In sports, hundredths of a second can mean millions of dollars. The upcoming NFL draft will display just how precious that time span can be.
“A little bit of time can mean a whole lot of money and a whole lot of draft spots,” former Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly said Wednesday.
Thirty-seven NFL scouts packed into OU’s Everest Indoor Training Center to watch Kelly and defensive back Reggie Smith work out for the first time. Neither showed the blinding speed the league covets.
Kelly ran the 40-yard dash in 4.68 seconds. Smith ran it in 4.65. Both were hoping to crack the 4.5 mark.
Both said running on the field turf inside the facility bore some of the blame.
“I could have run a lot better,” Smith said. “I think we all feel we could have. The surface was a little slower than I thought it was.”
Kelly wasn’t nearly as diplomatic. He lashed out at OU after his workout.
“I can’t say I’m pleased with anything,” Kelly said. “I hadn’t trained on any of this stuff. This is my life. This ain’t no school, this ain’t no classroom, this has nothing to do with that. This has to do with me and my family. This is what I do: I play football.
“I’m supposed to come out here and run as fast as I can and I already had everything set up for where I wanted to do it at, and I get out here and it’s a whole different deal.”
Kelly, who weighed in at a muscular 227 pounds Wednesday, 10 pounds more than his listed playing weight this past season, thought he would be running his 40 and shuttle drills on Astroturf in the adjacent Mosier Indoor Facility. Times tend to be faster on that surface than on something closer to grass.
Kelly said he didn’t know he would be running on the Field Turf until about 45 minutes before the workout began.
OU strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt said the decision on the location was made at the request of the NFL scouts.
“All the NFL teams got together and told him they wanted to see him on the surface he was going to play on,” Schmidt said. “And he agreed that he would run in here.
“As a coach, I want them to test whereever it is going to be best for them.”
Schmidt said some NFL teams will factor in what surface players ran on when doing evaluations. He said some will add a tenth of a second to 40 times when they’ve run on Astroturf or a track surface.
Kelly disagreed.
“I talked to more than one scout who said he doesn’t mark up any kind of time,” he said. “What you ran is what you ran. That’s what I get for listening to everybody else.”
Of course, players are tested on Field Turf at the NFL combine and there isn’t an Astroturf surface in the NFL anymore. Every team plays on natural grass or Field Turf.
The players who went through OU’s pro day March 11 ran on the Field Turf without complaint. But perhaps none of those players had as much riding on a single day as Kelly and Smith. Both left school following their junior seasons, but hadn’t been able to work out for NFL scouts due to injuries.
Kelly had been dealing with a thigh injury that kept him out of the Fiesta Bowl. Smith had been dealing with a broken toe in his right foot.
Neither were healthy enough to run at the NFL combine in February or OU’s pro day in March. Showing blinding speed could have been enough to move either up the draft board.
“I could have done better, but you know me,” Smith said. “I’m never really satisfied. I could have done better in some areas.”
Smith is projected as high as a second-round pick by some analysts. He displayed a vertical leap of 391⁄2 inches and produced solid times in the other drills.
Kelly was trying to solidify himself as a first-round pick. He caught passes from former Nebraska quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch and showed impressive hands. He has meetings set up with Cincinnati, Minnesota and Pittsburgh in the next three days.
But failing to break the 4.6 barrier in the 40 will hurt him come draft day.
“It’s done now,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Speed an issue for Kelly, Smith
<a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="window.open('http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/thenormantranscript/images/video/griffin.html','winName','width=420,height=350, top=50,left=50')">Watch Video</a>
- OU Sports
-
-
Sooners make winning look easy
As Oklahoma’s players locked arms around the pitching circle, coming together for what passed as a celebration following Saturday’s 7-1 NCAA Super Regional-clinching victory over Arizona, three gloves remained near second base....
-
There are no easy outs in the lineup
Looking for a gameplan to stop Oklahoma? Well, one may or may not be available, but walking two of the first three Sooners you face certainly isn’t part of it. Just ask Arizona’s Kenzie Fowler....
-
Sooners will play for Big 12 championship
OKLAHOMA CITY, — It’s been 16 years since Oklahoma won the Big 12 tournament. It’s closer now than its ever been to ending the streak. The Sooners rolled through Baylor, 7-2, on Saturday at Bricktown Ballpark to advance to the tournament’s ...
-
Sooners send five more to nationals
AUSTIN, Texas — Oklahoma track and field teams had five more individuals qualify for the NCAA Championship on Saturday evening at the NCAA West Preliminary. The men’s 4x100-meter relay team also advanced to the national semifinals....
-
OU sophomore Jao-Javanil wins NCAA golf title
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Oklahoma’s Chirapat Jao-Javanil made Oklahoma golf history Friday, becoming the first Sooner, man or woman, to win an individual NCAA national championship....
-
Pitching staff is exactly where Golloway wants it to be
When the Big 12 tournament began, Oklahoma felt like it had the pitching staff to make a deep run. Dillon Overton, Jordan John, Jonathan Gray and Damien Magnifico gave them four quality starters and a closer — Steven Okert — capable of ...
-
Sooners shut out Wildcats, need one more win for WCWS entry
Oklahoma might have scored more runs, not committed an error and starting pitcher Keilani Ricketts could have been just a little more efficient along the way....
-
Sooners send 4 more to NCAAs
AUSTIN, Texas – Oklahoma’s track and field teams added four individuals to the list of Sooners advancing to the NCAA championship Friday at the NCAA West Preliminary. In addition to the four new qualifiers, Brittany Borman advanced to the ...
-
Big 12, SEC deal breaks the mold
It is unclear what the on-the-field product of the game-for-which-there-is-not-yet-a-name will be. Indeed, all we really know is the Big 12 and SEC plan to play a game on Jan. 1, 2015 (and on every Jan. 1, thereafter) that will include ...
-
Rivalry helped shape program
For coach Patty Gasso, it goes all the way back to 1995, her first year at Oklahoma. That was when her Sooners played Arizona six times throughout the season. Those Sooners were “annihilated” in all six of those contests....
- More OU Sports Headlines
-
Sooners make winning look easy
