Wake Forest’s Claiborne shaken up early in Friday’s opener against Kennesaw State

By Canadian Press on August 29, 2025.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Wake Forest running back Demond Claiborne suffered an apparent injury early in Friday night’s opener against Kennesaw State.

The exact nature of the injury wasn’t immediately clear, but Claiborne was standing on the sideline with an icebag wrapped around his left side near the ribs and no longer holding his helmet midway through the second quarter. It was unclear whether he would return to the game.

The player expected to be the workhorse for coach Jake Dickert’s first season came off the field and headed to the locker room after runs of 13 and 2 yards on the game’s first two plays. He later came jogging out to the field carrying jersey-wrapped pads and checked in for the first of multiple times into the injury tent.

He re-entered the game with 10:24 left in the second. But after a 4-yard carry up the middle on the first snap, he hopped up and immediately came jogging back to the sideline and was spotted doubled over in pain.

The 5-foot-10, 195-pound senior ran for 1,049 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.

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The Associated Press

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