40 Times; Overrated?

[johnnyboy]

I found an online article a couple years ago about white players Jay Farris WR, Rocky Anderson RB, Cole Ivie RB, Jon Bensen RB and Matt Leemhuis S, who all ran a sub 4.4 40 time (With Rocky Anderson, Bensen and Faris around 4.3 flat) at combines done by Division II scouts in white heavy states, but only Leemhuis (the safety not surprisingly) is even in the scout.com scouting archives.

I think that you got those guys from a post that I wrote a couple of years ago about the fastest white high school players. Of all of those fast white players, only Leemhuis received a D1 scholarship to Virginia. I think that Anderson walked-on at Oklahoma. As far as I know, the other guys are out of football.

Thinking of Virginia, it reminds me of another great high school player that was totally screwed by the recruiting process, Staton Jobe. Jobe was a Texas All State WR from Austin Westlake, where he also holds the school record in the 100m at 10.35 sec. Despite his speed and accolades, he didn't receive any D1 offers. I don't know what his forty time is, but judging from his 100m time, it has to be at least a 4.3. He never ran at a combine, but he was definitely one of the fastest high school football players in the country. The good news is that he walked-on at Virginia and is getting quite a bit of playing time as a freshman.

do any of those guys have profiles on rivals.com? i know staton jobe does, but the thing that troubles me is that his forty time is listed at 4.5 and there is a little "r' next to it which i guess means its "event certified". now after reading his about his 10.35 sec 100m, i thought for sure his forty time would be atleast a 4.4, but its not. i dont get it. are the official combines actually taking the time to electronically time every participant? do they just use a stopwatch? also, if there is no litttle "r" denoting the time as "event certified" , then what methods are they using to get those times? it seems to me if the fory is the be all end all recruiting tool, then it should be made a lot clearer on these expert recruitng sites.


i'd appreciate any info. thanks guys.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Hand timed 40 times are usually inaccurate and a little faster than electronic times. Hand timed 40 yard dashes start at first movement which causes error in the timers reflexes starting the watch. I'm pretty sure Electronic times start after a players foot comes off a starting pad and end when he crosses a laser at the finish

With the times many of these H.S players are putting up at the Scout.com combine I think they are hand timed, but am not certain. The top NFL combine time in the last 9 years is Rondel Menendez's 4.24; there are only 6 that have gone sub 4.3 in the last 9 combines. This year alone at the Scout.com combine 4 players went sub 4.3 and Larry Roper WR, ran a 4.24. It doesn't make sense that H.S combine participants would be faster than NFL combine participants.Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins