Denard versus Usain Bolt: Fight!

I'll take Denard in a standing start, no blocks, football cleats. Pads are optional.

I remember reading an article a long time ago asking Anthony Carter about his speed, and he said QB Steve Smith was faster in a 10 yard sprint, that they were even at 20 yards, and AC had him beat at 40.  That showed that Smith was quicker out of the blocks, but AC was faster in top end. This result makes perfect sense for an option QB vs a receiver, given what each position does for the team.

I don't know if they still time Michigan's players over the shorter distances, but they did in Bo's day when they were running the option.

Comparing Denard to Bolt is like comparing a Formula 1 car to a dragster.  They're a different kind of fast.  One is faster, but can't turn worth a darn, the other doesn't have as much top end, but turns on a dime.

If you look at Bolts splits over the first 40 meters, he runs the first 10 meters in 1.74 (reaction time is removed here), 10m-20m in 0.990, 20-30 meters in 0.90.  At 30 meters, he's clocking in at 3.63 (with rounding) seconds.  40 meters comes out to 36.58 yards, so he has 6.58 yards left to go.

Bolt runs the 30-40m range in 0.86 so if you pro-rate that you wind up with 0.57 seconds, that's a total of 4.20 seconds at 40 yards with the reaction time removed.  This is a bit fast of an estimate since he is still accelerating at this point, but not a significant amount (about 0.6m per second per second).  Considering acceleration, we're probably looking at adding 1 or 2 hundredths.

However, the kicker here is that the 100m starts off of starting blocks while the 40 yard does not.  After poking around the internet some, I'm guessing, conservatively, starting blocks reduce your time by 0.2 seconds.  You can argue that they would have less impact on elite sprinters, so let's drop the estimate back down to 0.15.  Adding that back in (to the 4.2 estimate), we're looking at about a 4.35 40 yard dash as the optimistic estimate of Bolt's 40 yard time.

Other caveats.  I'm not sure whether there is a huge difference between running on a track with spikes and running on grass/turf with cleats (I would assume that track + spikes is the ideal situation, but it's not factored in here).  Also, I'm not a track runner so I can't say for certain whether there is any sort of pacing in a 100m race.  But on the other hand, I can't imagine a 9 second and change event being anything but an all out sprint.  Lastly, there probably some drag from "shoelaces flopping in the wind".

Look closely, friends. Our favorite shotgun dilithium quarterback is not the only ultra-fast human to run with his shoes untied.

Coincidence?

 that Denard is the Ocarina of Time and anything is possible.

You're right. But Denard would kick his ass running sideways.

Boltarded

Fuel the flames. Fuel them good.

Let's just hope Denard can outrun the Alabama DE coming from the blind side when he is looking downfield.

Sure, Denard is fast, but didn't we all come to the conclusion a few years back that Tate Forcier has better "football speed"?  Maybe we should have Tate and Usain race in full pads within a football game?

We do know that Bolt would destroy Sam McGuffie in a race though- Sam just doesn't have that top-end speed.

It was a little facetious for Denard to say something like this, but it was obviously tongue-in-cheek.  That said, all of the numbers mentioned above and all the supposed conditions aside, a race between Bolt and Denard would be reasonably close, and depending on conditions Denard might be able to catch him over 40 yards.  People keep pointing to Bolt's WR time, but that was set 3 years ago and has not approach it since.  I mean, we are talking about small-scale differences, but here is a nice little chart outlining his 100m times over the years he's been a professional.

So while we are talking about a .4-ish change over the past couple of years, he's definitely slowing down a bit as he ages.  And as has been noted in numerous interviews, Bolt struggles to get up to speed quickly; he earns his money on the last 50m, and oftentimes is a little back at the start.  So in a 40-yard dash, where getting off the blocks is essential, it isn't crazy to imagine Denard at least keeping pace.

But all that said, it sure is a fun mental exercise.

Denard would win a 40yd dash.