Six Demon Deacons Named to 2023 NFF Hampshire Honor Society

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest football players Jarrett Brown, Michael Jurgens, Chase Jones, Michael Kern, Kobie Turner and Isaiah Wingfield were named as Hampshire Honor Society members, as announced by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Tuesday.

With six new Demon Deacons being honored this year, it marks the second-largest class since the inception of the society in 2007. The only larger class came last year when the Deacs had seven players named in 2022.

Honorees are comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers. Newly inducted members of the society must have completed their final year of eligibility in 2022 while being a starter or significant contributor throughout the 202 season.

Wake Forest now has 32 honorees to the prestigious society since its inception in 2007. Additionally, Wake Forest is one of three ACC schools to have at least one honoree since 2015. Under the leadership of head coach Dave Clawson, the Demon Deacons have had at least one new addition to the society in each of his eight years at Wake Forest.

This is the fifth time in Clawson's time in Winston-Salem that three or more Deacs have been named to the Hampshire Honor Society in a single year.

Brown, Jurgens, Jones, Kern, Turner and Wingfield were key in helping lead the Demon Deacons as they defeated Southeastern Conference representative Missouri 27-17 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. on Dec. 23, 2022. The win marked Wake Forest's fifth in the last seven years since the Deacs began the Atlantic Coast Conference's second-longest bowl streak and the country's tied for the 10th-longest back in 2016.

During the Deacs current run of bowl appearances, Wake Forest has defeated two SEC teams (Texas A&M, 2017; Missouri, 2022) and a Big Ten team (Rutgers).

Head coach Dave Clawson's five bowl victories, which is the most in school history, ranks tied for fifth in ACC history for postseason wins. Clawson ranks behind Bobby Bowden (Florida State, 11), Dabo Swinney (Clemson, 11), Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech, 6) and Danny Ford (Clemson, 6). Meanwhile, he is now tied with Jimbo Fisher (Florida State, 5) and Ralph Friedgen (Maryland, 5).

The 2022 Wake Forest football team (8-5 Overall) was just the 10th in program history to win eight games in a season in the 115-year history of the program. Four of the 10 eight-win seasons have come in the Dave Clawson era (40 percent).

Since the start of the 2016 season, the Deacs are tied for the second-most wins in the ACC not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season entering bowl season. Additionally over the last five years, the Deacs have the second-most wins in a single five-year period.

With that, the Deacs have set a new standard for success in the win column with a record of 19-8 over the last two seasons. The 19 wins in a two-year period are the second most in school history and three away from the program record of 21 set in 2006 & 2007. Additionally, Wake Forest's 19-8 record is the ninth-best mark in all of Power-5 in the last two seasons.

Offensively, Wake Forest finished the 2022 season averaging 36.1 points per game, helping the Deacs post its sixth consecutive season of averaging 30 or more points a game. This is the longest active streak and the fourth longest in ACC history. Additionally, the Deacons threw for a program record 43 touchdowns during the 2022 season.

Under Warren Ruggiero and Dave Clawson's tutelage, the last three starting quarterbacks at Wake Forest have earned All-ACC honors when they were a starter (John Wolford, 2017; Jamie Newman, 2019; Sam Hartman, 2021 & 2022).

Finally, Wake Forest is an astounding 20-4 at home since the start of the 2019 season thanks to the incredible atmosphere created by Wake Forest's fans and students inside Truist Field over the past few seasons.

Wake Forest Hampshire Honors Society Members:

Jarrett Brown - 2023

Michael Jurgens - 2023

Chase Jones - 2023

Michael Kern - 2023

Kobie Turner - 2023

Isaiah Wingfield - 2023

Miles Fox - 2022

Luke Masterson - 2022

Traveon Redd - 2022

Donald Stewart - 2022

Zach Tom - 2022