Wake Forest Earns All-ACC Honors

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Six Wake Forest football players earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.

This marks the seventh consecutive season the Demon Deacons have had six or more players make the All-ACC teams.

The Deacs 54 All-ACC honors is the fifth most overall in the ACC since the 2019 season and Wake Forest is one of just six schools to have more than 50 honorees in that time span.

Redshirt senior offensive lineman Michael Jurgens and junior defensive back Malik Mustapha both earned Second Team All-ACC Honors. This is the third time in his Wake Forest career that Jurgens has been named an All-ACC honoree. Junior defensive lineman Jasheen Davis was named Third Team All-ACC.

Additionally, redshirt junior offensive lineman DeVonte Gordon, redshirt junior defensive lineman Kevin Pointer and sophomore running back Demond Claiborne all earned honorable mention recognition from the voters.

Second Team
Michael Jurgens (OL) - All-ACC (OG)

Has only allowed one sack all season and committed just three penalties.
Currently ranks as the highest-graded Power-5 interior lineman according to Pro Football Focus with a grade of 83.7. Also the highest grade of his career
- Owns the highest offensive grade out of any qualified ACC offensive lineman with a rating of 83.7.
  - The next closest is 77.3.
- Has the highest run-blocking grade out of any offensive lineman in the ACC with a grade of 87.2
  - The next highest is 76.6.
Tallied 841 snaps this season, the second-most by any Demon Deacon on the team.
- Started all 12 games with 11 coming at guard and one coming at center.
- Has played and started in 46 of the Deacs 48 games dating back to the start of the 2020 season, earning All-ACC honors each of the last three seasons.
Named a Campbell Trophy Semifinalist for the second consecutive season and was named to the Outland Trophy Watch List ahead of the season.

Malik Mustapha (DB) - All-ACC (S)

Malik Mustapha ranks third on Wake Forest and 15th among ACC defenders with 80 tackles on the year.
- Ranked third on the team and was the most by a Wake Forest defensive back since Cameron Glenn in 2018 when he finished the season with 98 tackles.
Recorded his third-career interception on the game's first drive against Vanderbilt.
Had a game-high tying nine tackles at Clemson.
Tallied a game-high 11 tackles at Duke.
Forced the fifth fumble of his career against NC State.
Tied his career-high with 13 tackles against Syracuse.

Third Team
Jasheen Davis (DL) - All-ACC (DE)

Jasheen Davis finished second in the ACC in tackles for loss with 17.0 through 12 games. His 17.0 TFLs were just 0.5 from first and 2.5 more than the next closest player.
- Additionally, his 17.0 tackles for loss is tied for 11th in program history and is tied for third in the Dave Clawson era.
With 7.5 sacks in 12 games in 2023, Davis has now tallied 20.0 sacks in his career and that ranks fifth in program history.
- His 7.5 sacks currently ranks him fourth in the ACC.
Davis had 3.0 sacks in a historic performance at Old Dominion as the Wake Forest defense tallied a program record 10.0 sacks in the contest.
- The three-sack performance tied him for the second-most single-game sacks in school history.
Davis has recorded at least 0.5 tackles-for-loss in the 20 of his last 21 games including all 12 games this season.
With 14.0 tackles for loss again in back-to-back seasons, Davis is 10th in program history with 38.5 career tackles for loss and third in the Clawson era.
Davis ranks in the top 35 nationally in tackles for loss per game (1.4/9th), fumble recoveries (2/T-17) and sacks per game (0.62/33rd).

Honorable Mention
Demond Claiborne (RB) - All-ACC (Specialist)

Wake Forest sophomore running back has had a stellar second season with the Demon Deacons and emerged as Wake's starting running back against NC State in Week 11.
- Claiborne leads the team in virtually all statistical rushing categories with 137 attempts for 586 yards and five touchdowns. Additionally, he has averaged 4.3 yards per carry and 58.6 per game.
- In the conference, Claiborne ranks 11th in rushing yards, 18th in touchdowns and 13th in average per game.
In the return game, Claiborne has tallied 10 kickoff returns for 284 yards and one return for a touchdown.
- He is one of six ACC players this year to record a kickoff return TD entering Week 12 and his 28.4 yards per return averaged ranks second in the conference.
Earned ACC Running Back of the Week honors following Wake Forest's win over Vanderbilt in Week 2.
- Overall in that game, the Deacs totaled 288 yards which was the most since the Deacs recorded 299 yards against Campbell on Sept. 19, 2020. Individually, Claiborne tallied 165 yards on the ground on 26 carries with an average of 6.3 yards per rush. He had five carries of more than 10 yards during the game. Additionally, his 165 yards is the fourth-highest total in the Dave Clawson era and the most since Cade Carney tallied 223 yards against Duke in 2018.
- He and his teammate, redshirt freshman Tate Carney, each rushed for over 100 yards against Vandy marking the first time Wake Forest had two 100-yard rushers in a game since Kenneth Walker and Christian Beal-Smith accomplished this on Sept. 19, 2020 against Campbell.
In Wake Forest's win over Pittsburgh, Claiborne rushed for 96 yards on 14 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
- His 18-yard rush in the second quarter gave the sophomore at least one touchdown in the last four games, becoming the first Demon Deacon to accomplish this feat since Christian Beal-Smith did so in the 2020 Duke's Mayo Bowl and first three games to open the 2021 season.
- Additionally, his 42-yard touchdown rush in the fourth quarter marked the longest scamper of his career.
- Along with his 6.9 yard per rush against the Panthers, he tallied four runs of 10-plus yards and two of 20-plus yards.
In the middle of the season at Virginia Tech, Demond Claiborne recorded a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter. That runback marked the first kickoff return touchdown for the Demon Deacons since Ja'Sir Taylor's 99-yard touchdown in a 42-10 victory over Old Dominion in 2021.

DeVonte Gordon (OL) - All-ACC (OT)

Has only allowed one sack all season and committed just three penalties.
Currently ranks third among all ACC offensive tackles according to Pro Football Focus with a grade of 73.0, the highest grade of his career.
- Recorded the highest pass blocking grade out of all qualified ACC offensive tackles with an 82.4.
  - The next closest tackle in the ACC received a grade of 77.5.
Tallied 860 snaps this season, the most by any Demon Deacon on the team.
- Started all 12 games to start the 2023 season, starting at both right and left tackle throughout the season.
- Started 39 connective games at tackle for the Demon Deacons, earning Maxwell Freshman All-America Honors in 2021 and All-ACC honors in 2022 and 2023.

Kevin Pointer (DL) - All-ACC (DT)

Kevin Pointer has recorded at least 1.0 TFLs in four of the last six games for Wake Forest.
Put together a career day against Duke with a career-high 6.0 tackles, 2.0 TFLs and a sack against the Blue Devils.
Currently sits third on the squad with nine TFLs on the season, ranking 17th among ACC defenders.
In his first season as a starter for Wake Forest, Pointer has more than doubled his defensive output with 37 tackles.

Wake Forest Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Tate Carney

Demond Claiborne

Jasheen Davis

DeVonte Gordon

Michael Jurgens

Malik Mustapha

Kevin Pointer

Related Videos