BYU Football: Did you know? (Sub-4.5 forty yard dash)

Few things about an individual player gets more attention in football than the player's 40-yard dash time. The Brigham Young Cougars don't get very many players who have blazing fast speed. However, they have played quite a few the last couple of seasons.

Did you know that eight of the 34 players (23.5%) at the 2013 NFL Draft Combine who ran a sub-4.50 second 40-yard dash played against BYU during their college careers?

Among these eight players was the combine's fastest player: Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin. Goodwin was clocked at 4.27 seconds.

Here is a table with the eight players, their times, schools, and the results when BYU played their schools.

PLAYER	40 TIME	COMBINE RANK	SCHOOL	VS. BYU	YEAR
Marquise Goodwin	4.27	1	Texas	W, 17-16	2011
Josh Boyce	4.38	T-8	TCU	W, 31-3	2010
				W, 38-28	2011
Desmond Trufant	4.38	T-8	Washington	L, 23-17	2010
Jamar Taylor	4.39	T-11	Boise State	W, 7-6	2012
Rod Sweeting	4.42	T-16	Georgia Tech	L, 41-17	2012
Xavier Rhodes	4.43	T-19	Florida State	W, 31-10	2010
Markus Wheaton	4.45	25	Oregon State	L, 44-20	2009
				L, 38-28	2011
				W, 42-24	2012
Kerwynn Williams	4.48	T-31	Utah State	W, 31-16	2010
				L, 24-21	2011
				L, 6-3	2012

So, does speed "kill"? Not exactly.

BYU played these players a total of 13 times, and had a record of 6-7 in those games. Two of BYU's wins were over 20 points. Two of the losses were by one point. Two of BYU's losses were by more than 20 points.

These eight players were evenly split between offense and defense--four each.

Looking just beyond the 4.50 mark, there were another seven players who faced BYU during their college careers and ran the 40-yard dash between 4.51 and 4.54--Will Davis (4.51, Utah State), Rodney Smith (4.51, Florida State), Marquess Wilson (4.51, Washington State), D.J. Harper (4.52, Boise State), Khalid Wooten (4.53, Nevada), Leon McFadden (4.54, San Diego State), and Jordan Poyer (4.54, Oregon State).


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