WTKA/Sam Webb: Funchess is fastest player on team

Submitted by Bodogblog on

Haterz commence the hating.  Per a snippet of an interview that will be used for the 2014 preview magazine of the The Wolverine, Funchess himself said he has currently been timed as the fastest player on the team.  Measured in at 6'4" (and I believe he said 3/4, but wasn't clear... and don't know how to write six-four-and-three-quarter inches numerically), 235 lbs., hand timed at 4.33.  The hand-timing was done by the coaches, I believe Wellman, though that was implied and not explicitly stated. 

Raymon Taylor is the second fastest.  He said something like "Jay-Lu" was the third, which actually sounded like Jayru on the audio.  My assumption is that was Jourdan Lewis, but could have that totally wrong.

Sam intimated that Dennis Norfleet - to those who this news may cause to haz a sad - is likely the fastest in a 20-yard window. 

Bonus WR coach tweet:
 

Told u. Keep it coming, the negativity, the doubting!! Because within the walls of Schembechler WE BELIEVE!! #gunslingers

ND Sux

June 23rd, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^

Freddy Canteen seems to have the ability to work himself open / gain separation.  I'm looking for him to make a big splash at WR.  I think we have a lot of talent there, but we'll see who steps up.  My money is on Canteen.

Magnus

June 23rd, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^

Yeah, there's no way Funchess will run a 4.33 at the Combine, but being the fastest player on the team is saying something. I remember in the spring Freddy Canteen was bragging about being the fastest on the team, saying Da'Mario Jones was maybe the next fastest guy. So to see a list of players who are the "fastest" that doesn't include Canteen or Jones is maybe a good thing.

Bodogblog

June 23rd, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^

I almost didn't include the claimed time for exactly this reason.  Sam and Ira made the same point - whether it's actually 4.33 or 4.43 or something higher or in-between, based on the clocked times the coaches keep, he's the fastest.  Maybe he got a generous time, maybe they run again and he comes in third, or maybe he really did run 4.33.

Maybe a lot of things, but the point is he's really fast.  He's a giant and he's really fast.

pescadero

June 23rd, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^

"I almost didn't include the claimed time for exactly this reason.  Sam and Ira made the same point - whether it's actually 4.33 or 4.43 or something higher or in-between, based on the clocked times the coaches keep, he's the fastest."

 

Problem is - while hand timed times are generally faster than electronic times, they are also significantly more variable.

 

With the 40 yard dash, and hand start/hand finish... you're looking at a variance of about +/- 0.25 seconds.

 

Which means Funchess ran somewhere between ~4.1-4.6

 

...and the variance is NOT consistent from time to time.

 

So Funchess may be the fastest guy on the team, or he may actually be 0.2 seconds slower than someone who clocked a slightly WORSE time. We don't know.

champswest

June 23rd, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^

maybe he just got the benefit of the timing variance for hand held.  Or in simple terms, Canteen ran a 4.35, but it was hand timed in 4.4.  Funchess ran a 4.4, but it was hand timed in 4.3.

Gob1ue22

June 23rd, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^

He's going to need to work on his hands before going to the combine. He has the potential to be an outstanding player at the next level (like someone said above Calvin 2.0), but he had several realy bad drops last season. Hopefully he works on that and becomes an unstoppable threat this season and beyond! 

Ron Utah

June 23rd, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^

An internet post means absolutely nothing.

A hand-timed 40 is a reasonably accurate--though certainly not precise--measure of a player's speed.

At his size, even if that time is a full tenth of a second off, that is amazing speed.  Why can't we all just be happy that we have Minitron on our team?