Among the biggest change to come to Wake Forest football this Fall will have nothing to do with new personnel from the transfer portal. It actually will revolve around a running back who has been here for years. But now the transformation of the Wake Forest offense is going to ask more of him than anything in his previous three years in Winston-Salem.
The Wake Forest Offense
Demond Claiborne was the go-to guy in 2024, as much as any running back is a go-to guy in a scheme that runs the slow-mesh about 25% of the time. He rushed for 1,049 yards and 11 touchdowns on 228 carries. And that was in an offense that relied heavily, for that 25% of the time, on a quarterback making the correct read on what the linebackers were doing before handing it off.
Claiborne’s Change of Time
Wake Forest football lives in a different time and space now. The offense is going to be different. New head coach Jake Dickert told us a couple of months ago that he is going to use the run game to set up the passing game. That means a couple of things. The quarterback is going to have to be able to run on designed plays as well as when a play breaks down. And it means the offense is going to need even more out of Claiborne.
He averaged 19 carries per game last year. But he was also frequently on the sidelines late in the fourth quarter. Say he was not used enough or properly, if you wish. Say he was out of gas and could not be effective in critical moments, if you choose. There is some truth in both. But Dickert knows in order to have success late in games, Claiborne is going to have to be on the field and carrying the ball. In fact, his offensive game plan counts on just that.
Time in the Spring
New running backs coach Effrem Reed’s job, in part, is to make sure Claiborne is ready for those moments. Part of that effort has been to limit Claiborne’s workload during the Spring. He did not play in the mid-camp scrimmage a couple of weeks ago. He unofficially had two carries in the Spring Showcase last weekend that ended Spring camp. “The whole key is to put him in situations where I think he needs to improve,” Reed told the media gathering last week.
No one is doubting Claiborne can run the power spread scheme that Dickert is installing. So now it is a matter of him learning some of the deeper intricacies of the position that will allow the staff to have him on the field at any time in a game. “For instance,” Reed said, “I’ll make sure he gets every pass block out there just so he can see a lot of different looks. That way, he can work on his eyes and be able to pick up blitzes when we get to game time.”
Reed said he purposefully gave him snaps off throughout camp if they were running plays that Claiborne had already mastered. “It’s all about putting him out there, obviously, in different situations in a controlled manner where he can go out there and develop and learn those things first so that we can go ahead and move on to the next one.”
No Lack of Confidence
Claiborne has openly campaigned through his time with the media this Spring that he is ready to carry the ball as many times as the coaches are willing to give it to him. How does Reed plan to harness that zealousness? “I think he understands how the professional level works. I’ve kind of tried to coach him up and talk to him about how it’s going to be when he does get that opportunity.” He said he is trying to teach Claiborne that mental reps (the kind you get on the sideline) turn into production in-game reps.
The starting running back puts it succinctly when discussing the relationship with his new running back coach. “He [Reed] met me right where I needed him.”
The Learning Curve
Claiborne says he is trying to grasp the big picture when he is not on the field. He met with the media after the scrimmage Saturday and joked that he probably didn’t have to bother putting the uniform on that day. “When those guys [the other running backs] are out there having the success they are having,” he said, “it’s amazing for me to see. I see the other side of things.”
But of course, he still believes he can be an every-down back, literally. “If it was up to me, I would have played the whole game live,” he said. Claiborne added that the time on the sidelines is turning him into more of a student of the game.
“We’re going to get Demond Claiborne running as fast as he can downhill and watch that man go.” That was Dickert’s comment to us back in January. There will be a lot of anticipation when the time finally comes for that.
Main Image: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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