Claiborne, 22, led Wake Forest in rushing each of the past three seasons and followed up 1,049 yards on the ground in 2024 with 907 in 2025. In total, Claiborne carried 558 times in college for 2,599 yards and 26 touchdowns, including double digits in his final two go-rounds. Claiborne also chipped in as a receiver, catching 55 passes for 424 yards and two scores (both 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 back for six points in both campaigns.
Claiborne measured in at 5-foot-9 3/4 and 188 pounds while at the NFL Scouting Combine and added to his résumé with a 4.37 40 and 10-foot-2-inch broad jump. His 40 time fared third among running backs this year after Arkansas’ Mike Washington, Jr. (4.33), and Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love (4.36), the 3rd overall pick 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 overall player and seventh running back, whereas ESPN’s Jordan Reid classified Claiborne a bit higher, as his RB6 and 130th prospect.
Brugler compared Claiborne to a “diet” version of Dolphins Pro Bowl RB De’Von Achane, who was drafted 84th overall in 2023 and has already amassed 4,334 career 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 likely will limit his role [in the NFL] and landing spots.”
A four-star recruit at tiny-sized King William High School in Virginia (Brugler noted an enrollment of fewer than 700 students), Claiborne racked up 52 TDs (47 rushing, four receiving, one returning) as a senior, one shy of the single-season state record achieved by Patriots 2025 first-round pick TreVeyon Henderson.
Claiborne will enter a Vikings running backs room that returns all-purpose veteran Aaron Jones, Sr., bruising burster Jordan Mason and nifty runner/receiver Zavier Scott.
Vikings history in NFL Draft
Claiborne is the fifth player ever picked out of Wake Forest by Minnesota and the second during Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s tenure after interior offensive lineman Michael Jurgens was selected in Round 7 (230th overall) in 2024; they were teammates on the Demon Deacons for a couple seasons — Jurgens helped road grade for him.
