Wake Forest is handing the keys to a guy who's already lived two football lives before his 21st birthday. On3's Pete Nakos reported Tuesday that Gio Lopez, the North Carolina transfer who started his career at South Alabama, has been named the Demon Deacons' starting quarterback for 2026.
Wake Forest has named North Carolina transfer Gio Lopez its starting quarterback for the 2026 season, a source tells @On3. The former South Alabama transfer has thrown for 4,781 career yards and 32 TDs with 12 rushing TDs. t.co/zGCPu5EPXM
The résumé is real. Lopez threw for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns at South Alabama in 2024, then signed with North Carolina to be Bill Belichick's first starting quarterback in his jump to the college game. That marriage never worked. Lopez went 4-7 as a starter in Chapel Hill, dealing with injuries from an offseason car crash and a pro-style scheme that reportedly boxed him in, per ESPN. He's since described the Belichick offense as restrictive and 'not fun.'
Wake Forest is where things get interesting, and it's not a coincidence. Head coach Jake Dickert built his 2026 staff around Rob Ezell, Lopez's old offensive coordinator from South Alabama, and the two are reuniting by design. Lopez has said the environment already feels different: he's playing loose again instead of running someone else's system.
For his career, Lopez has thrown for 4,781 yards and 32 touchdowns, adding 12 rushing scores, per Nakos. That's not empty box-score stuffing from a bad team, either. It's production from a dual-threat quarterback who's now on his third school in three years looking for stability.
The timing works in Wake Forest's favor. Dickert is coming off a 9-4 debut season that ended with a Duke's Mayo Bowl win over Mississippi State, and the Demon Deacons open 2026 against Akron before a Week 2 trip to Purdue.
Wake Forest doesn't need Lopez to be a finished product. It needs him to be what he was at South Alabama before Chapel Hill got in the way, and it's betting that putting him back with the coordinator who got the best out of him is the fastest way there.