Herbstreit: Fastest college football player ever....

Agree?

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Yes.

That settles it. Moving on. Next topic?

Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

You rang?

For me, it was the run to set up Graham in Morgantown. Gliding towards the sideline, about to step out, then engaging afterburners leaving the cousins in a trail of dust.

Never Forget #1 Overall Seed UVA 54, #64 UMBC 74

I swear he covered 25 yards in 4 steps on that fake.

This deserves to be posted.

Even after all these years, I still feel nervous watching the replay.

"Exit light..."

Chills

even looks fast in slow motion

Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

I wish I could find a really high quality video of this.

Pre-HD days were the worst, amirite

The Dude Abides

What's sad is most current college students don't even remember those days....

"The Big Ten is always using excuses to cancel games with us. First Wisconsin. Then Wisconsin. After that, Wisconsin. The subsequent cancellation with Wisconsin comes to mind too. Now Penn State. What's next? Wisconsin?" -HorseOnATreadmill

Man I don't see a lot of Heather Dinich fans out there but hey, I'm not judging.

/s

Using /s is for cowards.

The best part is all the trash they were talking to the camera on the sideline, and then Vick crushing their souls

exit light

I really love right before the kick, the stadium announcer asking people not to rush the field after the game, then Tech takes care of the problem for them.

Thank you for posting this. I have this listed as my favorite Tech moment. It was cool seeing some other greats as well. Anyone else notice a) how well the O-line protected MV7 and b) how quickly they ran the 2 minute offense without spiking the clock? I will be anxious to see how the new offense develops. Thanks for the flashback!

The O-Line was a mean bunch of dudes back then. I'm pretty sure their scheme was to just knock everyone down on every play. I also noticed that a lot of times when MV7 would roll out, he'd have a guard or center pull with him for protection. Makes sense. Do you not see that anymore or am I just missing it?

Those were designed rollouts, as compared to the "escape hatch" rollouts we've all become accustomed to seeing in the Newsome era, where Tyrod was conditioned to run like hell when protection (inevitably) broke down.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

If you watch the 2008 game against Miami the "escape hatch" idea is on full display. We may have given up 200 sacks (I'm exaggerating, but seriously) that year if not for Tyrod's elusiveness.

The moment I decided I was all in on this VT football thing.

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

This was my freshmen year and believe the game was blacked out on local TV which resulted in 20 guys in Pritchard Hall sitting around a radio listening the game going crazy. Amazing year of my life. Thanks for the reminder!

It wasn't blacked out, I was watching it in my apartment in Foxridge. I remember stepping out on my porch after the kick and hearing all of the yelling from everywhere. And if course I had to join in.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

Redacted. The post below this one says the exact thing I came here to day.

Do not TKP without coffee, friends.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Pretty sure it wasn't blacked out. Maybe you and your buddies just forgot to pay the cable bill? That was my senior year and I remember watching it at my buddy's apartment.

Funny, quasi-related story: I remember stepping outside to head down to Hokie House after it was over to celebrate and seeing fireworks over campus. I thought it odd that we had fireworks to celebrate an away game. The Collegiate Times even ran a story about the game and referenced the celebratory fireworks in their next issue, which they had to later correct after pissing off the Indian Student Association. Apparently the celebration was for a Hindu holiday, and it was pure coincidence that it happened immediately after Shayne's winning FG.

“You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone.”
― John Madden (describing VT's offense?)

5024 Pritchard represent! It wasn't blacked out. I distinctly remember the whole floor erupting when Vick did his magic on the sideline during this game. It's hard to believe I can remember something that vividly from over 15 years ago and I'm entirely sure where I left my keys when I got home from work today.

I found TKP after two rails from TOTS then walking back to my apartment and re-watching the 2012 Sugar Bowl. I woke up the next day with this username.

current freshman right now living on the pritchard 5th floor!

I feel like it's only the authentic pritchard experience if the girls spending the night in the building are doing so at the risk of their reputations #backinmyday

Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

Of course there's also: D-Lo, Jerome Mathis, David Wilson, Eddie Royal.

I remember seeing multiple reports that D-lo ran a 4.16 at VT.

Co-sign on David Wilson. Dude had jets.

"Exit light..."

Ha - in that frame, I am the guy beside the girl in the white shirt in the upper left.

Still to this day, i remember this run sounding like an F-18 flyover as he ran down the sideline.

This moment was the only time I've claimed clairvoyance. It was deflating when GT scored the TD right before this, but I said quietly to my friend next to me, "he's taking this back." Somehow, there was no doubt in my mind. It wasn't "I hope" or "I want him to return it," it was definite. The explosion of that stadium afterwards was unforgettable - almost as loud as the Miami game the following year.

"Exit light..."

You and my dad must have been on the same wavelength. After the GT TD my comment was that we'd get to see what our two minute offense looked like. He said "Nope, Wilson's gonna run it back and end it right here." I thought , sure, that would be great, but.... Then right after he caught the ball the seas parted so the we could see right down the field toward DW and he ran it back, right toward us. Awesome!

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

Of course, as much as I love a kickoff return for a TD, the downside of this also hit me. The defense had looked gassed before when they gave up the TD, so after the elation, I said, "oh crap, now the defense has to hold the lead." And it wasn't until Roc Carmichael picked it off in the end zone that I could breathe again.

"Exit light..."

This must have been common to a lot of people because i felt the same way

A friend who was with us called it too. I believe my response was something along the lines of 'We ain't runnin shit back man! We're gonna lose in overtime.' Never have I been so wrong.

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

My one moment of clairvoyance was calling a grand slam against UVA in (I think) 1993. Denny Hedspeth was up with the bases loaded, and I leaned over to my friend, pointed at left-center, and said, "375. Right over the numbers." Crack! (Or ping, really.) Over the wall, about 4 feet to the left of the numbers in left-center.

Of course, we were skipping a mandatory address to the Corps by the general, so I ended up pulling some weekend dorm restriction over that, but it was worth it. I mean, who schedules an all-hands meeting during a VT/UVA baseball game on a gorgeous spring day? Come on, Gen'rul!

"Yes I am going to have favorites. My favorites are high production and low maintenance players, coaches, and staff." - JMFF

As a pilot, I can attest to the roar of jet engines. That was a great build up to the final 'fly by'.

You can almost see my seats, I would be about where that clock like symbol is on the upper right. Our seats were on the goal line right above those doors.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

The best part about this was it wasn't a normal kick return. It wasn't like he broke through some tackles or reversed field or anything. I've never seen a kick return paint such a perfect picture of a hole, and just sheer speed to get through. Most kick returns require some skill move like a juke, stiff arm or something but not here.

Of course he did break one pitiful arm tackle but other than that. Nothing.

I have no idea why my username is VT_Warthog.

Arkansas blew a 24-0 lead in the Belk Bowl.

looks like he catches the ball around the 11 yard line at 8 seconds and crosses the plane of the endzone around 19 seconds 89 yards later. That's 89 yards in 11 seconds and he wasn't even really moving forward for that first second. And he didn't do it in a straight line. That's incredible speed. I wasn't a slouch in my prime (played soccer in HS) but I don't think I could ever cover that distance in that time in ideal conditions (running straight, uninhibited, no added weight). Wilson did it in an arc with full football pads and having to avoid guys trying to bring him down. Dude's really fast.

Onward and upward

So using your data, David Wilson ran 89 yards in 11 seconds or .051 mile in .0031 hr.

.051/.0031 = 16.45 miles/hr

he should be hitting probably like 22mph or so...

well, in DW defense, he didn't run a straight line. So he probably ran more than 89 yards, which would increase the MPH

That's just the average. He started from a still position, so his top speed was much higher than that.

"Exit light..."

I love being a football fan of an engineering school. You think shit like this gets posted on SEC forums?

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

And I'm not even an engineer, I just like math.

[ crawls back into nerd cave ]

"Exit light..."

That's just the average. He started from a still position, so his top speed was much higher than that

So I dove deeper to get a closer estimate of how fast DW was on this play. Fortunately, he didn't change direction too much, so this should be pretty close.

Here are the points that I took readings:

  1. Caught the ball @ middle field VT 11 yard line - 2:34 minutes - ran to outside hash
  2. Changed direction @ outside hash VT 22 yard line - 2:32 minutes - ran straight
  3. Changed direction @ outside hash VT 30 yard line - 2:31 minutes - ran towards the sideline
  4. Changed direction @ sideline GT 40 yard line - 2:27 minutes - ran towards endzone
  5. Reached Endzone @ sideline GT 0 yard line - 2:23 minutes

(*this is assuming he ran a straight line from each point, which isn't entirely correct but it's the best I can do)

Used Pythagorean theorem to get the distance from pt. 1 to pt. 2 and pt. 3 to pt. 4 (A^2 + B^2 = C^2). Middle of the field to the outside hash is 20 feet. Outside hash to the sideline is 60 feet.

I got the following distances:

  • 1 - 2 = 38.59 ft (.00731 miles) in 2 secs (.00056 hr) = 13.05 MPH
  • 2 - 3 = 24 ft (.00455 miles) in 1 sec (.00028 hr) = 16.25 MPH
  • 3 - 4 = 108.17 ft (.02049 miles) in 4 secs (.00111 hr) = 18.46 MPH
  • 4 -5 = 120 ft. (.02279 miles) in 4 secs (.00111 hr) = 20.48 MPH
  • TOTAL = 290.76 ft (.05514 miles) in 11 secs (.00306 hr) = 18.02 MPH

TOP SPEED = 20.48 MPH
AVG SPEED = 18.02 MPH

EDIT: I know we have a lot of engineers on this board and it's been a long time since I've done calculations like this before. So please feel free to check/critique my work because it would be cool to know exactly how fast DW ran on this play.

The biggest critique I have with this is too many significant digits in your final results, given the imprecision of the times. If we had times to the nearest tenth of a second, the velocity calculations would be much more reliable. For instance, if you take that 11 seconds for the entire run, and vary it from 10.5 to 11.49, the range of times that could be rounded off to 11, you get an average speed that ranges from 17.2 to 18.9 mph.

And, (extremely minor correction, given my first comment), it appears you mis-entered something in your calculations for the 4-5 segment. 120 feet should be 0.02273, yielding a segment speed of 20.45 mph.

“You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone.”
― John Madden (describing VT's offense?)

Thanks for the input. Obviously, there's no way I can get this to an exact value without being able to tell the time to the tenth of a second. But in the very least, the first calculation of 89 yards in 11 seconds calculated that DW speed was 16 MPH and after watching the Mike Vick Sport Science video, which stated his top speed is 21.63 MPH, I had to come up with some better because DW couldn't be too far behind.

In the very least, we can say that DW reached at least a speed of 20 MPH

Are you the SportsScience guy?

I like turtles.

"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

Side note: love how the ticker on the bottom of the screen reads breaking news of something related to the (multiple) Cam Newton NCAA violations.

"It might be dark outside, but it's LeDay in here." - Jay Bilas

Love it! Check out the GT player that starts jumping up and down on the side line when ESM cranks up. Closet Hokie.

Even when you get skunked; fishing never lets you down. 🎣

There have certainly been a number of "fast" guys at VT. But I've never seen anyone make as many people look as slow and stupid on the field as Michael Vick. Straight Boss!

Is coronavirus over yet?

Yea, and then there was this from a few years back.

McCoy had been riding Vick for weeks, calling him "old man" and challenging Vick to a footrace. Vick had been laughing it off, until today.

Today, Vick had enough. So he asked coach Chip Kelly if he could accept McCoy's invitation. Kelly agreed.

So they lined up and took off, and Vick didn't just beat McCoy. Vick smoked McCoy by roughly five yards over a 40-yard distance, and their teammates went nuts.

Michael Vick is Fast.

I wish there was a video of this.

The ability to make people miss at full speed is what made Vick such a sensational player.

MV7 just made defenses ok dumb. I mean he changed the game. It was insane watching him on the field.

If you don't want to recruit clowns, don't run a clown show.

"I want to punch people from UVA right in the neck." - Colin Cowherd

I may be getting my facts messed up, but wasn't Andre Davis considered a touch faster than Michael?

Watch the reverse that Davis ran in for a TD against WVA in 2000. Vick is out front to block and he's just jogging along.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

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Also check out Wayne Ward's block on the punt return. Still a classic.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

Wayne Ward's block play is at 1:37.

Still gives me chills when the whole stadium goes "Ooooooooooo"

Yep, we saw that one coming. Then it took a second to realize that Davis was still running.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I'm watching that play and chuckling as I watch. After Davis scores, I'm watching everyone mobbing Davis and then realize it's Ward! Even the State Trooper is in on it.

Still my all-time favorite Virginia Tech play!

It was amazing. The odd thing was (and I am not alone) I was celebrating and high-fiving my crew in the way you would when a play was over. The stadium was crazy then it was like everyone suddenly realized "Andre is going to score!" and then we got to celebrate again. One of the standout moment s for me in attending VT games over the years.

On an old hard drive I still have a file I found by searching for Virginia Tech. It's an .avi file called "College Football Power Hit" or something like that. It was Ward laying the block to that guy from different angles. It's like a few megs and back in those days hard drive space was precious, but I still found some reason to not delete that thing throughout the early 2000s.

I found TKP after two rails from TOTS then walking back to my apartment and re-watching the 2012 Sugar Bowl. I woke up the next day with this username.

Funny you mention that - I want to say that I found the video clip on Kazaa back in the day and downloaded it and saved it too, illegally of course, because that was the only way, ha.

Those pre-YouTube days were the days.

Heck these days I could see Ward called for targeting on that one

Using /s is for cowards.

He 100 percent would be.

This conversation happens literally every time this clip gets posted, and I'll go on record as saying there is absolutely no way this is a targeting penalty in today's game. Ward comes in clean, from the front, helmet down, and makes initial contact with his own shoulder to the other player's sternum, below his shoulder pads. It was a textbook block.

"I liked you guys a lot better when everybody told you you were terrible." -Justin Fuente

Being a targeting penalty and getting flagged for targeting are 2 different things nowadays. I'd say it would have had a high likelihood of being flagged even if clean.

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

technically, yes. But perception is everything these days. When you decleat a guy or hit a QB who is running it doesn't matter if the hit is right by the books or not. Refs will throw that flag for fear of being persecuted by SJWs. I think 9/10 times this hit would draw a penalty flag for targeting. The refs will do that if they are unsure because they get the opportunity to review the tape in targeting cases. IF they decide it isn't targeting (which, based on the severity of the hit, I doubt they would overturn) they still have to assess a penalty since the flag was thrown. It's a dumb rule and it's encouraging refs to throw the flag if they're not sure instead of hang on to the flag if they're not sure. And with so much emphasis being put on player safety refs are more likely to call penalties for hard hits, even if they're clean, just because they want to discourage any tackling that may injure someone.

I'm not saying I agree with it (I don't) but that's just the world we live in, unfortunately.

Onward and upward

As VPIhokieME said above, it was a perfectly legal block. No question. Sadly, it was so violent looking that the flags would fly en masse. Let's hope this rule is revisited by the rules committee this Spring.

I wouldn't get my hopes up. We live in a world where everyone gets their feelings hurt too easily and we have to give everyone participation awards so as not to harm their 'psyche'. This country is growing softer by the day and I don't see that trend changing any time soon.

Violent hits are not going to be a part of football anymore. Not a part that is supported anyway. The sport, whether we like it or not, has to accommodate the opinions of the general public. The general public is at a point right now where big hits are kind of taboo so the leagues are adjusting. Any time a player gets knocked the F*** down refs will throw that flag if they think there might be something violent to the hit.

The way I see it, football used to be a game that everyone knew was violent. It came with a warning. "Hey, if you want to play football you're gonna get hurt." Instead of taking steps to water the game down in the name of player safety I think we should be saying "hey, if you're afraid you're gonna get hurt, don't play." It's not like anybody is holding a gun against any of these guys' heads making them play the sport. Make sure when they make the choice to play they understand the risks. Don't change the game to accommodate the divas who are playing now. Football players used to be tough. At this rate it wouldn't surprise me to see 'diving' in football in 10 years or so.

Onward and upward

I agree with everything you said. However, I think money ultimately wins. As long as we are in a lawsuit happy society you will continue to see all companies pacify everything they can to prevent the loss of money. I mean, shit, look at people on here. They have built in apologies in their posts so as to not offend anyone and head off the attacks before they even start (btw, I'm guilty of doing this too).

The argument against this logic is that kids get started in football and get "hooked" by their parents before they're old enough to understand the dangers.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I miss exciting night games in Blacksburg :(

God! Those were the days!

I tend to believe that Andre had greater top-end speed than Michael too. I don't recall ever seeing anyone catch him from behind. But Vick had a lot more elusiveness and probably better acceleration. It all depends on how you want to measure 'fast'. Either way, those two were fun to watch on the field together.

“You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone.”
― John Madden (describing VT's offense?)

I always brag that I was at Tech for the Mike Vick years. I put this video on and my 3 boys run around the house pretending to be Michael Vick.

That BC run (about 0:40) was the one I remember being faster than anyone on the planet. The Temple one was probably better...but, Temple.

The run against the Vikings showed he was just not human (see below).

We put the K in Kwality

The BC run is the one that stands out to me, too.

took me a second to embed it.

We put the K in Kwality

The only player that I've ever seen that made defenders look silly, like MV7, was Barry Sanders. He was fast, but not as fast. He was Houdini in cleats.

30 years after starting grad school at Virginia Tech, I finally defended my dissertation and earned my PhD.
Don't give up on your dreams.

Barry Saunders at QB, damn I miss those days.

I missed the point where I said Barry Sanders was a QB. The thread is about fastest player in CFB history. The sub-topic was a discussion of MV7 making defenders look silly, during his runs. Where did QB play in to all of this? Then again, since you wrote "Barry Saunders", perhaps you were just offering a random thought about some guy that no one's ever heard of.

30 years after starting grad school at Virginia Tech, I finally defended my dissertation and earned my PhD.
Don't give up on your dreams.

I thought he was referring to Vick as Barry Sanders paying QB. But maybe I'm off there.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

I have said before that Vick was as fast as he had to be and no amount of timing or testing could accurately judge his speed when he was being grabbed at or chased. Phenomenal athlete, we saw his speed in the spring game before his first year playing and were astounded. I've never seen anything like him, then or since.

Reel men fish on Wednesdays

Vick was fast, yes, but I think the big difference between him and most everyone else that played that game was that his straight line speed was just about the same as his shake-and-bake speed. I'm sure we can look up who had the fastest 40 ever at the combine, and it wasn't him.

But on the field, the only player I can remember that looked to be operating in a different reality than everyone else was Vick. I've heard people say Reggie Bush was similar to see in person. Everyone else on the field was in slow-motion, mere spectators as he sprinted past them.

Most people slow down when they change direction, but Vick seemed to just glide from place to place, as if he already had in his mind a map of the entire field, and knew exactly how he'd have to move in every moment to wind his way down the field. The guy in front of him was already beat. He was always focusing on making the second or third guy miss. Fun stuff to watch back in the day.

100% agree on the Reggie Bush comparison. Those two guys were simply electric to watch on the football field. If you watch highlights of both of them, you start to see a lot of similarities in running style and just sheer playmaking ability. Yeah, there have been plenty of track stars with straight line speed, but those guys were just on another level.

This one shows MV is just not human...these are professional DBs and he is so fast he just splits them.

We put the K in Kwality

the crazy part is he doesn't even look like he's going his fastest...

Onward and upward

Yeah. It looked like about a 25 yd run, not 45.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

I was about to post this. NFL content blocked (bastards). One of my faves.

Hey, does anybody have footage from that INSANE Matrix diving TD he had in a home game against the Panthers from '04??

I love Science and I love MV7

"Welcome to the Terror Dome." -- Corey Moore

We've had this comparison before, I'll just leave this here:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: MV7 would have won the Heisman in 1999 if today's voters called the shots back then.

VT '10--US Citizen; (804) Virginian By Birth; (979) Texan By the Grace of God.

Rick Monday... You Made a Great Play...

I also root for: The Keydets, Army, TexAggies, NY Giants, NY Rangers, ATL Braves, and SA Brahmas

Only reason, which you're probably alluding to, a freshman.

This entire thread has made me yearn for the old days of tech domination :/

"The Big Ten is always using excuses to cancel games with us. First Wisconsin. Then Wisconsin. After that, Wisconsin. The subsequent cancellation with Wisconsin comes to mind too. Now Penn State. What's next? Wisconsin?" -HorseOnATreadmill

Vick's run against Syracuse in 2000 was my first really vivid Tech football memory. Once he got that edge... Turn out the lights

You mean exit light?

Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

Great thread people. Took me back! Great. Maybe again someday!

Even when you get skunked; fishing never lets you down. 🎣

Why is everyone commenting on the tweet trying to ask "what about....?" as if Herbie has forgotten about every fast player who has ever played college football?

What about Ted Ginn?
What about De'anthony Thomas?
What about Rocket Ismail?
What about Reggie Bush?
What about Devin Hester?
What about Dri Archer?
What about Deion Sanders?
What about Bo Jackson?
What about Joey Galloway?
What about Robert Griffin III?
What about Lamar Jackson?

What about them? Oh yeah, Vick left them 15 yards back.

There is nothing in the world like Thursday night in Blacksburg!

Probably the same reason we'd all be chiming in with "What about Vick?" or "What about David Wilson?" if he had chosen one of those other guys.

“You got one guy going boom, one guy going whack, and one guy not getting in the endzone.”
― John Madden (describing VT's offense?)

Here's the full article from HerbieHerbie article- Vick Fastest

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

Love any mention of my boy Ron Mexico

The Dude Abides