Christian Coleman, a Tennessee Vols sprinter, recorded a 4.12 time in the 40-yard dash.
Regardless of a valiant effort at this year’s NFL Combine, ex-Washington Huskies WR John Ross isn’t a speedy guy. Well, he’s speedy compared to his fellow football players, but not quite as amazing in the larger subset of college athletes in general.
Ross might have posted a 4.22 40-yard dash, but he was quickly superseded by an SEC track athlete named Christian Coleman.
The 2017 NFL Combine came with a little incentive. Adidas, the chosen footwear of some attendees at the combine, made somewhat of a pact. Terms of the aforementioned pact were relatively simple: wear our product and run the fastest 40-yard dash. The special cleat that Adidas assigned players to wear, if they agreed, was the Adizero 5-star 40s. The next part of the recipe, which required the best 40-yard time, wasn’t so easy.
A lot of talk about 40-yard dashes this weekend, so we asked the fastest man in the NCAA @__coleman to run one. pic.twitter.com/CpgWYvqnCI
— Tennessee Track & Field (@Vol_Track) May 1, 2017
It would be a conflict of interest for Coleman, since he’s from a Nike-sponsored school. In fact, Tennessee would end up parting ways from Adidas in 2014 to pursue business with Nike. So things wouldn’t work out well, but it’s a delight to picture.
Yet, throughout the duration of the 2017 NFL Combine, many combine attendees would try to answer that challenge from Adidas. After all, the cleat weighs only 4.8 ounces, which is practically skin tight, and that adds some mechanical advantage to acceleration. John Ross, who ran a 4.22 40-yard dash at this year’s combine, would literally waste no time. Other challengers, though, weren’t so lucky.
For instance, Minnesota’s Jalen Myrick (4.28) placed second, followed by Ohio State’s Curtis Samuel (4.31) and UCLA’s Fabian Moreau (4.35).
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One has to wonder: what if Christian Coleman entered the NFL Draft? Would the Cincinnati Bengals pick him — rather than Ross — ninth overall? It’s neither rocket science nor does it take a second thought to know that running a 4.12 40-yard dash is superhuman. Albeit NFL teams will jokingly reach out to Coleman about an offer. Adidas might even offer Coleman his own sponsorship, despite the fact that Tennessee’s a Nike school.