Charles Curtis
March 1, 2018 11:38 am ET
MARTINSVILLE, N.J. — One by one the NFL prospects line up, preparing to practice for the four to five seconds that could change their lives.
They crouch down, pause and explode out from a starting line and stop running after about 20 yards under the watchful eye of Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic medalist sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago. They are inside the TEST Football Academy in a little New Jersey town some 20 minutes from Rutgers University, preparing for the meat market that is the NFL combine. On this frigid January day, they’re focused on how to start the 40-yard dash.
Some are better than others. Sebastian Joseph, a Rutgers defensive lineman, has earned the nickname “Shrek” for the way he runs with his powerful arms swinging out (it’s actually effective).
But it’s Marquis Haynes who stands out. In seemingly one fluid motion from his crouched start, he immediately hits a second and third gear with game-breaking speed. And that’s just about 20 yards in, with about two months of training left before Haynes will run the real thing at the 2018 NFL combine.
With that speed, is he a wide receiver? A cornerback? Maybe a safety? Nope.At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Haynes left Ole Miss as a defensive end. At that size, it means he’ll have to find a new position in the NFL (he’ll probably be a pass-rushing outside linebacker), which could be a red flag for some teams.
But if he can show off that speed at Lucas Oil Stadium this week, it’s all but a guarantee an NFL franchise will find a role for him.
* * *
That’s the mystique of the 40-yard dash. Think of how John Ross’s record-breaking run (a combine-record 4.22 seconds) turned the Washington wideout from a potential first-rounder into a top-10 pick for the Cincinnati Bengals. Remember all the headlines about Chris Johnson’s 4.24 in 2008 and what he looked like in the open field in his prime? What about Tyreek Hill’s 4.24 at his Pro Day that has more than carried over to the field? Or the mystery of just how fast Bo Jackson was before electronic timing was the norm?
You can talk about explosivity in the shuttle run, or athleticism in the broad jump, or strength in the bench press. But it’s speed in the 40-yard dash that becomes the biggest game-changer of them all — the difference between a Day 1 and Day 3 pick could be a matter of hundredths of a second.
So what are the secrets that can shave off 0.1 or 0.2 here and there to help turn these NFL prospects into players with the potential to be the next Joe Flacco or Bart Scott, both of whom have their photos hanging down over the very same turf these pros-in-the-making are running on?
For that answer, I turned to Boldon. This is the ninth draft class he’s worked with at TEST, which has produced NFL success stories including Flacco, Jerricho Cotchery, Duron Harmon and Vladimir Ducasse.
“Whatever he does, he has put forth his very best effort,” says TEST Sports owner and CEO Kevin Dunn. “He brings a world class Olympic ‘now or never’ mindset to these players. When he walks in this building, he commands a certain respect.”
Before Boldon leaves for Pyeongchang to cover the Winter Olympics for NBC (where, after three bronze medals and a silver, he’s reported on all things speed including track and field and NASCAR), he has some tips to pass on to me and to this group, with one line from his post-lesson lecture that stands out.
“Fast,” he says, “is not what you think it is.”
* * *
Step 1: The Start
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
It’s as iconic as the combine itself: The sprinter’s crouch with a hand up in the air, along with a pause to make sure everything’s set.
Boldon has me in the first three-point stance I’ve ever tried in my life, and immediately notes that I’m imbalanced — I should put weight on the “down” hand and my back foot but I shouldn’t feel like I’m going to fall over. Then, he wants to see my ankles nearly parallel to the ground. The “up” hand shouldn’t be too high above my head, but it should be in a position ready to swing in an uppercut as I push out of my start. And my head — which I can’t stop lifting to stare ahead at the surprisingly long distance in front of me — needs to stay down (that’s important for Step 2).
Charles Curtis — USA TODAY Sports
Boldon shows the group the 40 run by Patrick Peterson — a TEST alum — in 2011 and notes how that swinging punch and push fights through the force of gravity and even reduces the distance he has to run.
“His 40 is a ’36’ now,” Boldon says.
Step 2:Acceleration
It’s instinctual to want to stand straight up and get to where you feel comfortable running, but Boldon wants to break that habit right away.
“The sooner you stand straight up, the less you’re able to apply that pushing force,” he says.
To prove it, he takes a weighted sled and asks how best to move it along the ground. The answer, of course, is to push bent over to use your legs, not standing straight up. The same applies here, and while it’s counterintuitive to what might feel comfortable, it’s what makes a sprint more efficient, something I notice when I come back to the starting line less winded after a few tries.
Boldon has a video for this point, too: Heputs on a clip of Da’Rel Scott, a running back who trained at TEST and who was taken by the New York Giants in the 7th round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Scott never fully stands up straight during his his 4.34-second dash:
Step 3: Top Speed
“You’ll get to 20 yards,” Boldon explains, “and you’ll only have to worry about the last 20.”
What he means is: The technique of the first two steps takes up half the run. The rest? It’s just about getting to your top speed.
His most notable tip: Some people have learned to run with just their forearms pumping. He wants to see the fingers of a runner’s hand reach eye level and then the entire arm should release back and snap before coming up again.
It looks kind of like this:
Boldon demonstrates by mimicking the motion you’d use to hammer a nail. Would you hammer with just your wrist and forearm? No, you’d use the entire arm, including your shoulder.
Step 4: Finish
(AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
It’s simple: Run through a wall. Once you’re at your top speed, get through those last few yards and run right through those sensors.
But finishing doesn’t just have to do with the run itself. To finish the entire combine process requires blinders and dedication. Boldon finishes his lecture by talking about what the players need to do to be their best at the combine. If it means putting relationships on hold or deleting apps off your phone — like Boldon said he’d be doing with his smartphone in the lead-up to the Olympics — so be it. Distractions and weaknesses could take away from performance.
That’s why the location of TEST is actually part of the process.
“It’s not a vacation destination,” Dunn says. “The guys that we get here are guys that are interested in hard work and zero distractions. In a lot of ways, like Rocky IV when Stallone goes to Russia and trains in the mountains, that’s exactly what these guys need to do right now. You need to be selfish for these six weeks. A lot of times, people are pulling your attention in different areas for the most important six weeks of your life.”
* * *
At the end of my lesson, Dunn’s staff is kind enough to set up laser timers to give me a taste of the real combine 40-yard dash experience. I try to put together all of Boldon’s tips, forget that I’ve been the slowest runner of anyone I know and imagine that I’m running for my livelihood. As the future draftees watch, I go for it:
The result? A 6.14 that looks like it was run in slow motion. I can already see problems — I didn’t explode too much from my crouch, I stood up too straight at the end and, well, I was just born slow. It’s a good starting point if I was competing with the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen.
Plus, I’m not motivated by the possibility that one run might change my life forever.
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