KING WILLIAM COUNTY Va. -- King William High School and Wake Forest standout DeMond Claiborne returned to his hometown Sunday as the guest of honor at a meet and greet at the Cavaliers' home football field, days after becoming the first player in King William program history to be selected in the NFL Draft.
Claiborne was chosen by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of this year's draft. Hundreds of community members who followed his high school career turned out to celebrate, and county officials presented him with a proclamation recognizing his historic accomplishment.
Claiborne said conversations with the Vikings coaching staff made him eager to get to work.
"Being able to sit down with an NFL coach nowadays and hear him say that is definitely something that made me wanna go to Minnesota even more," Claiborne said. "That entire staff has expressed to me how they want me to play and be involved, but they're also gonna help me. And so just being able to listen to coaches express that to you as a player, it makes you wanna run through a brick wall for those guys."
Claiborne is one of two Richmond area players selected in this year's draft. Former Hopewell standout Red Murdock was chosen by the Denver Broncos with the final pick of the draft.
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