Is there such a thing as football speed

[gato 76]

The reason i was asking,BC has not had a good track team for the last 5 yrs,but when it comes to football they are one of the fastest teams in the gulf coast and some of the football kids do run track.When you go down the roster they have alot of kids with 4.5/4.6 speed but when it comes to track they may run a 43.5 400 meter relay time,just wondering what you guys thought.

[Macarthur]

Well, I certianly don't have a scientific answer, but I know what you are talking about.

I haven't thought a lot about why that is, but I've know some great track guys that just couldn't run well when it came to football. And we've all know guys that would get smoked on the track, but seem to be all over the place on the football field. I think instincts have a lot to do with it. I was a decent football player, but I don't think I ever broke a 4.8. What I was pretty good at was anticipating what was going to happen. I could get to places quicker than guys that were "faster" than me.

[District303aPastPlayer]

i know exactly what you are talking about... ive seen 2 guys run a 200m and the football faster guy beat the straight sprinter guy... weird...

[vet93]

Yes....I think that it may have something to do with the way that they can maintain speed while carrying 20 lbs of pads. Both the weight of the pads and the restriction on movement can reduce speed. Some athletes can handle the extra load better than others. This is just my opinion...nothing scientific.

[gato 76]

A good example of that during the 2000 football season,Bay City played Nederland BullDogs in the astrodome.I thought BC would blow the game wide open,it was to our advantage playing on atroturf,and i new that they could not match up speed wise.But guess what they were very quick to the ball ,we did win that game 7-0 and we held them on 4th &1 on the 1yd line to end the game.

[BullFrog Dad]

I heard a coach once say that it's not as important how fast a kid runs the 40yd. dash straight ahead but how fast is he 15yd. straight ahead and lateral wise.

[nutcrackin]

Football speed is based upon being able to process information and start sooner than someone else who may have more track speed. Football combines reacting to reads, acting on them without hesitation. Example: taking 1 or 2 false steps to make a play will make a guy who runs a 4.3 look like a 4.6 on the field. And vise versa..

[Rockdale Tiger]

Yes...it's called adrenaline...

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by nutcrackin
Football speed is based upon being able to process information and start sooner than someone else who may have more track speed. Football combines reacting to reads, acting on them without hesitation. Example: taking 1 or 2 false steps to make a play will make a guy who runs a 4.3 look like a 4.6 on the field. And vise versa..

So track runners do not have to react when the gun is shot-off?

They do not have to process that information or start sooner?

So I guess people who call track events on T.V. etc... are stupid when they say 'he got a good jump'???


There was no difference in Blanton, Blanton IS just fast, on a field or on a track, doesn't matter... And most other players are STILL that fast, there are just around 15 players in their classification etc... who compete in track and are better...

You can have a defense with most players running a 4.7 or better, that is a FAST football defense, but that doesn't mean they're all running 4.4's...

I say there is no difference in the 'speed'...

You're running away from a guy or running him down in football, or you're running away or trying to catch up to a guy in track...

Only difference? There is only one lane in football and it's pretty wide, you can use all of it...

[j_dog]

Originally posted by gato 76
...the roster they have alot of kids with 4.5/4.6 speed but when it comes to track they may run a 43.5 400 meter relay time,just wondering what you guys thought.

The relays are about more than just speed. Once the Jasper track coach told me that his team would beat team X, but that if he were coaching team X, team X would have beaten Jasper.

And just two weeks later at state his Jasper team set a new national record, and was the first hs team ever to go under 40 seconds at 39.9 (hand-held). That record was good for six years by the way. He said there is up to a second to be gained or lost on every hand off. So it is not just about speed, it is also about good technique, and practice, practice, and more practice. And it is not even about facilities. Jasper practiced on a dirt track because that is all they had.

[big daddy russ]

I think a little of everything is true, but I think it's comes down to how quick can a guy get to the ball? There are more obstacles on a football field than on a track. Can he shed blocks or get around them? How hard does he hit the hole? Does he run as hard (I've seen some sprinters go all out in the 100 but kind of dance around on the football field)?

I went to the Everman-Forney second round playoff game at Pennington Field a few years ago and saw one of the Everman defensive backs run down DaBryan Blanton from behind... and Blanton's one of the five or six fastest guys in the nation right now. Even though Gobbla brings up some good points, I still believe there's a difference in football speed and track speed. Otherwise, nobody would've caught Blanton on that breakaway.

[lobo12]

macarthur, thats how i was

[WOS1]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
I think a little of everything is true, but I think it's comes down to how quick can a guy get to the ball? There are more obstacles on a football field than on a track. Can he shed blocks or get around them? How hard does he hit the hole? Does he run as hard (I've seen some sprinters go all out in the 100 but kind of dance around on the football field)?

I went to the Everman-Forney second round playoff game at Pennington Field a few years ago and saw one of the Everman defensive backs run down DaBryan Blanton from behind... and Blanton's one of the five or six fastest guys in the nation right now. Even though Gobbla brings up some good points, I still believe there's a difference in football speed and track speed. Otherwise, nobody would've caught Blanton on that breakaway.

... I agree

[Gobbla2001]

I can see everyone's point, but speed is speed, on the football field there are just 5 million ways of using that speed...

If a running QB has good eyes and a good head on his shoulders, he'll know which way he has to go to pick up the yardage, or if he should even go at all, then he'll get the 'wows' from the crowd...

But with that same speed, if he doesn't have as good of vision or cannot run an LB/DB/whatever over, his speed really isn't worth anything but a few yards until he is met head on...

I just honestly do not believe it is a legit question...

Maybe I just read into the question too much, because there is no difference between the speed, it is all about how well your players are coached and how well they play on the field...

If there is any difference, football speed would be slower due to the fact that you're hauling a lot of extra weight around, the weight you're hauling around isn't exactly very arrow-dynamic, and the shoulers pads restrict arm movement, which is very important in increasing your speed in track...

You can give the dumbest kid on earth 4.2 speed and he'll never gain five yards if he doesn't know what in the hell he's doing out there...

So, I guess the proper question would have been 'Is speed a bigger advantage on the football field than on a track?'

I'd say no, because speed is what running track is all about, minus a little form-running...

In football, you must use your eyes more than in track, your brain more than in track, your angles more than in track, your coaching more than in track and the list goes on and on... But if you mix that with the same kind of speed you find in a top of the line track meet, you're doin' pretty damn good...

[Z motion 10 out on 2]

Atlanta in 2003 had some serious football and track speed. Their QB and Rb did a nice handoff in the 2 by 100! smoking Vernon by the way.

The 2 by 100 was when the Qb handed off the rb and he took it 100!