Fresh Energy Has Everyone Moving in the Same Direction
6/26/2025 8:20:00 AM | Football
“It’s all fresh to everybody, so everybody’s excited. Everybody’s willing to learn something new.” - BJ Williams
It's a new era of Wake Forest Football with the hire of head coach Jake Dickert, and he plans to get the Demon Deacons back in the proverbial winner's circle sooner rather than later.
There's a lot of talent returning that has potential and has delivered production, but have been left out of postseason bowls the last two campaigns.
Dickert has expertly blended returning players, incoming early enrollee freshmen and a large group of talented transfers in effort to win right away, and that's part of what lured fifth-year redshirt senior B.J. Williams back for one final season in the Old Gold and Black.
"It was more about the win-now mentality," Williams said. "You get a new coach, and everyone assumes it'll take three or four years to get things going. He's a guy who wants to win now. He said he's going to bring a different energy, and he asked us what we wanted to get better at and what we wanted to change about the program. He's bringing those things, and he's actually listening to us, which I really appreciate.
"When everything first went down, I wanted to talk to my parents to figure out what I wanted to do. At the end of the day, a Wake Forest degree is the best thing that could happen to somebody."
Williams, who graduated in December with a degree in Health and Exercise Science, is considering Project Management for grad school right now. He met with Dickert for 30 minutes shortly after he was named coach.
"I want to go all in," Williams told Dickert. "I want to be a part of this because I know this could be something special."
"Being the one guy in the room who played last year for Wake Forest, I feel honored," Williams said in an after-practice interview during Spring Camp. "These guys trust me and know what I can do on the field. Now I just have to go out there and do it."
It's a Wake Forest defensive line that has been completely retooled after the graduation of starters Kendron Wayman, Jasheen Davis and Bryce Ganious.
"Leadership comes from pretty much me and a lot of those older transfers," Williams said. "Jayden Loving for the defensive tackles, and we still have Zach (Lohavichan) coming back. Then me and Langston (Hardy) — we're pretty much the older guys. And we have Gabe (Kirschke) from Colorado State, who's a really good player and will play a lot for us. We're all like a family, so it's like big brother, little brother. It's not just one guy taking control. We all hold each other accountable for what we need to do."
After coming off the bench to provide depth in 2023, Williams earned 12 starts last season, grabbing 24 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
"Everybody wants to start, but it gets to a point where every day someone different is getting that number one spot, and it's making us all better," Williams said during Spring Camp. "You don't want to be the person who relaxes and then gets overtaken. We want to be able to put anybody in the game and know we're going to be a good defensive line.
"It's pretty fun on the field. You always want to see other guys play. The last couple of years, you kind of knew who you were lining up with, so just being able to adapt to new players kind of makes you a better player. Now you're learning, "Okay, I know I can do this thing, and this person has my back," so it allows you to play more freely."
The energy bolt injected into the program by Dickert, his staff and the new culture has reinvigorated Williams' love of football.
"It gets to a point where we're just excited to be out here," he said. "There's something different, something new, and it's all fresh to everybody, so everybody's excited. Everybody's willing to learn something new. It started with the meetings—the first team meeting we were getting up, meeting everybody. We had a competition to raise the level, and I think everybody's really excited every day to keep working."
There's a lot of talent returning that has potential and has delivered production, but have been left out of postseason bowls the last two campaigns.
Dickert has expertly blended returning players, incoming early enrollee freshmen and a large group of talented transfers in effort to win right away, and that's part of what lured fifth-year redshirt senior B.J. Williams back for one final season in the Old Gold and Black.
"It was more about the win-now mentality," Williams said. "You get a new coach, and everyone assumes it'll take three or four years to get things going. He's a guy who wants to win now. He said he's going to bring a different energy, and he asked us what we wanted to get better at and what we wanted to change about the program. He's bringing those things, and he's actually listening to us, which I really appreciate.
"When everything first went down, I wanted to talk to my parents to figure out what I wanted to do. At the end of the day, a Wake Forest degree is the best thing that could happen to somebody."
Williams, who graduated in December with a degree in Health and Exercise Science, is considering Project Management for grad school right now. He met with Dickert for 30 minutes shortly after he was named coach.
"I want to go all in," Williams told Dickert. "I want to be a part of this because I know this could be something special."
"Being the one guy in the room who played last year for Wake Forest, I feel honored," Williams said in an after-practice interview during Spring Camp. "These guys trust me and know what I can do on the field. Now I just have to go out there and do it."
It's a Wake Forest defensive line that has been completely retooled after the graduation of starters Kendron Wayman, Jasheen Davis and Bryce Ganious.
"Leadership comes from pretty much me and a lot of those older transfers," Williams said. "Jayden Loving for the defensive tackles, and we still have Zach (Lohavichan) coming back. Then me and Langston (Hardy) — we're pretty much the older guys. And we have Gabe (Kirschke) from Colorado State, who's a really good player and will play a lot for us. We're all like a family, so it's like big brother, little brother. It's not just one guy taking control. We all hold each other accountable for what we need to do."
After coming off the bench to provide depth in 2023, Williams earned 12 starts last season, grabbing 24 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
"Everybody wants to start, but it gets to a point where every day someone different is getting that number one spot, and it's making us all better," Williams said during Spring Camp. "You don't want to be the person who relaxes and then gets overtaken. We want to be able to put anybody in the game and know we're going to be a good defensive line.
"It's pretty fun on the field. You always want to see other guys play. The last couple of years, you kind of knew who you were lining up with, so just being able to adapt to new players kind of makes you a better player. Now you're learning, "Okay, I know I can do this thing, and this person has my back," so it allows you to play more freely."
The energy bolt injected into the program by Dickert, his staff and the new culture has reinvigorated Williams' love of football.
"It gets to a point where we're just excited to be out here," he said. "There's something different, something new, and it's all fresh to everybody, so everybody's excited. Everybody's willing to learn something new. It started with the meetings—the first team meeting we were getting up, meeting everybody. We had a competition to raise the level, and I think everybody's really excited every day to keep working."
Players Mentioned
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