as a redshirt freshman in 2016, bates played in all 13 of wake forest's games. he returned 18 punts for 73 yards along with tallying five interceptions (two returned for touchdowns), 100 tackles (3.5 for loss), four pass deflections and one forced fumble. after the season, he was named to the usa today freshman all-america team,the all-acc second-team, and to the acc all-freshman first-team.