California · W 41-7
No tackles.
Patterson has tackles in 7 of Wake Forest’s 8 games: none against California.
Davaughn Patterson
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Played for two head coaches in four seasons at Wake Forest. The first career honor came in 2025: ACC Defensive Back Player of the Week. On tape: 10 tackles against Stanford, Week 5, 2026.
43 tackles · 0 sacks
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Wake Forest | 43 | 18 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2 | -- |
| 2025 | Wake Forest | 80 | 35 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 9 | -- |
| 2024 | Wake Forest | 74 | 28 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2023 | Wake Forest | 9 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 206 | 84 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 14 | 1 |
Last game (Wk 9): 3 tackles.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 7 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 38-16vs Akron | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 38-36@ Purdue | 10 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 1 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 3 | L 20-33vs No. 5 Miami | 8 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 4 | W 30-27@ No. 16 Louisville | 6 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 57-3vs Stanford | 10 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | W 38-14@ NC State | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 51-7vs Virginia | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 18 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 2 |
Oct. 31 · W 51-7 vs Virginia, play by play
3 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play: 2 of his 3, sacks included.
His game this year: coverage — 2 passes defended in the 7 games with play by play.
How Wake Forest’s defense played that day
Virginia’s 9 drives: 8 stopped (1 takeaway) · 1 scored.
4 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
10 tackles. He hurried the quarterback once.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
6 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. It places 7 for him; the box score credits 6.
8 tackles, including 1 pass broken up. He hurried the quarterback once.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. It places 9 for him; the box score credits 8.
10 tackles, including 1 pass broken up.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
2 tackles.
Each small tick is one of his tackles on the play-by-play. His sacks are drawn as sacks.
Ratings of the games shown run from -25 to +25 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
5%2 pass breakupsTackle volume
43tackles this seasonTFL rate
1%0 TFL43 tackles · 0.5 for loss · 2 pass breakups.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 7 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home4g | 5.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Road3g | 6.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 6.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
| Weeks 8+1g | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jake Dickert
Pass share
45.3%
237 pass / 286 run
Plays / game
65.4
8 games
Team sack rate
4.5%
269 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2026
43 tackles in 7 games, more tackles a game than most FBS defensive backs who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #177 at the position.
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-ACC
Based on 2025: #25 of 75 ACC DBs
A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 15% of returning players who ranked #21 or lower at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 13–17%).
2026 is in progress.
A stat line in 35 games over four seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Dave Clawson → Jake Dickert. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
