For all the attention the quarterback competition has garnered at Wake Forest, it won’t matter much if the Demon Deacons don’t have a viable running attack. Balance in the offense is going to be critical. That makes Wake’s Claiborne identity all the more important.
The 5’-10”, 200-pound Demond Claiborne was ranked as the 38th running back recruit in the country by 247Sports three years ago as he came out of Aylett, VA. Since then, he has been biding his time in a running back rotation at Wake Forest. He is still in a rotation, but now he is leading it. Last year it was Justice Ellison’s world as the lead ball carrier. Now Ellison is at Indiana, where he had only 10 carries in week one. And Claiborne, now a junior is poised for a potentially big season in Winston-Salem.
The Starter
Last week, in the season opener against North Carolina A&T, Claiborne had 17 carries for 135 yards and a touchdown. There is still a rotation at the position. Tate Carney is going to get his share of carries this season. But there is no mistaking who is at the lead of the pack.
While appearing in 11 games last season for Wake, Claiborne had 586 yards and five touchdowns. Now in 2024, one game in and he is already 20% of the way to eclipsing the 2023 totals.
After the game Saturday, head coach Dave Clawson said these are the performances that he knows Claiborne is capable of producing on a regular basis. “When he’s healthy, he’s a stud,” Clawson said in the post-game press conference. “He’s a difference maker. He’s an impact player. If we’re going to win this year, he’s got to rack up a lot of hundred-yard games and make a lot of big plays.”
Claiborne’s Attention
Even with the impressive opening game stats, Claiborne was more interested in a different part of his performance. He was more interested in going to look at the game film to see how he did blocking. “That’s what I want to be, is a guy that my teammates look at and say, ‘I caught the ball 50 yards down the field,’ and he sees me trying to come down the field to make a block.” He added, “As much as I love scoring, I love being shown on the film, on the effort film, (that Clawson puts together to show in team meetings). Yeah, we run the ball, but I also want to be known as somebody who gives great effort and goes hard for my teammates.”
Claiborne had one of those very plays on Saturday. The film review shows him running far downfield to throw a block on a pass play to Taylor Morin. “That’s another sign that Demond is all in,” Clawson said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “When you put that play up, and his teammates see that type of effort, how do you not want to block for that guy?”
The Development
Clawson chalked it up to the growth of a young player with obvious talent learning the bigger picture within the game. “A lot of skill guys, they think it’s about getting the ball and catching the passes. And you hope at a certain point they figure out that it’s about team success and all the little things they can do. And he’s going to make plays. He’s an extremely talented running back,” Clawson said. “But when a player of his ability makes an effort play like that, those are the goosebump moments for me.”
Also taking note of Claiborne’s game is Virginia head coach Tony Elliott. His Cavaliers’ defense has the task of trying to slow down the Wake running back. “He runs bigger than his listed size,” Elliott said this week. “So, he’s a violent guy. He’s got really good feet, and he can finish runs.”
It took four Richmond players carrying the ball to get 147 net rushing yards against Virginia’s run defense last Saturday. The challenge is there in front of Claiborne this week.
