About That 40 Time
A reader with a background in track-and-field weighed in on Lane Kiffin's comment Friday night that he clocked George Farmer running the 40 in 3.96 seconds.
``If that is the case, Farmer should quit football and start training for the London Olympics. He's a threat to Usain Bolt.
``I assume this is with a running start but even so, it's so ludicrous it defies credibility. Bolt, on a track in spikes, without a football uniform, on a starting can't run 3.96.
``Kiffin's perspective on the sideline, trying to calculate the distance (you can't do it from the pressbox, would not allow him to be accurate. Where the 40 begin and where does it end? Who said the field was marked exactly? Ludicrous.''
Wolf's 'reader with a back ground in track' doesn't know what the hell he is talking about. And Wolf in his typical lazy, uniformed, as-long-as-its-negative style has pounced on Kiffin without doing any footwork to verify his critism.
Fact is, Kiffin's claim is entirely credible. Take a look at Usain Bolt's splits: .165 sec (reaction time), 1.85 sec (1st 10m), 1.02 sec (2nd 10m), .91 sec (3rd 10m), .87 sec (4th 10m), .85 sec(5th 10m), .82 sec (6th 10m), .82 sec (7th 10m) .82 sec (8th 10m), .83 sec (9th 10m), .90 sec (final 10m).
So...you can see that Usain Bolt, with a head of speed can cover 40 meters (not just 40 yards!) in 3.3 secs. If you convert it to yards, you can see that Bolt can run 50 yards on a track in the time it takes Farmer to run 40 yards in pads. Farmer is fast, but he can't challenge Bolt.
You also can see that reaction time, even for world class athletes is .165 sec. You can also see that after world class athletes have run the first 10m, every subsequent 10m split is .8-1.0 sec faster than the first 10m split. In summary, Farmer's 40 time of 3.96 sec could EASILY translate into a 4.5 to 4.7 sec (or slower) time if he'd have had to account for reaction time and a flat start...like he would in a typical football timed 40. It depends on how much of a running start he had.
And where did I get these splits...from the IAAF...as anybody else can too...if they aren't too lazy to Google "Usain Bolt split times". But I guess 'a reader with a back ground in tract' is good enough for a 'journalist with a deficiency in credibility'.
This would be an embarrassment for a journalist. For Wolfie it is just another day at the office where he continues to collect a paycheck.
CJ Spiller to USC!... yep, just another day at the office, lol
Fight On
Scottie, I do believe, you just got MollyWhomped!
Thanks JAG. Scott is a putz
You're welcome. :)
Not only is JAG right but he left something out. Bolt or any world class sprinter (or even college or high school sprinter that is well coached) NEVER, EVER runs his fastest in race. That may seem counter-intuitive but that is because people don't understand that the 100m is still an endurance race.
It is set up by extending the acceleration part of the race as far as one can go to reach top speed and then trying to minimize the deceleration that happens as soon as one hits that top speed as the body slows.
I would use the 100m before the 40, because it is reliable whereas 40 times are not. It is also running to get to top speed while being in control while also telling you a little bit about endurance.
Among Usain Bolt and the very upper echelon of track athletes, speed training involves what in the 40 yard distance are sub 4.0 range runs repeatedly. There is not a football player that is staying with them.
As a side note, Wolf types who compare top ten sprinters with football players don't get it. Sprinting is roughly the equivalent of taking the Reggie Bushes and George Farmars (fastest footballers) of every year, adding 5 runners each year who don't play football and have faster times than footballers, adding another 3 or 4 a year to that number with the fastest foreign runners, and having those runners train for 5 or 10 years. Most of them would fall out but about dozen or so of them will run well in the sub 10 area and one of them in this case is in the 9.6 range.
They simply separate themselves by complete training and selection over years on one thing, something football players like Farmar, while among the best walking athletes on the planet still cannot compete with. And when many guys like Farmar go to the NFL they will put on more weight and usually (though not always) lose speed since the NFL prizes speed to weight ratio, strength and durability as well as game skill development, etc. So in college you are seeing something really special in terms of speed if not general football quality.
I would love to see Usain Bolt play football too but it won't happen. So enjoy these two separate things, understand that you are blessed to watch the most talented human beings on the globe run after a football, and when you watch track you are watching the same thing, only with a different specialty.
I'll second everyone else, Wolf - that's some really sloppy journalism there. And why would he switch to track? Who's got more money - Reggie Bush or Bolt?
All that technical stuff is fine the bottom line is Farmer has been a major disappointment , and is far from being even a good tailback at this stage. Great speed needs to be at wide receiver. Kiffin is panicking despite his clipboard pacifier in hand on the sideline. Maybe run a reverse using Farmer would be a smart move or throw to him down the field coming out of the backfield with a linebacker covering for a mismatch.
NO ONE runs a 3.96 40 on grass, in football pads, NO ONE. Comparing Bolt, who is running on a track designed for running not grass, wearing NO pads, carrying no football, is asinine.
You guys are f'ing morons.
@ Trojsteve5, Kiffin only has pass plays to Woods and that's the only guy Barney Barkley looks for. Go 5 wide against the Fish this weekend and they might just have a chance since running the ball is a thing of the past under Kiffin.