Pair of Demon Deacons Selected in Late Rounds of 2026 NFL Draft
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Heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, there wasn’t a ton of buzz around the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Most mock drafts had running back Demond Claiborne coming off the board sometime on Day 3, but that was about it when it came to certainty about which Deacs were going to be picked and which ones weren’t.
Any sort of expectation for how the draft was going to play out was immediately thrown out the window when the New England Patriots announced who they were selecting with the 171st overall pick. Cornerback Karon Prunty, a member of the All-ACC third team, wasn’t expected to be selected until much later in the draft — or even at all.
Those projections and predictions didn’t matter once the event actually started, however, as New England saw what every single Wake Forest fan saw throughout the entirety of the season — a corner who’s fantastic in coverage and knows exactly where to be at all times.
But Prunty’s pick wasn’t the end of the festivities for Wake Forest, as Claiborne was picked just one round later with the 198th selection by the Minnesota Vikings. Just like with Prunty, fans of the Demon Deacons are well aware of what Claiborne can do on the gridiron. His twitchy ability, paired with his excellent speed, makes him a tailback who has the potential to be a potent depth piece on the Vikings’ roster. While he probably won’t play that many snaps in his rookie campaign, there’s reason to believe that he could find his way into more playing time as his career progresses.
Opportunities Won’t Come Easy at the Next Level
The question of where exactly Prunty will end up on the Patriots’ depth chart is an interesting one. Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis are the obvious front-runners to man the cornerback position, and other pieces like Charles Woods, Kindle Vildor, Marcellas Dial, Kobee Minor, and Brandon Crossley will be in the mix as well. It’s a crowded room, to say the least, and Prunty is going to have to work hard to break through.
The good news for Prunty is that fifth-round draft choices rarely go to the cutting room floor immediately. He’ll most likely be given some runway to grow and develop, which is exactly the type of situation a young athlete wants to enter when coming into his first season in the NFL.
For Claiborne, his speed and elusiveness should pair well with what Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason bring to the table in the Vikings’ running back room. How much action he gets is, again, a question, but the same principle that applies to Prunty applies to Claiborne as well: he should be given a chance to hone his skills as he progresses as a young player in the league.
A Building Block Moment for Wake Forest’s Program
Those two players finding homes in the NFL is an exciting development for Wake Forest and Jake Dickert’s coaching staff. It’s the goal of both of those entities for more Demon Deacons to establish themselves as legitimate NFL prospects. Do that successfully, and more recruits and transfers will want to flock to Winston-Salem like a vulture circling its prey — but in a positive way, of course.
That’s the key takeaway from the draft for Wake Forest. Because while the Deacs aren’t up there with Ohio State, Georgia, and Clemson when it comes to number of draftees, a program has to start somewhere, and Wake Forest had about as good of a day as it could have considering who was projected to come off the board. All Dickert and company have to do now is build on this momentum with another good season, which should parlay itself into a successful NFL draft in 2027.
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Seth Dowdle is a 2024 graduate of TCU, where he earned a degree in sports broadcasting with a minor in journalism. He currently hosts a TCU-focused show on the Bleav Network and has been active in sports media since 2019, beginning with high school sports coverage in the DFW area. Seth is also the owner and editor of SethStack, his personal hub for in-depth takes on everything from college football to hockey. His past experience includes working in the broadcast department for the Cleburne Railroaders and at 88.7 KTCU, TCU's radio station.
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