Junior Hemmingway runs a 4.50 40 yard dash

Submitted by big10football on

Pretty good time.  I was fearing worse for him. 

Michigan4Life

February 26th, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^

is incorrect on the 40s at the combine.  He moved before he started running which starts the time.  His true 40 is 4.4 and plays much faster on the field than Hemingway.  This also shows how unprepared Manningham really is for the combine which is part of the reason why he "fell" in the draft. It's work ethics and off-field concerns.

Michigan4Life

February 26th, 2012 at 12:12 PM ^

coaches/GM/scouts have their own time which would be the team's official time.  The fact that Manningham has terrible work ethics and has big time off-field concerns is more than enough to drop him down in the draft board.  Manningham didn't interview well which is another bad thing for him.  It's not his 40 time that dropped him on the board.  We know that he can run.  Manningham has showed that he can consistently separate with ease which is a much better indicator than his 40 time.

AlbMichFan

February 26th, 2012 at 9:47 AM ^

It's crazy that a WR can do 21 reps but the Wisconsin center only did 18 or 19. I know it does'nt translate to the field but still a lineman at any position should do more than a WR.

PaulVant

February 26th, 2012 at 10:26 AM ^

You have to take into account that the center has much longer arms than Hemingway. The longer the arms, the harder to bench press. This is one reason Molk was able to bench so much, he doesn't have very long arms. 

coldnjl

February 26th, 2012 at 11:04 AM ^

Not a Hater, but you are gloating about Junior proving his 'HATERS' wrong at the combine...This didn't translate to the football field often, which is where he will truly be judged.I still don't believe he ran a 4.5...not the receiver I watched this year

jmblue

February 26th, 2012 at 12:03 PM ^

I'd say both of you are wrong.  The Combine is not that useful.  Every year some guy raises his stock dramatically based on a good Combine performance, only to show the next season why he wasn't that highly regarded in the first place.  Being able to run fast in a straight line while wearing shorts and a tank top does not tell you that much about a football player.

OTOH, Junior clearly showed that he has big-play receiving ability on the field.  With a guy like Henne throwing to him he'd have been a 1,000-yard WR.

 

coldnjl

February 26th, 2012 at 12:18 PM ^

I did say that this speed didn't translate often to the football field. He seldom ran past guys on the field, relying on underthrown balls and his leaping ability (which is his strength along with very good hands) to get the big plays. All I was saying as you also said was that in essence, combine performances should not be relied on without on field success. 

FGB

February 26th, 2012 at 1:26 PM ^

The combine is absolutely useful for exactly the above poster's point:  determining how fast Junior can run a 40. And that's all it purports to do. The rest is armchair internet scouts layering their own meaning onto the results.

So when coldnjl says "i don't believe he ran a 4.5", well, that's an objectively wrong statement.  When UMgradMSUdad says "this is a more accurate measurement of how fast he runs a 40 than your eyes", then that's definitely right.

 

 

Michigan4Life

February 26th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^

your eyes can be a good barometer of how fast a player runs on the field rather than in shorts.  How often do you see players running on the field with shorts? Zero.

 

Biggest problem than the 40 is the ability of WRs to separate from DBs. Even if you run 4.3 or 4.4, if you can't separate from DBs, your speed is not going to matter at all.  Hemingway must show that he can separate from NFL DBs which will always going to be his biggest question mark.

UMgradMSUdad

February 26th, 2012 at 9:56 AM ^

That's really cool.  Hemmingway looked like a man among boys on many of his catches this year.  His only real knock for the pros was that a lot of people thought he wasn't very fast.  With his size and strength, 4.5 is very impressive. Congrats to him for proving some of his naysayers wrong.

The Denarding

February 26th, 2012 at 9:57 AM ^

Junior ran a 4.5?  It's definitely possible seeing as how he had to slow down to catch most of the jump balls that came his way.

I think Junior Hemingway is actually going to have a very good pro career.  He is going to be a possession number 2 reciever who will get you first downs and help your running game tremendously.

Yeah...I said it....TREMENDOUSLY!!!

Good for junior - in a numbers based game he will give you more than numbers. 

Tater

February 26th, 2012 at 11:13 AM ^

What if Denard was coached by the previous regime to "underthrow" balls to covered receivers and let the defenders overrun them?  I have seen other coaches and their QB's do this from time to time over the years.  

It's really a pretty clever thing to do, like football Aikido: turning the defender's momentum against him.  I think a lot of those balls were thrown that way to take advantage of receiver's position relative to the cb or safety.