Ohio State starts Richard McNutt at one corner. They do not have "as much talent" as anyone. McNutt would be a walk-on at UT.
I think OSU could beat Virginia Tech. I know OSU had the fiasco vs. Cincy but they sure look hard to beat with Clarett in the backfield and a solid defense. Other than that those rankings look pretty good.
Yeah, sure he does. The fastest recorded time in the history of the NFL scouting combine is Deion Sanders who did a 4.29. From year to year, maybe 1 or 2 players clocks under 4.4. But, hey, maybe the Miami hype is right and he is the fastest player in history combined with gargantuan strength and a jordan-esque vertical
Very good points, Kidrock. I'd put less emphasis on the first 3, because if UT & Miami meet up in the Fiesta Bowl it will mean that UT won 3-4 big games this year, at least 2 on the road in less than hospitable environments. It's way too early to make definitive predictions, lots of things can happen in the next 2 months.
Obviously, you have never watched McGahee play this year... Um, mav3434, check this article out (pay attention to what is bolded)....I guess it is more Miami "propaganda" Still no one mightier than Miami Rout of Gators proves Hurricanes still team to beat for title COMMENTARY GAINESVILLE, Fla., Sept. 7 — Well, let’s see. Is there anything left for the University of Miami to wreck on its way out of town? A Steve Spurrier statue, perhaps? ON SATURDAY, IT wrecked Rex Grossman’s Heisman Trophy plans. Its wrecked Ron Zook’s big-game coaching debut. It wrecked the University of Florida’s hopes — and surely every other college team’s — that losing five first-round picks and 12 players overall to the NFL off their national-title team would lighten their talent load. “We’re back,’’ defensive end Jerome McDougle said. “Actually, we never left.” No. 1? No question. Miami won, 41-16, and it could have been worse. Should have been worse, actually. Miami’s Heisman-hyped quarterback, Ken Dorsey, threw three interceptions. The ’Canes had five dreary penalties in the first half within the shadow of the goal-line. It made, according to center Brett Romberg, “more mistakes than you could add up with a calculator.” And it still added up to Florida’s worst loss at home since 1979, cutting not just through Steve Spurrier’s 12-year coaching generation but all the way back to Charley Pell’s 0-10-1 team in 1979. Let’s end one silly notion right here, too: Spurrier would have made no difference. Not this game. Not this night. Not when Florida quarterback Rex Grossman, who like Dorsey came into the game with one hand on the Heisman, spent the evening peeling Miami defensive linemen off him. Typically, it was McDougle. Occasionally, it was Vince Wilfork. And then there was safety Maurice Sikes’ 97-yard, game-ending interception return for a touchdown. “They gave up in the third quarter,’’ Wilfork said. So did their fans. By the fourth quarter, the stadium Spurrier re-named The Swamp had the empty feel of one. But with both Heisman-hyped quarterbacks turning to pumpkins, it was left to Miami sophomore running back Willis McGahee to turn into the Heisman’s Mr. September. He had 210 yards on 24 carries. He averaged a turf-gobbling 8.5 yards per carry. And he provided not just the numbers, but the story to show just how good, how deep, how utterly unmatched for talent Miami is again this college football season. A year ago, McGahee wasn’t expected to be needed this season. Clinton Portis was the man. Frank Gore was dubbed the Next Great One. McGahee? He was a fullback — when he wasn’t a question mark. “He was immature, not working, not doing what he needed,’’ Romberg said. “It’s like he someone had sprayed him with coach-proof, like you make things waterproof and water just rolls off them,’’ Miami running backs coach Don Soldinger said. But it’s funny how a chance changes everything. Portis went to the pros. Gore blew out his knee in April. And so it is McGahee became the starting running back. He is the fastest player in Miami history (4.28 seconds in the 40). He’s the strongest player on the team (in the top three of every weightlifting statistic). In one Miami touchdown drive, he had runs of 15 and 27 yards. In another, he pulled off a 39-yard sprint. In the second quarter alone, he gained 78 yards. “Willis won the game for us,’’ guard Shero Haji-Rasouli said. “That was the surprising part — how he ran the ball on us,’’ Gator coach Ron Zook said. Surprising? Nothing much is surprising anymore with Miami. They rotated nine defensive lineman, including six seniors expected to be in NFL camps next summer. They start a completely new defensive backfield — and it intercepted Grossman twice. It has a running-back corps so deep that backup Jason Geathers rushed for 75 yards, too. And it wrecked Zook’s first big game. “People are going to judge me and that’s fine,’’ Zook said. “Our football team is going to get better.” Here’s one way it will: By not meeting Miami again. But, hey that time can't be true because no one can be as fast as Deion Sanders! I have followed Miami football for close to 20 years. There is little that I don't know about them. However, I do know that despite having great backs in the past like Alonzo Highsmith, Melvin Bratton, Cleveland Gary, Stephen McGuire, Edgerrin James, James Jackson, and Clinton Portis, that McGahee will be better than all of them. Unless, he suffers an injury, the sky is the limit for him. You can continue to doubt all you want, I really don't freaking care. However, you will get a chance to see a lot of Willis on the TV set, so I ask you to tune in and watch for yourself.
Yeah, I generally only listen to 40 times when they're at the combine. 4chuckie, I think you're underestimating UT. I'm sure OSU is loaded, but ask anyone else to compare the two, and UT comes out ahead. NOt saying we're the better team per se, but definitely a little more talented. We'll figure this stuff out at bowl season. One thing I've noticed about the Big Ten in bowls is that they usually seem a step slower than the SEC teams.
Yup, I'm waiting with baited breath for the first sub-4.0 time. Surely it can't be more than 5 or 6 years away.
Have you even watched McGahee play?? I would guess not by your response... Mark it down that you heard it here first, Willis McGahee will be a star at Miami, will be a 1st round draft pick (top 5 pick), and will have at least a solid NFL career.
You can roll your eyes all you want, but it notice that your article lists no source for the alleged 4.28. When was it run? was it on grass or turf? Was it hand timed (of course it was) or electronic? So McGahee really is faster than deion sanders is what you are saying? And faster than every player to have ever entered the NFL scouting combine since its inception? Do you really think the writer went down to Miami and electronically timed McGahee to do the article? Yeah, ok. By the way, I didn't see a source on your 42 inch. vert either. But I'm sure that's true too. If you want to read internet articles, here's one that you should read: Forty times are bogus in the NFL=20 April 17, 2001=20 BY CLARK JUDGE FOXSports.com =20 =20 There is something that makes no sense to me, and, for once, it doesn't involve Mark Cuban. No, it's what I'm hearing about Michael Vick, the first choice in this weekend's draft. The word starting to make the rounds on the Virginia Tech quarterback is that he can run the 40 in less than 4.3 seconds. I never saw Vick run a 40, and I wasn't at his workout at Virginia Tech. But one thing I can guarantee is this: Vick cannot run the 40 in under 4.3 seconds. Heck, he can't run it under 4.4, either. That's not a knock on Vick. It's a knock on an NFL practice that is = absolutely, positively out of whack. I'm talking about 40-yard dash times. They're the standard by which draft-eligible players are measured, and they're as reliable as UFO sightings. Yet when the NFL begins its march of draftees on Saturday you're going to hear how one running back ran a 4.32, a wide receiver peeled off a 4.34 or some 350-pound lummox breezed through a 4.85. It makes for good copy. But so did Paul Bunyan. "The only way to get a true 40-yard dash time is to get electronic timing where a man breaks a wire when he leaves the starting gate," said Buffalo's vice president in charge of player personnel, Dwight Adams. "The 40 is a common denominator in football, but it's blown way out of proportion. It's physically impossible to run a 4.2 and, probably, a 4.3." Don't tell that to the guys holding stopwatches. I remember when Vance Johnson, then a wide receiver at the University of Arizona, ran the 40 in 4.19 seconds. At least that's what I was told. I guess Denver was, too, because the Broncos made him their second-round draft pick in 1985. I also remember when Laveranues Coles, then a wide receiver at Florida State, was supposed to have run a 4.16. Nobody said anything about it being wind-aided, but it would have taken Hurricane Andrew to push him to a finish like that. The Jets media guide has him clocked at 4.29 last year, and there was no wind advisory there, either. The NFL scouting combine has been using electronic timing since 1990, but that's one year after Deion Sanders set the standard against which all others are measured. Sanders ran a 4.29 in Prime Time, and nobody has beaten the mark since. "You've got to take into consideration that most of these times are done with stopwatches," said San Diego State's Rahn Sheffield, coach of the women's track and field squad and a former track star himself. "A 4.2 really translates to a 4.4. When you hand time (dashes) it opens up room for human error. So when a Marshall Faulk runs a 4.33, it really equates to a 4.5." All of which comes as no news to Adams, who for years has laughed off 40-yard dashes and vertical jumps and long jumps as insignificant measures of a football prospect's abilities. He's more interested in production, which makes a lot of sense to me . and anyone else who believes stopwatches weren't made for football. Remember when Jerry Rice emerged from Mississippi Valley State in 1985? He was supposed to be too slow. Same with USC running back Marcus Allen. Yeah, well, I never saw a defensive back who could catch Rice from behind until he tore up his knee, and Allen's a lock for the Hall of Fame. O.J. Simpson might have been the fastest back to play the game. Go ahead and make a case for Bo Jackson. Maybe Herschel Walker, too. But Simpson ran a leg on Southern Cal's 440-yard relay team, one that set a world record, and if he were in this year's draft he'd be the fastest running back by far; faster than Big-10 sprint champion Michael Bennett. Faster than LaDainian Tomlinson. Faster than Deuce McAllister. Any idea what Simpson ran for a 40? I do. Try 4.5. If you don't believe him ask. He said it shortly after he left USC. "I must've missed something here," said Adams. "I spent some time this spring with an Olympic sprinter, and we sat in a stadium together, watching guys work out and talking about how the 40-yard dash times were way overdone." The sprinter was Dennis Mitchell. Yeah, THAT Dennis Mitchell. He and Adams were together at the University of Florida, and when they heard times of some of the guys they watched Mitchell said nothing. He just shook his head. "He was a little shocked," said Adams. "Being a great sprinter, he'd never seen so many people running 4.1s and 4.2s. I've talked to (track coach) Brooks Johnson and others who say, 'You football people are way ahead of us.' Of course, they're facetious." If Adams had his way, he'd rely more on times for shorter distances -- especially for offensive and defensive linemen. Make them stop running 40s and time them for 10s, maybe 20s. That's all they usually cover, anyway. "I could see it," said Cleveland's vice president in charge of football operations, Dwight Clark. "But for running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs, I'd like to see the 40 stay." The Browns don't rely on others' times. They clock prospects themselves, and if they don't, they don't have a record of them. The Browns nevertimed anyone at 4.2. They never timed anyone at 4.3, either, though they had the University of Arizona's Trung Canidate at 4.32 last year. I wasn't at that workout, either, but I know something was wrong. And here's why. The fastest starter I ever saw was sprinter Ben Johnson, and at the 1988 Seoul Olympics track and field's fastest starter ran the 100 meters in a blistering 9.79 seconds, a time that later was disallowed after Johnson tested positive for steroids. Know how fast he covered the first 40? It was 4.69 seconds. Forty meters is approximately44 yards, which means Johnson ran the first 40 in 4.26. So, now, let's see if I have this straight: The chemically enhanced Johnson, the fastest starter in track history, ran the fastest 100 in history . only it was one-tenth of a second slower than Laveranues Coles a year ago and three one-hundreths of a second ahead of Sanders' NFL combine record. It makes you wonder. It makes you wonder why anyone believes this stuff. "I look at guys like Mean Joe Greene and Steve Van Buren and wonder how many 4.3s those guys did," said Adams. "I think we've gotten to the point where we've overdone the clock workout." Senior writer Clark Judge covers the NFL for FOXSports.com. Send your comments to cjudge@foxsports.com. By the way, I have watched McGahee play, and he is a very good back. But that 40 time is 100% pure bullsh!t and that's not just my opinion, it's science.
Good article. Also, pay attention to how individual teams measure 40 times. Some teams (UT is one) stops the clock after their entire body crosses the line. Other teams stop as soon as any body part crosses the line. Which is more accurate? UT's times would probably come out slower, but I think the latter method is what is used in official races.
Nice article, but there is always human error involved in clocking times of players. No, I do not know if he "really" ran a 4.28 40 because I was not there in person when they timed it. I do know from searching that McGahee was "timed" at 4.44 coming out of high school but that was like 3 years ago, so I would think that he could get faster. But then again, I have no idea how that 4.44 was timed either. I used that time because that is what I heard. Period. But it seems like the NFL combine makes players run the 40 in full pads. Maybe McGahee's time was a track time, meaning no pads. But it beats the **** out of me. I can't verify with 100% authenticity that McGahee really ran a 4.28 40, but I and no one else on this BBS can dispute the fact that he IS the fastest player to ever play at the University of Miami and that is pretty f*cking damn impressive, don't you think?? That means faster than a slew of guys including Santana Moss who "supposedly" ran a 40 around 4.4 maybe close to 4.3. Oh and I can't wait to see what Willis gets clocked in the 40 at the NFL combine. It wouldn't surprise me if he comes close or beats that 4.29 time of Deion Sanders only because he is going to get better.
Unfortunately, we will never know because he probably won't go to the combine and will instead have a private workout with hand times. As far as being the fastest player at Miami ever, I don't know enough to make a judgment there. Although the same claim was made about Laverneous Coles and FSU prior to the NFL combine that year and he only did a 4.37. I'll say this, if Santana Moss and McGahee were in a race, my money would be on Moss, but who knows really BTW, the nfl times are done in shorts and tshirts on the rcadome turf.
I have no doubt that McGahee is fast and it's all relative. But, teams time their players differently, as I mentioned above. I hope you were sarcastic about the pad thing. I don't think that is true.
Well, if that was him carrying the ball for Miami against Florida this year, then yeah, I've watched him play. And I still don't believe he runs 40 in three seconds flat or whatever ridiculous number you're trying to give him.
That's right. Furthermore, Mcgahee runs a 4.3 only if he and Frank Gore are being piggybacked by Lehman.
I don't think 40 times will ever be definitive... I take them with a grain of salt everytime. All that is relevent is how fast they are on the field. Getting back to football... I did overlook McGahee, who is just an absolute beast. Great size/speed ratio. Funny thing is that Frank Gore might have been the starter, if he didn't tear his ACL. That is scary.
