Wake Forest Expects Quiet National Signing Day

Today is officially the National Signing Day in February that every school gets hyped up for every year, but there is a bit of a different vibe in Winston-Salem for Wake Forest today. Due to the Early National Signing Period back in late December, the Demon Deacons were able to sign 21 players for the 2018 class already, leaving just a handful (if that) of team needs that will be addressed today.

So...to answer the question in the headline: Not a lot really.

Earlier this morning cornerback Marquis Alston, Jr. out of Kennesaw, GA officially signed with Wake Forest to bring the class total to 22, but other than that there is not expected to be anything else other than perhaps a preferred walk-on or two who sign with the program.

Aside from getting Alston, Jr to commit and sign, the Deacs courted 3-star tight end Brayden Willis recently and got him to take an official visit a couple of weeks ago, but that seemed like a mere formality as he committed to Oklahoma the day after and signed his National Letter of Intent today.

The class has players from six states and one from the District of Columbia in DeVonte Gordon. Georgia led the way with 6 signings, while Florida featured 5 players, and North Carolina had 4.

It was a very balanced class from an offense, defense, and special teams perspective as well. The defense signed 11 guys, the offense signed 10 guys, and the special teams signed one player. That makes for good, sustainable balance moving forward in recruiting.

Following the Alston, Jr. signing, Wake Forest sits at 11th in the ACC and 57th nationally with an 84.41 average per player. For reference, last year the Deacs finished 68th nationally and 14th in the ACC with an 82.69 average. Through three commits in 2019, and there is no doubt a long way to go with this, Wake is 29th nationally, 5th in the ACC, and an average rank of 86.28.

Should Coach Dave Clawson be able to maintain the momentum from back-to-back bowl victories then the 2019 class should be the best in Wake Forest history.

This 2018 class is another perfect example of the staff bringing in intelligent students that fit the Wake Forest student-athlete model that we are so proud of at Mother So Dear. The hiring of the 10th assistant coach yesterday in Ryan Crawford, a Davidson College graduate and former Harvard assistant, shows that it is not just talk either.

While there may be one surprise today for the Deacs there is no chance now of “losing” anybody who was committed and that marks an entire signing period where the Deacs can say that. Extremely impressive work by the staff overall and I cannot wait to see what this class does for Wake Forest over the next 4-5 years.