The Football Brainiacs

For Part III, the final piece of my wide receiver evaluation process, quickness and speed will be the focal points. I don’t like to just use the word “fast” when describing an athlete, as “fast” can actually be used to describe separate qualities, at least in the way I define them.

QUICKNESS

How I define quickness using three layers:

1st Layer: How dangerous is the guy “in space”?

2nd Layer: How are his first three steps?

3rd Layer: Is he quick without the ball?

These may seem simple to you; however, in my mind, it can get sort of complex.

1st LAYER: HOW DANGEROUS IS THE GUY “IN SPACE”?

The term “in space” has different meanings for different coaches and analysts. For the purpose of this piece, and to give you my definition, let’s define it as a 10 yard x 10 yard box. There are guys who are “straight line” fast who are not good at all in space. When I think of guys who were/are lethal in space, names like Sterling Shepard, Reggie Bush, and Darren Sproles come to mind. These are guys who would be hard to “tackle” in a game of flag football.

A key question in this layer for me is this: Can the guy get lateral quickly? I’ve always been a fan of the guys who are just as fast “east and west” as they are “north and south”. Now, this is not to say I am a fan of wasted movement (if you’ve read Part I, you know this), because there is a difference in a purposeful lateral football move and just dancing around with no end game in mind. If you watch enough football, or have played enough, you understand there is a time and a place when you just cannot simply blaze by a guy if he is close to you. This is where I look for the skills in space.

Reggie Bush

Darren Sproles

Every offensive coordinator needs at least that one guy who is in the nightmares of defenders. Not every high ceiling prospect has what I would call elite quickness; he may be a straight-line burner, but not able to make great cuts and run sharp routes.

2nd LAYER: HOW ARE HIS FIRST THREE STEPS?

I can tell a lot about a player by observing the way he comes off the line of scrimmage. Some of what I can learn tells me about his mindset as a player, but most of it tells me about his explosiveness (think Jaquayln Crawford), which is a part of quickness.

During the 2011 season, I coached a wide receiver who ran a legitimate 4.55 in the forty yard dash. He could flat out fly. That was not, however, what set him apart from the rest. To use an old timer phrase, he would have been hard to tackle in a phone booth. He was so effective in everything he did because he could juke and jive all day long and still move with purpose. Part of his purposeful movement was his first three steps. His feet would be an absolute blur off the line of scrimmage, moving in exactly the proper direction. Needless to say, he was a joy to coach.

On the other side of that coin, I once coached a young man who could not run out of sight in a week. Our staff used to joke, behind closed doors, we needed a calendar to time his forty. On the field, in pads, however, he was a great player because he had very fast feet in tight spaces. His first three steps were great. He was never going to win any foot races, but he was a super reliable option on third down passing situations because he would beat someone to a spot due to his first three steps. He was quick, not fast.

A wide receiver has a couple of built-in advantages to a defensive back. Number one, the receiver already knows where he is going. Number two, the receiver is moving forward while the defender is moving sideways and backward. I want to see a guy use his advantages by having the fastest first three steps possible.

3RD LAYER: IS HE QUICK WITHOUT THE BALL?

I often like to go to high school basketball games and watch the guys who are good football players who also play hoops. In my opinion, quickness without the basketball is a key to being an effective player on the court. In football, it is just as important.

Receivers need to have the ability to work themselves open by using their quickness (and hands). Sometimes, this is a cerebral endeavor, meaning, does the receiver know where the holes are in a zone, or does he know if he beats his man he should throttle down before getting into the safety’s area, etc. Looking at film like I do, it is refreshing to see a guy who is quick to his spots, quick in his movements, and able to be an athlete in space without the ball in his hands.

If a player is quick without the ball, you can usually expect he can be the same once the ball is in his hands.

SPEED

Sometimes I think folks probably believe I am too hard on athletes regarding their speed. I once had a father ask me if I thought his son could play at Arkansas Tech University, which is a solid Division II program in Russellville, Arkansas. He wanted my honest opinion so I told him “your son is too slow”. That did not settle well with the father and I understood. Everyone wants their children to be “fast”. Our sports culture teaches us that speed kills, after all. The truth is, speed does kill, and it also quickly exposes guys who don’t have real speed.

The fastest human I have witnessed with my own eyes is a guy by the name of Larry Crenshaw. Crenshaw played his high school sports in Chelsea, Oklahoma, and was an all-state football player as well as a multi-state champion during track season. Crenshaw and I played football together at both Missouri Southern State University and Northeastern State University. He decided to give up the college football dream after a few seasons and went to OU to run track.

His fastest times for HS were:

40: 4.37

100: 10.26

200: 21.01

At OU, his times were:

40: 4.31

100: 10.07

200: 20.48

My point in mentioning this…I have witnessed real speed. Not just any speed: elite speed. Crenshaw could absolutely fly. When you see a guy on film who has elite speed, it is easy to recognize.

Want to see a guy on OU’s team right now who has elite speed?

Tre Brown

When I see a guy who takes away angles from quality defenders, I know he is fast. Guys who have the “it” factor in speed are game changers. Miss one tackle and they are “88 and out the gate.”

In 2009, our running back was the defending 100-meter state champion. He had zero quickness, but would destroy your defense if you let him get into your second level. During the game versus our rival, we faced a third down and twenty-eight from our own 11-yard-line. We were behind 17-0 at the time and our head coach was worried about turning it over in an obvious passing situation. He called a blast to the right side of the line, hoping we would get a few yards and give our punter some breathing room. Instead, our back took the handoff, ran through an arm tackle at the line of scrimmage, then left the defense in the dust as he raced 89 yards to pay dirt. Speed kills. We went on to win 31-17, by the way, with a few more touchdowns from the running back.

Players who possess that elite level speed really are not as prevalent as you may think. A legit 4.40 forty-yard dash is rare. If you need more proof than just my words, watch the NFL Combine next spring and count how many guys hit that mark. It’s not many. Year after year, fans are told about this sub-4.4 guy, or that one. Most of the time, it is hogwash. When I see a guy’s film and the actual forty time is verified, I can believe what I see.

Sometimes, film can be deceiving as well when trying to determine speed. One of my all-time favorite college players is former Arkansas quarterback Matt Jones. Jones was six-foot-six and looked like a tranquilized giraffe in a football uniform, but he could fly.

Matt Jones

Remember what he ran at the NFL Combine? He fired off a 4.37. When you watched him on film run maybe ten or so yards, you never would have thought he had top end speed. If you saw him break out in the open and pull away from defensive backs, you knew he did.

All of this to say, sometimes film can be hard to decipher and not just with speed and quickness. Seeing a guy in person is always best, but during the season that is pretty much impossible for a lot of head coaches.

When evaluating a player, I try to take into consideration all the variables you have read in Pts. I – III. If a guy doesn’t have all of the skills mentioned, it does not mean he isn’t a high end player. Also, my evaluation of a player could be completely different than, say, someone who actually gets a paycheck to recruit players to a university. This process is not as easy as some make it out to be. A simple question of “can the kid play?” does not always cut it, and relying solely on that philosophy could leave a coach holding the keys to a Corvette that won’t start.

One of the good things about what I do for The Football Brainiacs is that most players I evaluate have very full skill sets and usually have only a few very nitpicky pieces of their games that could use more in-depth coaching and focus.

Hopefully, these little vignettes have, if nothing else, brought you into my head just a little. As always, I’m happy to answer any questions in the comments of this piece or on Twitter: @ McKinzie_TFB.

Thanks for reading.