Thursday has the Minnesota Vikings with their second training camp practice, and there is a lot of hype around the first rookie class post Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

We finally got to see defensive lineman Caleb Banks practicing for the first time in a Vikings uniform on Wednesday, and the rest of the rookie class was out there as well. There is a lot of excitement about Banks and the rest of the class. One player that keeps getting mentioned is running back Demond Claiborne, which is a little odd for a sixth-round pick, but he has some unique traits.

Coaches continue to rave about Demond Claiborne

No matter who you come across, they are talking positively about Claiborne. Offensive coordinator Wes Phillips raved about his intelligence, as there was a lot to learn coming from college.

“Explosive, great feat, great kid. Some of these college systems are very different from the pros, and Wake [Forest] was no different. Each system has their own great things that they do, and it obviously allowed him to succeed, but it was very different from the terminology and things that he had to learn here,” said Phillips. “So there were a lot of growing pains in the spring as far as being disciplined with his footwork, his tracks, and then learning the protection scheme and all the calls and the things that go into it. But you just see a much more comfortable player even in the first few days here, coming into camp.”

Learning an NFL offense isn’t always the easiest, especially for a running back. Simple things are different when it comes to details like footwork. RPOs and even zone concepts can be different with how they are run.

Phillips isn’t the only one either, as special teams coordinator Matt Daniels is also just as excited.

“Really excited about Demond. I think he’s done an excellent job. You talk about movement skills, explosiveness,” said Daniels. “I don’t think we’ve had a guy like this since Kene [Nwangwu]. I don’t want to put him in that category just yet. But the way that he moves, the first step, the first step burst that he has, the explosion that he plays with, the lateral quicks and short area, short area quickness and lateral agility that he does have, gets you really, really excited. I mean, you talk about this is a guy that took, I don’t know one or two to the house in college, and so you know he’s going to be a guy that we’re going to look to see is he a possible candidate to be back there.”

It’s pretty impressive that Claiborne is getting this much hype as a sixth-round pick, but it makes sense. Players who run a 4.37 40-yard dash are going to pop in shorts, and Claiborne has done just that. The real question is simple: what will things look like when the pads come on? If he shows some impressive ability in full-contact drills, things could get really interesting in the Vikings’ running back room.