.

Forbes isn't going to panic and take players just to take players. That is, bluntly, one of the reasons he's coaching at Wake Forest and Danny Manning isn't. Forbes looks for who fits in his system, at the school, and who can play in the ACC ... and he's not lowering the basket to squeeze players into that criteria. If he can't get recruits that fit, he's going to scour the portal -- which has proved quite fruitful (invest in Andrew Carr, Ty Appleby and Jao Ituka stock now).

You've also got to note that Wake Forest -- at least right now -- doesn't line up to be in need of a large recruiting class entering next season. Daivien Williamson and Appleby are the only players who are out of eligibility after this season, and there's an open scholarship. So that's 3 current vacancies to account for in the 2023-24 season. Will that number stay at 3? Unlikely. Can Forbes go out and oversign? Well, yes, but only if he plans on running off current members of the team.

Frankly, I don't see that last part happening, though.

I've got to find a better way to juggle all of this stuff without baseball falling to the back burner.

Here is a story off last night's win against Pitt.

I'll get separate stories up today and tomorrow on the last two games of the series.

And then sometime before the final series at Louisville starts Thursday, I'll have a little mini-feature on Blake Morningstar moving to the Friday night role.

Any news on when we might see Duncan Marsten? Will Ethan Conrad be 100% for Clemson?

Something new this season.

Because it's inevitable this comes up, I'll post and pin this thread to track how Wake's transfers are playing this season. It's going to be heavily focused on guys who were on Wake's roster last season because, well, do you really think of Carter Whitt as a former WF player? (before you ask, yes, he's still playing college basketball)

So, here's the list of the transfers out of WF from last season's roster and where they're playing this season:

Andrew Carr - Kentucky
**********
Kevin Miller - SMU
**********
Zach Keller - Utah
**********
Damari Monsanto - UTSA
**********
Matthew Marsh - Oregon State
**********
Abramo Canka - Stetson
**********
Aaron Clark - Pepperdine

It's easier to just pour some thoughts into a thread than lay this out in a story/column. And I've seen enough Twitter/message board/etc. posts on the matter to not address it.

So, about Steve Forbes/WVU:

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Headline says it all -- here's the story on Wake Forest declining an NIT bid.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Firing up another week of baseball coverage.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Preview for tomorrow's game can be found here.

Programming note: I'll have remote coverage of this game.

Predictions:

- Hunter Sallis scores at least 25 points.

- Baye Ndongo has at least 15 points, 12 rebounds.

- GT makes eight 3-pointers.

Wake's first game in the ACC tournament will be Thursday at 2:30 and it could be against one of three teams -- Notre Dame, Pittsburgh or UNC.

Notre Dame and Pitt play in the first game of the tournament, which is tomorrow at 2 p.m. The winner will play UNC on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. -- and then the winner of that game will play WF on Thursday at the same time.

Wake Forest went 3-0 against ND/Pitt/UNC this season and all of them were tiiiiiight wins at home. As a refresher: Here are the stories on each of those three games:

Wake Forest notches 74-71 win over ND.

Wake Forest hangs on for 76-74 win against Pitt.

Wake Forest edges UNC for 67-66 win.

**********
I can't see Pitt winning twice, as their season has crashed without Damian Dunn and without much interior scoring. Notre Dame should win that game and then depending on how much Markus Burton has in the tank, he could power them past UNC.

But I think it'll most likely be a Wake Forest-UNC game on Thursday that has an elimination-game feel, as far as NCAA tournament hopes. The winner will probably still need to beat Duke in Friday night's first semifinal, but the loser between that potential WF-UNC game would have an understanding that it won't be dancing.

UNC has improved ... somewhere between significantly and minimal since it lost at WF. The Tar Heels won 6 straight before Saturday night's loss to Duke, but those 6 were against some of the worst the ACC has to offer (which is saying something these days). The most important thing you'll need to know ahead of that potential matchup is how much bigger UNC has been playing; when they came to Winston-Salem, they were guard HEAVY. They're still guard heavy, but they're getting better play from the frontcourt, meaning a little more balance.

**********
I'm not headed down to Charlotte until Thursday, so I'll remote track Tuesday and Wednesday's games and then have a preview up sometime later Wednesday for Wake's first game. I'll have some other coverage before then, though -- like the All-ACC awards coming out shortly.

Quick recap of Wake's 14-6 win over App State found here.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Preview for Monday night's game can be found here.

Programming: I'll be there with full coverage.

Predictions:

- Hunter Sallis scores at least 20 points.

- Wake Forest makes five 3s.

- Duke makes 10 3s.

Rounding up several things here ...

First, a recap of Tuesday's comeback win over Elon.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Preview for tomorrow's game can be found here.

Programming: I'll have remote coverage from this one (struck out on finding a stringer).

Predictions:

- Hunter Sallis scores at least 25 points.

- Markus Burton scores at least 25, too.

- Juke Harris scores at least 10 points.

Preview will be up later today.

Programming note: I'll be at this game with full coverage.

In the meantime ... My Take on where this program is headed.

Covered my first baseball game of the season today -- and I'm not sure when the next time I'll be back is (just because of unpredictable schedule).

Story on Wake's win over St. John's.

I'll have a weekend recap up in the next couple of days.

Thread up a few days early because I've got one story ahead of time.

Cameron Hildreth should be back for this game.

Programming note out of the way now: I'll be in Raleigh with full coverage of this one.

Preview for Saturday night's game can be found here.

Programming: I'll have remote coverage of this one.

Predictions:

- Boopie has at least 18 points but takes at least 15 shots to get them.

- Wake Forest makes at least seven 3-pointers.

- Hunter Sallis scores over 20 points.

I'd say this season has snuck up on me but it hasn't -- I've just probably immersed myself too much into basketball season to get what I wanted to have done on baseball, done.

Here is an overarching season preview for Wake Forest.

Programming for this weekend: I'll be remote monitoring today's doubleheader and will have a story on it. And then for Saturday's doubleheader (or if moved to Sunday), it'll also be remote coverage.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.