It was a fairly successful first season for Wake Forest under new head coach Jake Dickert.

The Demon Deacons finished the regular season 8-4 overall (4-4 ACC), qualifying for a bowl game for the first time since 2022.

After a shaky 2-2 start, the Demon Deacons won six of their last eight games, marking a major in-season turnaround. They notched quality wins over No. 14 Virginia and SMU, but fell to Duke in their final game of the season.

It was a remarkable turnaround for Dickert, who took over the program after back-to-back 4-8 seasons under Dave Clawson. Dickert accepted the position after four seasons at Washington State, where he compiled a 23-20 overall record.

The Demon Deacons have one final game left against Mississippi State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, but that hasn’t deterred multiple players from announcing their intentions to enter the transfer portal.

According to 247Sports, the Demon Deacons have had 15 players enter the transfer portal as of Dec. 18. Most recently, freshman quarterback Elijiah Oehlke announced he will be entering the portal when it opens on Jan. 2, joining a host of other former Demon Deacons.

One of the most notable losses for the Demon Deacons was freshman wide receiver Chris Barnes, who announced his transfer decision on Dec. 14. Barnes led Wake Forest with 39 receptions for 547 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He was named an All-ACC honorable mention as a wide receiver, while earning third-team honors as a return specialist.

Only two days later, sophomore wide receiver Micah Mays also announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal. He finished the year with 18 catches for 302 receiving yards and two scores, averaging 16.8 yards per reception. Both Barnes and Mays were promising young offensive stars, making both major losses for the program.

Another key loss was defensive tackle Mateen Ibirogba, who transferred from Georgetown to Wake Forest before the 2023 season. He stepped into a bigger role this season, totaling 21 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks for the Demon Deacons.

Along with the names above, tight end Harry Lodge, safety Jacob Cosby-Mosley, defensive lineman Ka’Shawn Thomas, wide receiver EJ Reid, offensive lineman Derrell Johnson II, and offensive tackle Nathan Pahanich are some other players who have announced their decision to enter the transfer portal.

It’s important to note that the NCAA transfer portal does not open until Jan. 2, 2026. All players can do right now is announce their plans to enter the portal; once it opens, they can officially enter their names and contact their preferred schools. The transfer period will close on Jan. 16 after 15 days.

Wake Forest will face Mississippi State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Jan. 2, 2026, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Is Mitch Barnhart’s tenure as the University of Kentucky’s athletic director coming to an end next year? Barnhart addressed the retirement rumors in a new interview with the Herald-Leader, telling Jon Hale that he’s still “invigorated” by his work, but when the moment comes that he’s not, he’ll sit down with his family and discuss the future and what’s best for them and the university.

The questions are timely. In 2023, Barnhart signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 school year that would allow him to transition to a special assistant to the president role starting July 1, 2026. To do that, he must give six months’ notice, making the earliest deadline December 31, 2025, two weeks from today.

“Two things. I love competing. You know that. You know I love this place with all my heart. We came here in 2002 and planned on saying six to eight years and stayed a lot longer. I know there’s people that get frustrated because I’ve been here a long time, and that’s OK. I sense that. An old boss of mine told me one time, every time you make a 50-50 decision, you lose 50% of your friends. He’s probably not wrong, but we love Kentucky. I get up invigorated about what we’re doing at work. I love watching our kids compete. When that day comes — and don’t know — I’ll sit down with my family, and we’ll talk and determine what’s best for our family and for me, but most importantly, what’s best for Kentucky.

“I’ve got a couple, two-and-a-half years left on my contract. The ambassador clause is out there. It can go anytime after December 31, and if that’s something that’s best for this university, then we’ll have that conversation. If it’s something that we want to continue to work at it, I would like to win some more things. I like winning. The volleyball run has been a blast. I’d like to win at some more things and see what we got. And I love our coaches. We’ve got good people and fun to work with.”

The interview comes one week after Kentucky Sports Radio’s Jacob Polacheck and Jack Pilgrim published an article on Kentucky Basketball’s struggles on the recruiting trail, which cited anonymous sources that said UK’s partnership with JMI for NIL management has played a part, specifically the highly structured brand partnership with UK’s official partners. Sources told KSR that JMI was requiring recruits to sign away NIL rights that would normally be untouched at any other school.

Before Kentucky’s game vs. Indiana, Barnhart addressed the JMI concerns in an interview with Tom Leach, defending the partnership and insisting that UK student-athletes are free to sign third-party deals while acknowledging that the university encourages them to work with its official partners. He does the same in this interview with Jon Hale, although the issue of what prospective student-athletes (recruits) are asked to agree to as part of their deals to come to Kentucky is still unclear.

HL: When an athlete accepts revenue sharing money from UK, do they automatically get tied into the JMI deal, or do they opt into that separately?

Barnhart: “There’s some things that they’re opting into. OK, there’s some things they opt into, and obviously that’s a part of that process. And then there’s some things that we say, ‘Hey, does this fit you? Does this fit you? Do you want us to go out and find you (a deal)? Is there some things that make sense in a marketing piece, a partnership piece, so to speak, or a sponsorship piece?’ And if it doesn’t, you’ve got your own thing; you’re not prohibited from doing your own thing. We’ve shown that on many cases with student-athletes in our program. We’ve got student-athletes in our program that have got deals that are outside our partners, that they’ve gone and had an opportunity to go access and do those themselves. They just can’t use our IP marks in that process. Part of the ability to use the Kentucky marks, which we think is super valuable, is that relationship with JMI. So yes, that is part of that process. But to go do your own thing, you can certainly do that.”

When asked, Barnhart said he was not aware of any UK athletes being denied a deal because it was with a competitor. He talks a lot more about the JMI deal, collectives, transparency about revenue-sharing figures, and the roles of general managers in the NIL era in the interview. Check it out at the Herald-Leader. Matt Jones has reached out to Barnhart for an interview on KSR and has not received a response.

[Q&A: Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart responds to criticism of JMI deal, NIL setup]