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Wake Forest football has adopted a simple mantra under second-year head coach Jake Dickert.
Built in the dark.
It's a slogan that's become the silent backbone of the Demon Deacons' program.
It's become the mentality that Dickert believes can elevate Wake Forest from a pleasant surprise and a wonderful story into a legitimate contender in one of college football's most chaotic conferences.
A year ago, Wake Forest wasn't expected to do much of anything.
The program was coming off years of losing that had watered down any ounce of hope in Winston-Salem.
Entering a new era was good, yes, but with a roster that was searching for an identity and a fresh face at head coach, there wasn't much outside belief that the Demon Deacons would immediately become competitive in the ACC.
Internally, however, the belief never wavered.
"The one thing I've told the team that I can't recreate is last year's hunger," Dickert said at ACC Football Kickoff.
"Those kids were sick of losing.
They were sponges.
They soaked up everything that they possibly could to go out there and competitively play in this league." The Demon Deacons Are Built on Hunger That hunger transformed Wake Forest into one of the conference's most intriguing stories in 2025.
It wasn't necessarily because the Deacs overwhelmed opponents with superior talent.
They didn't.
Rather, they developed an identity built on grit, toughness, and a determination to embrace the grind.
But now comes the difficult part.
Success has a funny way of dulling the edge that helped create it in the first place.
Teams that surprise everybody one season often spend the next trying to rediscover the urgency that made them dangerous.
Dickert, the astute observer and coach that he is, knows that's the biggest challenge facing his football team.
Instead of attempting to recreate last year's desperation, he's asking his players to build upon it.
"Belief is powerful in our program," Dickert said.
"Last year we were selling belief of concept.
Now we're telling our guys belief of action." That's a subtle difference, but perhaps the most important one Wake Forest could make entering 2026.
Because believing something can happen is one thing.
Expecting it because of the work that's already been put in is another entirely.
It's why Dickert has continued emphasizing development over instant gratification.
"In a world full of instant results, our program believes in the power of development," he said.
"We understand the importance of coaching, mentoring, and leading." Development Above All Else is Wake Forests Strategy That philosophy feels increasingly uncommon in today's version of college football, where transfer portal additions and splashy recruiting classes often dominate the conversation.
The slow build just isn't in the cards as much anymore.
Wake Forest certainly isn't ignoring those aspects of roster buildingdoing so would be pure ineptitudebut Dickert has made it abundantly clear that development remains the program's foundation.
That foundation is encapsulated by "Built in the Dark." "At Wake Forest, we don't believe in building robots," he said.
"We invest daily into the best version of each individual." It's a fitting philosophy for a program that has rarely possessed the same resources as many of its ACC counterparts.
Wake Forest has never been about winning recruiting rankings or making the loudest offseason headlines.
It has historically found success by maximizing what it has and asking players to become more than they were when they arrived in Winston-Salem.
That's obviously a tough challenge, but if any program can pull it off, it's Wake Forest under Jake Dickert.
Seth Dowdle is a 2024 graduate of TCU, where he earned a degree in sports broadcasting with a minor in journalism.
He currently hosts a TCU-focused show on the Bleav Network and has been active in sports media since 2019, beginning with high school sports coverage in the DFW area.
Seth is also the owner and editor of SethStack, his personal hub for in-depth takes on everything from college football to hockey.
His past experience includes working in the broadcast department for the Cleburne Railroaders and at 88.7 KTCU, TCU's radio station.
Follow sethdowdle.