Running Back Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest, Draft Pick 198
Claiborne, 22, led Wake Forest in dashing every of the previous three seasons and adopted up 1,049 yards on the bottom in 2024 with 907 in 2025. In complete, Claiborne carried 558 occasions in faculty for two,599 yards and 26 touchdowns, together with double digits in his ultimate two go-rounds. Claiborne additionally chipped in as a receiver, catching 55 passes for 424 yards and two scores (each in 2024) and as a returner, averaging 26.3 yards on 22 kickoffs; he fielded 10 and 11 in 2023 and 2024, and he ran one again for six factors in each campaigns.
Claiborne measured in at 5-foot-9 3/4 and 188 kilos whereas on the NFL Scouting Combine and added to his résumé with a 4.37 40 and 10-foot-2-inch broad leap. His 40 time fared third amongst operating backs this 12 months after Arkansas’ Mike Washington, Jr. (4.33), and Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love (4.36), the threerd general decide by Arizona. Washington was picked by Las Vegas at 122 on Saturday.
As far as rankings, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler pegged Claiborne as his 151st general participant and seventh operating again, whereas ESPN’s Jordan Reid categorized Claiborne a bit increased, as his RB6 and 130th prospect.
Brugler in contrast Claiborne to a “diet” model of Dolphins Pro Bowl RB De’Von Achane, who was drafted 84th general in 2023 and has already amassed 4,334 profession scrimmage yards and 35 touchdowns. Brugler labeled Claiborne a “bursty athlete (both linearly and laterally) who can give defenders the slip with his violent cuts, although his size profile will likely limit his role [in the NFL] and landing spots.”
A four-star recruit at tiny-sized King William High School in Virginia (Brugler famous an enrollment of fewer than 700 college students), Claiborne racked up 52 TDs (47 dashing, 4 receiving, one returning) as a senior, one shy of the single-season state report achieved by Patriots 2025 first-round decide TreVeyon Henderson.
Claiborne will enter a Vikings operating backs room that returns all-purpose veteran Aaron Jones, Sr., bruising burster Jordan Mason and nifty runner/receiver Zavier Scott.
Vikings historical past in NFL Draft
Claiborne is the fifth participant ever picked out of Wake Forest by Minnesota and the second throughout Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s tenure after inside offensive lineman Michael Jurgens was chosen in Round 7 (230th general) in 2024; they had been teammates on the Demon Deacons for a pair seasons — Jurgens helped highway grade for him.
