Program field guide · 2026

ACC · North Carolina

Wake Forest

Demon Deacons

Wake Forest’s North Carolina-developed core fell from 21 to 12 players.

2026 roster · Roster geography

The Wake Forest roster story

In 2016, 21 of 99 roster spots were filled by North Carolina players with no earlier college team detected. On the 2026 roster, 12 of 103 fit the same definition. Detected transfers went from 0 to 26.

In 2016 the median player grew up 303 mi from campus. Now it is 414 mi.

Of the 26 players who came from another college, 1 is from North Carolina. Those home-state players make up 4% of detected-transfer stock on this roster.

Then → now

2016–18 compared with 2021–25

2016–182021–2519.2%17.0%0.4%8.9%
  • Local-developed core
  • Transfer stock
Measure2016–182021–25
Local-developed core19.2%17.0%
Transfer stock0.4%8.9%

The roster, at a glance

  • 649 miAverage hometown distanceAverage hometown distance among 96 located players.
  • 12.7%In-state12.7% of the roster is from North Carolina.
  • 12.5%Backyard12.5% grew up within 100 miles of campus.
  • 25.2%Detected transfers25.2% of the roster arrived after playing at another school.

Across the FBS

Where Wake Forest ranks

Homecoming Radius over time

The median hometown-to-campus distance, by season. The dotted line is the FBS median.

0100200300400FBS median (250 mi)200920122016201920232026

Roster composition over time

Where the in-state lens draws the line: local-developed, local transfer, outsider developed, outsider transfer, and unknown. This chart begins where stable athlete IDs make transfer detection possible; the radius chart above carries the official-archive geography farther back.

Local-developedOutsider developedOutsider transfer200920122016201920232026

Where do Wake Forest's players come from?

SeasonRosterIn-stateTransfer signalRadius
202610312.7%25.2%414 mi
202512113.0%24.0%376 mi
202412313.9%4.9%299 mi
202312421.2%4.0%286 mi
202212121.9%5.0%269 mi
202113218.9%6.8%279 mi
202012321.1%4.1%267 mi
201911621.6%0.0%268 mi
20189517.9%0.0%267 mi
20179218.7%1.1%282 mi
20169921.2%0.0%303 mi
20159722.7%1.0%311 mi
201410921.3%0.9%380 mi
201310524.0%0.0%303 mi
20129924.5%0.0%371 mi
201110328.4%0.0%286 mi
201010235.3%0.0%268 mi
200910537.5%0.0%252 mi

Where the roster grew up

Every 2026 player's hometown, with campus marked and the Homecoming Radius circled.

Wake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometownWake Forest player hometown

Homecoming Radius: 414 mi

(This slider is for exploring — leaderboards use the fixed lenses.)

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