40 times

[mirrorman]

How fast do you have to be to be an above average high school football player? Is there that much difference in the classifications as a whole?

[bud]

This is has been asked before. There will be all kinds of people claiming a 4.4 40 or less. A 4.4 40 in Tennessee High School Football is about as fast as it gets and is way above average. A 4.6 in high school is pretty darn fast and I would say is above average. Unless someone has been electronically timed, it does not count. There might be one, maybe one kid that runs a legit 4.3 in Tennessee High School football, but I doubt it. So lets hear the legit claims only please.

 

Larger schools usually, not always, will have the overall fastest teams.

Edited April 2, 2004 by bud

[BigOwlFan]

We have one kid that is a medium to high 4.6 which is our fastest time. We have 16 who are under a 5 flat. So I was told. So maybe we aren't as slow as I thought we were.

Edited April 2, 2004 by BigOwlFan

[JC4life]

I

would say that someone who runs between 4.4 and 4.7 is a "fast" football player Last year at Jeff Co we had several who ran a good 4.6,and Scooter who ran a legit 4.34. 40 times are not as important as some people think,there are players who have had very good 40's but it didn`t transfer over to the football field.In football its more about quickness than raw speed,its all great if you run a 4.4 on a track in shorts but if that speed doesn`t go with you on the field it doesn`t matter.

Edited April 2, 2004 by JC4life

[bud]

Scooter was a rare exception. That kid can blaze! I had heard he could run a sub 4.4.

[tlove13]

We test in the 20 and 40. If you are faster than a 4.7 in the 40, then in Tennessee you are considered pretty fast. Currently, we have one guy that is mid 4.5's consistently, and about four guys that hit 4.6 every now and then. There is a lot of 4.3 talk, and 99% of it is false. However, I do believe that Houston is a 4.3/4.4 guy. He might be the only guy that I've seen in East Tn the last 5 years that could run like that. Fulton had a kid that could go, and I remember when Billy Williams played at Alcoa-he was scary fast. As far as classifications having anything to do with it, only because your bigger schools have more odds at having a faster player. In my opinion, the fastest teams that I see year in and year out are smaller schools such as Fulton, Austin East, Alcoa. Obviously, Oak Ridge has it's speed guys and every so often, Jeff and DB have some guys that can roll. Each team usually has a burner, but few teams have waves of speed they can throw at you. Now, if you can teach that player that can run to tackle and run through tackles, then you have your player.

[linebackers]

what would ya say a D line and linebackers would run to be considered fast

[halls100]

40 times are just a measure of quickness and not of speed, which is one thing that you must also consider. Scooter may run a 4.4 which means he is quick, however he is only a 11.0 100m, 22.8 200m runner which means his top speed is not as fast as others. I am a track guy so don't think i'm just ramblin. I played football my senior year and in spikes im only 4.5-4.6 in the 40, but because I have greater top speed which I can maintain I run a 10.7 100, 22.17 200m. So Scooter is a good break-away player, which is something you see alot with football players in track; they get out of the blocks well(especially tailbacks who are very explosive e.x. Scooter, Cassen J.) but often get caught by runners with higher top speeds. I would say Cassen J. is another legit 4.4. At Gibbs he beat me out of the blocks by 4-5 steps and got me by a step at the finish after I made up 2-3 steps on him starting at about 45-55m into the race. All i'm tryin to say is that look for recievers/defensive backs to be your faster overall players and runningbacks to be your explosive players who usually are quicker with lower 40 times.

[JC4life]

Most of that is true however I would say that gettingthe better angle is the reason that these backs get caught more than the guy thats chaseing is faster(most of the time when they get out into the open field they don`t get caught anyway)I have always considered the 40 to be a measure of speed and not quickness (but hey what do I know?) By the way I think you may be off on Scooter's 100m and 200m times,I don`t know the numbers by heart but those numbers don`t sound right,I`ll have to check and get back to you on that.The great thing about these backs are, they have moves to go along with their speed\quickness

[halls100]

Those numbers are from when we ran against Jeff Co. last year and I seam to remember him around there at region too. He usually wont run the 100 but I know someone who ran at Jeff. last year and said that's what he was around. Usually I would say a good speed test is a 40 yard fly. Which is you sprint 30 yards and then the timer times from the 30 yard mark to the 70 yard mark. I believe this is a better test of top speed than the 40 yard dash, which along with 20's and shuttle runs tests more explosiveness and quickness.

[linebackers]

what about dline and linebackers 40

[warrior2024]

40 times seem to change on these high school kids when they get to college. They slow down. A 4.4 turns into a 4.6. I was at Western Kentucky this weekend and the tailback's 40 was only in the mid 4.6's. That is fast enough. Some of these guys blow up the stats all the time. The 40 measured correctly most of the 4.4's will be in the 4.5-4.6 range. There are few if any kids in high school that run 4.3's. That is almost world class speed. There are very few guys in the NFL that run legit 4.3's. My opinion on times for High school athletes:

 

4.6 or better- very fast for high school

4.8-4.6- good speed for most areas

5.0-4.8- average speed of most skill positions with some exceptions

5.2-5.0- average lineman speed

Above 5.2- not very fast

 

A good speed for D-linemen is sub 5.0. If your D-Line in High School is that fast you can cause problems.

LB's 4.6-4.8 will make me happy.

DB's 4.7 or better and I am extremely happy.