Sprinters & the 40 yd dash

[AFi_04]

hey, what up all... i'm new to the board & if you're wondering i play D-IAA football. my question is: you see guys in the nfl running 4.1 40's, but during the sydney olymipics i heard broadcasters saying the women sprinters can run it in the 4.2's. so what do you think maurice green and some other top guys run?? 3.8's??? peace

 

[The Man Child]

No bro...I am a D1 football player myself, I read somewhere that these sprinters like Ben Johnson, Maurice Green, Etc...cover the same distance in the same amount of time as the fastest corners and receivers in football, its on the other 60 meters that they separate the olympic sprinters from the football sprinters. And to be honest, anyone that reports a 4.1 isn't telling the truth. Olympic sprinters are timed electronically, and the majority of the 40 yard dashes being reported at 4.2 and 4.1 are manual. I'd be shocked if someone was actually timed at below a 4.3 electronic and his name isn't Maurice Green...

 

[AFi04]

when deion sanders came out of FSU, he ran a 4.19 at a private workout at a olympic training facility in florida... believe me, there are a lot of guys running sub 4.2's... in my opinion, mo greene would smoke any top WR or DB out of the blocks.

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"champions are made in the off season"

 

[AFi04]

man child, what position do you play?? whats your 40?

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"champions are made in the off season"

 

[rudeboy4.4 forty]

these forty times are ignorant. when a coach wants a player to have a fast time he will have a quick watch. a good hand timer would have no one in the nfl running a sub 4.2 right now. get an accu trac time on some of these guys and watch the fastest people run a 4.4 ------don't believe the hype
nfl or olympic sprinters.

 

[ZoDog]

When world class sprinters run they are coming out of blocks and not a track stance for the 40. They specifically train themselves for that movement. I doubt they could even run a legit 4.3 if they quit track for a long period. As for football players, no one from FSU has done anything in the combine at the 40 accept Dieon. I've heard of players running 4.3s in personal workouts but never in the combine. 4.4 would be the fastest legit time that you would see consistently.

 

[Mack-Lo]

It's true. Micheal Johnson dissed football players by saying that they weren't running up to their potential. For him to break the WR, he said that he would have to cover the first 40 yards in under 3.8 seconds. The thing about mentioning the electronic timer (ET), is that not everyone is using it and it is not the standard means of testing. The League doesn't even use it. But there are plenty of 4.1< guys, but are they really ballas? Peace***

 

[The Man Child]

I play Oline. I run a consistent 4.8 hand timed on track not grass.

 

[lc576]

I ran track with Deion at FSU. His fastest 100 was in the high 10.3s. When football players run their forties the clock starts when the coach sees the player move and ends when the coach preceives the runner to cross the line cross. So in a forty you have the coaches reflexes and perceptions that weigh into the time. In such a short sprint it could mean as much as 3 tenths of a second.

Don't get me wrong, Deion was fast, but not the fastest on the team.

[This message has been edited by lc576 (edited April 03, 2001).]

 

[chillin408]

john capel,the sprinter who won the us olympic trials in the 200m is in the new nfl draft magizines,i forgot exactly what 40 yard time they listed him it was 4.3 something,4.31 or 4.39,anyway 4.3 something,anyway he is an olympic sprinter, i havent followed this stuff as much as i use to,i was just a walgreents though and after i looked at the muscle magizines i glanced at that the draft mag real quick,since i havent been following this stuff much the last year or two i dont know what his 100 time is,but i would guess very low 10's if not 10 flat ,or maybe even sub 10,didnt he run around 19.8 at the trails? i dont know,but anyway i just posted because theirs always people online saying they run 4.4 or 4.3 and this is an olympic sprinter and he only ran 4.3 something ,that is what they had him listed it in the draft mag

 

[WatchOutNow]

hey, thats funny cause on fox sports they had this thing on deion... it was a behind the scenes type thing, but anyway, bobby bowden AND FSU's track coach said they asked deion to run one meet and he won, i think it was the 100... they even showed it. don't hate on deion. and whoever thinks there aren't people running below 4.3, you have no idea...

 

[H20RETENTION]

Hey does anyone have a good workout to improve your 40 time i have 2 months before football starts I am 6'4 245lbs and my time is 4.76....also what is reasonably from now until august 9 as far as improvement?

 

[Veni-Vidi-Vici]

40 times are way overrated!! Think about it, how many times in a football game does a player run 40 yards straight ahead at full speed? Maybe a receiver of kick returner but even that is not very often. Agility, abilty ot start/stop/change direction and accelerate to top speed again is much more important. The agility tests and the first 10 yards of the forty are a much better predictors of success on the filed. V3

 

[cheeta]

first of all 40 times are not overrated. Speed kills. I was formerly a collegiate sprinter. Not at any D1 schools, but still i know some shit about it. I agree that sprinters run it just as fast as football players. The reason for fast sprinting is when they get out of theyre drive stage into their stride stage. Football players would keep up with sprinters for the first few 30-40 yards i garuntee that. After that the sprinters will kill em. And there is now way the women run 4.1's. I run as fast maybe a little faster than most of the women sprinters, theres now way i can run a 4.1., PEACE

 

[Veni-Vidi-Vici]

Sure speed kills...but not necessarily flat out straight ahead speed unless you have the ability to accelerate/decelerate/change direction etc. Guys with the explosive power to be good sprinters do tend to have good agility and athletic ability overall but what I'm saying is just because you have a good 40 time does not necessarily mean you will be a better football player than somone who is a couple tenths of a second slower. V3

 

[NYStrip]

I play Oline. I run a consistent 4.8 hand timed on track not grass.

Hey Bro,

You ever run 10's? Just wondering what a good speed for 10's would be.

 

[edgecrusher]

40 times are greatly inflated, just to give you an idea when I played high school ball, my coach let ti slip out that there was no one one the varsity team running slower then a 4.7 40. This was complete and total bullshit. All you had to do was watch a game and see that half the team ran like they had pianos on there backs. What is the moral of the story? People constantly lie about there stats. Case in point, I can remember when everyone was raving about Raghib Ismail. Everyone said he was the fastest man playing college ball at the time. Then he went to the Canadian League, and broke every record known up there. Next thing you know, all of a sudden everyone and there brother is only 1/10 of a sec off his pace, or there faster. But yet no one ever seemed able to chase him down, hmmm. Anyway all I'm saying is don't believe all this hyped up bullshit that alot of these people are saying.

 

[Hugh Gellatts]

when I ran college track I could smoke guys on 10 and 20 yard starts, but was absolutely terrible in the 100m and 200m. Hell, even the 55m seemed too long.

The fastest sprinters are usually not the quickest out of the blocks. John Drummond has a much more explosive start than Moe Greene, but has no chance after 60m.

 

[ciscokid1]

No one runs the 40 in under 4 secs. You guys that are saying you run in 4.2's ect, ect are not getting accurate times. I'd say the fastest guys run it in no less than a 4.3.

 

[pault4896]

No bro...I am a D1 football player myself, I read somewhere that these sprinters like Ben Johnson, Maurice Green, Etc...cover the same distance in the same amount of time as the fastest corners and receivers in football, its on the other 60 meters that they separate the olympic sprinters from the football sprinters. And to be honest, anyone that reports a 4.1 isn't telling the truth. Olympic sprinters are timed electronically, and the majority of the 40 yard dashes being reported at 4.2 and 4.1 are manual. I'd be shocked if someone was actually timed at below a 4.3 electronic and his name isn't Maurice Green...

Your wrong on that!!

 

[sugashane]

when deion sanders came out of FSU, he ran a 4.19 at a private workout at a olympic training facility in florida

Allegedly. He even said that during this years NFL combine. And there is the "phenomenom" of human reaction too. If it takes 2 tenths of a second to start the timer a 4.4 turns to a 4.2. Unless its 100% electric, then I don't completely trust it. Even then there can be mini-factors within it. Such as a forward lean at the end, which can shorten time, but does that really mean they are as fast as someone with the exact same time who didn't lean?

 

[sugashane]

first of all 40 times are not overrated. Speed kills.:

I believe it is overrated. Just by learning the form of the 40, you can cut up to 3 tenths of a second off if you had poor form in it. Thats a HUGE thing with the pre-combine programs. And the first 10 yards is BY FAR more important IMO than the whole 40. In football, you rarely get an uninterrupted 40 yard sprint. Acceleration and agility are the killers. Look at Devin Hester, makes cuts at almost full speed and is at full speed in just a few steps, but wasn't a phenom on the 40. Thats why they say there are manufactured and game speeds. There have been a lot of 40 yard greats who reported to camp and weren't near as exlosive or fast as expected.
Not to mention holding a football messes with your form, and therefor slows you down. Throw in the weight or the pads and you have another factor.
I'll take a veteren group who are detailed, intelligent, and work very well together, but not as fast, over a group of young physical specimens. Speed matters slightly less at each level, because of the gameplanning, intricacy, and precision that keeps improving. Jerry Rice wasn't the faster WR, but he was the best ever. Chris Carter and Tim Brown were not anywhere near burners, but they are #2 and 3 on all time receptions list.
Speed is just one factor of the long equation, and the 40 isn't even in it.