http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1032427.html

Quote :

" Mark Long, The Associated Press GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida coach Urban Meyer is searching for the fastest student on campus. He's quite certain it's one of his football players — Louis Murphy, Chris Rainey or Deonte Thompson. Just to be sure, he's having a race Saturday. What happens if someone beats his speedsters before the team's spring game? "They're on scholarship," Meyer said. It would be a long shot, especially after school officials held 40-yard dash time trials and didn't exactly find any real burners. Of the approximately 225 students who tried out, two covered the distance in 4.47 seconds, one ran a 4.48 and another was clocked at 4.49. The fastest 15 students advanced to the finals Saturday. They will be split into three groups of five. Murphy will race one group, Rainey another and Thompson a third. The players aren't exactly afraid of the competition. "I'll blow them out," Rainey said. "I love challenges and I've got confidence in myself." Thompson had a more detailed prediction. "We should beat them by more than five (yards)," he said. "I think we will." Percy Harvin was supposed to be the main attraction for the race, but he had heel surgery Monday and is out for two months. That left Murphy, Rainey and Thompson as the fastest Meyer had to offer. Murphy, a senior from St. Petersburg, caught 39 passes for 590 yards and six touchdowns last season. Rainey and Thompson, both redshirt freshmen, were two of Meyer's prized recruits in last year's top-rated class. "I want to show the crowd a little sample of what I can do for the Gators," said Rainey, who is expected to play a significant role this fall. "I'm looking forward to it." Although Meyer promised a full scholarship to any student who beats his players, the coach's reason for organizing the event wasn't to find a running back, receiver, defensive back or kick returner from campus. The spring game will be televised on ESPN, offering Meyer a chance to spread his recruiting pitch about wanting to be "the fastest team in America," and having a race featuring three of his stars could help sell the school. He also views the spring game as an opportunity for younger players to show their skills, meaning Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and other key starters probably won't get many snaps. So Meyer wanted to give fans something to look forward to while also giving back to the students. "Our student body, you almost forget about them because they're (always) there," Meyer said. "You can't do that. Our first year, we went to every dorm, every sorority, every fraternity, just trying to give back because they're the home-field advantage, they're recruiting. Our kids meet the students on recruiting weekends. You can't forget them." Florida also plans to hold a raffle that will allow one fan a chance to catch a pass from Tebow. Other winners will get to try to catch a punt, attempt a field goal and return a kickoff. The highlight, though, will be the three 40-yard dashes. "Anything can happen,' Rainey said. "But I don't think we're going to lose." "

4/11/2008 12:01:50 AM

hell it should be

Quote :

"full scholarship if you can outrun gator"

4/11/2008 12:10:16 AM

i read the topic quickly and thought it said full scholarship to outrun gator and I thought that would be worth watching.

4/11/2008 12:34:49 AM

so what if a track star or center fielder tried this? would they get double scholarship?

4/11/2008 12:59:49 AM

they should convert their scholarship into board bucks and make something on the side

4/11/2008 1:16:30 AM

Thats fucking awesome

I'd do it if I went there, even though my 4.8 would finish several yards back

4/11/2008 1:38:42 AM

^^^Hardly any baseball players are on full scholarship....

Baseball only gets 11.7 scholarships so most are on like 1/2 scholly.

4/11/2008 2:07:13 AM

my senior year i was 6'3" 225 and ran a 5.0 in the 40 yard dash during basketball practice. i never played football in high school though. right now i could muster about 5 yards per 30 seconds thanks to crutches

4/11/2008 3:08:44 AM

i'd give it a dang shot

4/11/2008 3:27:54 AM

Quote :

"Florida also plans to hold a raffle that will allow one fan a chance to catch a pass from Tebow. Other winners will get to try to catch a punt, attempt a field goal and return a kickoff."

So they are going to try and return a kickoff against a bunch of DI players. Will it be two hand touch or are they going full pads, b/c that person is going to get knocked the fuck out if so.

4/11/2008 8:54:39 AM

^ will be an instant youtube classic

4/11/2008 9:06:44 AM

where's the pic of sean may running with a hamburger on his head

4/11/2008 9:22:25 AM

[Edited on April 11, 2008 at 9:53 AM. Reason : nm]

4/11/2008 9:52:40 AM

I would be enacting the fair catch rule.

4/11/2008 9:53:44 AM

i'd give this a go

for comedic relief, not because i have a shot

4/11/2008 9:54:32 AM

Quote :

"It would be a long shot, especially after school officials held 40-yard dash time trials and didn't exactly find any real burners. Of the approximately 225 students who tried out, two covered the distance in 4.47 seconds, one ran a 4.48 and another was clocked at 4.49. The fastest 15 students advanced to the finals Saturday. They will be split into three groups of five. Murphy will race one group, Rainey another and Thompson a third."

you would have to be one of the fastest 15 students based on earlier trials to even get a chance to race the players

4/11/2008 10:05:04 AM

Quote :

"Although Meyer promised a full scholarship to any student who beats his players, the coach's reason for organizing the event wasn't to find a running back, receiver, defensive back or kick returner from campus. The spring game will be televised on ESPN, offering Meyer a chance to spread his recruiting pitch about wanting to be "the fastest team in America," and having a race featuring three of his stars could help sell the school."

The man is a genius.

4/11/2008 10:18:15 AM

I wonder if they are still going to do this considering Percy Harvin is having surgery on his heel.

4/11/2008 10:19:48 AM

I should get a scholarship if I get a better grade than a student on an academic scholarship student...

4/11/2008 10:20:22 AM

why didn't amato do this shit when I was at State

4/11/2008 10:21:18 AM

Quote :

"a student on an academic scholarship student"

with grammar like that, i dont think you'd get the scholarship

4/11/2008 10:22:58 AM

I'm pretty quick, 4.6, but I wouldn't waste my time with this. Unless you know you can run a 4.4 or better your only shot is that they trip and fall.

4/11/2008 10:28:58 AM

Quote :

"I wonder if they are still going to do this considering Percy Harvin is having surgery on his heel."

I think you may have missed something in the article.

4/11/2008 10:29:01 AM

Quote :

"why didn't amato do this shit when I was at State"

Amato was thinking about giving a full scholarship to the student who could pick off Jay Davis, but that was too easy

4/11/2008 10:34:25 AM

Quote :

" Amato was thinking about giving a full scholarship to the student who could pick off Jay Davisany State qb, but that was too easy"

Quote :

" Amato was thinking about giving a full scholarship to the student who could pick off Jay Daviscommit less false starts than Derek Morris, but that was too easy"

Quote :

" Amato was thinking about giving a full scholarship to the student who could pick off Jay Davisfumble less than TA, but that was too easy"

Quote :

" Amato was thinking about giving a full scholarship to the student who could pick off Jay Daviscoach better than him, but that was too easy"

We basically didn't have enough scholarships to do this....

4/11/2008 11:08:51 AM

treetristaownt

4/11/2008 11:19:15 AM

Quote :

"So they are going to try and return a kickoff against a bunch of DI players. Will it be two hand touch or are they going full pads, b/c that person is going to get knocked the fuck out if so."

I remember Johnny Knoxville doing this against USC full contact. He did get KTFO.

4/11/2008 12:38:35 PM

Didn't he do the same against a European Rugby team too??

4/11/2008 12:47:39 PM

ha, TOB should do something like this for the QB position.

4/11/2008 1:20:52 PM

It would be more interesting if it were
Full scholarship if you an outrun a gator

4/11/2008 1:26:15 PM

Yeah, I don't get why anyone would return a kick off. Unless it is 2 on 1. Then perhaps yes. Even if the kids has a full team blocking for him, chances are the blockers would want to seem the returner get blown up also.

4/11/2008 3:28:14 PM

I want to see TAMU reinstate the 12th man on kickoffs.

4/11/2008 3:32:20 PM

well that was fucking gay

4/12/2008 12:56:02 PM

what happened

4/12/2008 3:00:27 PM

chris gainey (RB) ran a 4.24

fastest non-UF player was an anthropology major who ran a 4.5 something

4/12/2008 4:54:10 PM

yea but they gayed it up

the challengers took off when they were supposed to and ran but seemed to slow down when they found out Gainey hadnt taken off

Corso and them did the countdown and Gainey didnt go

so it wasnt really a RACE it was a hey you guys go and I'll wait here just in case.

4/12/2008 4:57:17 PM