Somewhat random thought, but...
Bama has built a reputation over the last 60 odd years as a tough-nosed, down hill, ground pounding offense backed by a dominant defense. So, what does the future hold for our current recruiting trends?
CNS has gone out of his way to recruit top players that serve their high schools well on both sides of the ball and dominate STs play as well. The common factors in these players, best listed as Athletes, is that they are blazing fast. Coach Urban Meyer coined the term "team speed kills," but CNS is getting ready to take that to a new level.
Credit to Sarcastro from an old TS post for the following, but first consider the current speed on the roster and that which is expected to come in with next year's class:
40 yard dash
4.30 - Deion Belue (JUCO)
4.34 - Justin Thomas (commit)
4.35 - Demarcus Milliner
4.40 - 8 way tie
100 meter
10.35 - Bradley Sylve (signee)
10.48 - Corey Grant
10.50 - Trent Richardson
10.64 - Kenny Bell
10.69 - (HTW) Mark Ingram
10.73 - Deion Belue (JUCO)
10.74 - DeAndrew White
10.86 - Demarcus Milliner
10.89 - Ronald Carswell
200 meter
21.18 - DeAndrew White
21.33 - Bradley Sylve (signee)
21.44 - Kenny Bell
21.51 - Corey Grant
21.90 - (HTW) Mark Ingram
22.37 - Deion Belue (JUCO)
22.39 - Kevin Norwood
22.56 - Ronald Carswell
22.70 - John Fulton
22.74 - Blake Sims
Long Jump (feet-inches)
24-0 - DeAndrew White
23-8 - (HTW) Mark Ingram
23-1 - Julio Jones
22-10 - Mark Barron
21-2.5 - Dee Hart
20-11.75 - Deion Belue (JUCO)
20-9.5 - Brent Calloway (signee)
19-5.25 - Bradley Sylve (signee)
-Data was compiled from various sources but primarily athletic.net
-40 yard dash times are probably the least indicative of relative speed between the athletes due to differences in how the test in conducted and timed
-There could be other players equally fast but did not run track (example: Marquis Maze is considered by many to be the fastest player on Bama's roster)
-2011 signees and 2012 commits may post faster times in the upcoming track season(s)
-Bradley Sylve's personal bests are from his sophomore year. Injuries slowed him down his junior year and there was/is speculation as to whether he will ever regain all the speed he once possessed. His 55 meter times so far this year are relativley close to his sophomore times. 100 meter races in the spring should give a good indication as to whether his speed has fully returned.
We already have Sylve wrapped up, and have a decent shot at pulling in on of the top speedsters in the nation over the next two years to play alongside of him in Ronald Darby for 2012 (already the fastest Jr. from above and just behind Sylve, who has been dubbed the speed demon of the Potomac) and Kailo Moore for 2013 (already being heralded as the best back to come out of MS in years and the fastest sophomore in the country in track and field).
That could very well lead to an opening game in 2014 with the three fastest players in HS from 2011, 2012, and 2013 are all on the field at the same time for Bama in either some designed offensive package or STs configuration. All the while, we are poised to maintain a strong, dominant (apparently self-replenishing) defense coupled with a physical, power style offense.
The perfect mixture of track star speed (with the all important football skills) and power football could lead us to the most entertaining years of football in Bama's history since select periods of the 60s and 70s. Whomever the OC is over the coming years, he will only be limited by his imagination...even if we don't land all three speedsters. I'm very excited to say the least.
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