Faster player on the team....

[rexvol]

There was a guy, his name escapes me, that was a track star at UT. Never caught a pass at Tennessee, but went on to play for the Raiders in the NFL. Also finished behind Carl Lewis in the Olympics.

 

[hndog609]

There was a guy, his name escapes me, that was a track star at UT. Never caught a pass at Tennessee, but went on to play for the Raiders in the NFL. Also finished behind Carl Lewis in the Olympics.

Sam Graddy. Actually was at Denver first then the Raiders. Only caught 18 passes in 5 years but 6 went for TD's. Pretty good ratio. He would be on the short list of fastest football players ever.

Won the US National Championship and NCAA 100m.
Won Olympic Silver behind Carl Lewis.
Ran first leg of Gold winning 4x100 that broke WR.

 

[pricevol5]

As I've posted earlier I'm pretty much with you on all this although it's hard to argue that "actual" speed goes a long way when competing with others "relative" speed. Just to play devil's advocate here what do you think of the football arguement that over a distance as short as 40y where true top speed really isn't that important the sprinter/footballer gap is actually smaller? Football players don't train and specialize for track distances. Such disparity is even seen among sprinters as out of the top 100m guys (Powell, Greene, Bailey, Surin, Gay, Burrell & Gatlin all went 9.85 or better) only Greene, Surin & Gatlin were also elite at the shorter 60m (6.45 or better) and only one out of any of them is elite at 200m. (Gay)

So, in theory anyway, perhaps there are some football players that over a distance as short as 40y really could be on par with elite sprinters. (Not arguing the point, just found the premise intriguing)

I think it's a pretty far out prospect,possible, but very unlikely. Tyson Gay, a 200m "specialist" has still run the 100 in 9.84. Fast is fast IMO, and once you get 100m times in the 9.8 area you have scary fast . You only have a handful of "elite" 60m runners because it is a less common event, only run in indoor track. Now Bailey was obviously an elite 60m runner, he actually holds the world record for the 50m and I'd argue Powell is an can be considered elite with a 6.56 60m under his belt . So, I think the disparity between 40 yard dash speed and 100m is little to none, especially when you look at the fact that sprinters work harder getting a good starting time than anything else. I mean everyone made a HUGE deal about Xavier Carter's speed when he played, but he's a 200m specialist, and a very good one, but you're still comparing apples and oranges here. World-class sprinters and even the fastest football players are at completely different levels.

 

[hndog609]

I think it's a pretty far out prospect,possible, but very unlikely. Tyson Gay, a 200m "specialist" has still run the 100 in 9.84. Fast is fast IMO, and once you get 100m times in the 9.8 area you have scary fast . You only have a handful of "elite" 60m runners because it is a less common event, only run in indoor track. Now Bailey was obviously an elite 60m runner, he actually holds the world record for the 50m and I'd argue Powell is an can be considered elite with a 6.56 60m under his belt . So, I think the disparity between 40 yard dash speed and 100m is little to none, especially when you look at the fact that sprinters work harder getting a good starting time than anything else. I mean everyone made a HUGE deal about Xavier Carter's speed when he played, but he's a 200m specialist, and a very good one, but you're still comparing apples and oranges here. World-class sprinters and even the fastest football players are at completely different levels.

I'm with you. Like I said, it was kinda "for arguements sake", and I have heard others bring it up. I've seen some big dudes that run with anybody for 15 yards and then get left by the smaller guys. Car & Driver actually did a test where a stock GMC Syclone pick-up beat a Ferrari 348ts over the short haul before succumbing to the latters much higher top speed. In the same vein how many races did Carl Lewis ever lead after 30 meters? His game was all top-end. Anyway, it's more of a fun concept than anything and the arguement is going to rage ad nauseam 'til we get some of "those" guys to lay down some certified 40's like they do at the combine.

 

[pricevol5]

I'm with you. Like I said, it was kinda "for arguements sake", and I have heard others bring it up. I've seen some big dudes that run with anybody for 15 yards and then get left by the smaller guys. Car & Driver actually did a test where a stock GMC Syclone pick-up beat a Ferrari 348ts over the short haul before succumbing to the latters much higher top speed. In the same vein how many races did Carl Lewis ever lead after 30 meters? His game was all top-end. Anyway, it's more of a fun concept than anything and the arguement is going to rage ad nauseam 'til we get some of "those" guys to lay down some certified 40's like they do at the combine.

I'd pay to see these track guys run at the combine, i remember Gatlin had a few private workouts with NFL teams, thats where the supposed 3.8 came from.

 

[hndog609]

I'd pay to see these track guys run at the combine, i remember Gatlin had a few private workouts with NFL teams, thats where the supposed 3.8 came from.

I swear I'd throw in $20 for a pay-per-view event where they took even just the guys from the US Nationals and had them run a "40 Challenge" at the combine after the combine guys were done. Even better, bring in a few of the NFL speedsters like D'Angelo and Dante Hall, Allen Rossum et.al. to compete also. Considering the enormous amount of wailing and gnashing that goes on all over the net I bet there'd be plenty of interest.

 

[pricevol5]

I swear I'd throw in $20 for a pay-per-view event where they took even just the guys from the US Nationals and had them run a "40 Challenge" at the combine after the combine guys were done. Even better, bring in a few of the NFL speedsters like D'Angelo and Dante Hall, Allen Rossum et.al. to compete also. Considering the enormous amount of wailing and gnashing that goes on all over the net I bet there'd be plenty of interest.

I'd throw $20 as well, I think that would stop a lot of the ridiculous 40 times that are being reported.