We all love stories of underdogs who come straight outta nowhere and make it to the top. Plus, we love crediting ourselves upon discovering talent early in their careers because it's not too cool to be a late-comer associated with riding the bandwagon. This applies to the NFL because in the NFL Draft, there are eight rounds, and anyone can get lost in the litany of talent that goes unrecognized in the scouting process (Think Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, and Antonio Gates to name a few).
Earlier today, a relatively unknown NFL prospect named Wendall Williams, a wide receiver from University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky, shattered the 40-year dash record (set by Chris Johnson with 4.24 seconds in 2008) at the NFL Regional Combine with an amazing 4.19-second run. Williams also recorded an impressive 45-inch vertical leap.
Although, there were NFL scouts who deemed recording 4.19-second run to be a discrepancy between the hand-held clock time versus the laser recorded time, which clocked in at 4.32 seconds. Just look at this kid go here in this clip below:
And here is how he compares to other's in this 40-yard category:
But let's call this for what it is: The discrepancy seems tertiary to the fact that this kid is ridiculously fast, running a 4.32-second 40? I mean, really. According to ProFootballTalk, Williams was track and field standout who won the NAIA Championship in the long jump event, was fourth in the nation in both the 100 and 200 meters, an NAIA All-American football star who averaged 30.5 yards per catch (with eight touchdowns), 32.4 yards per kickoff return (with three touchdowns), 23.5 yards per punt return (with one touchdown) and 17.6 yards per carry (with three touchdowns).
Here's a highlight reel of him in college running amuck on the gridiron:
But he wasn't invited to the regular combine because he's an undersized 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver from a small college. He also looks like a younger version of Colin Kaepernick:
Is this kid going to the NFL? And if so, will he be the next Devin Hester? Only time will tell, but start keeping track now so you don't have to play catch-up later. If he doesn't make it to the league, hopefully he was wearing these adidas shoes during his record-setting run, which could land him $1 million.
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[via BlackSportsOnline]
