MN Daily: Kill high on fleet-footed wide receiver, Devin Crawford-Tufts

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Gotta love the inflated 40 times.

Nonetheless, I'm very excited to have D C-T on board!
 

Watched him play a couple of times this year. You could immediately tell when it was a run play when he would barely leave the LOS at the snap. Worked really hard running routes on passing plays, but needs to increase the intensity when the ball isn't going his way. Some of my buddies kids know him from school and say he is a great kid. I'm excited to see him in hometown colors.
 

Maybe he will be placed into the punt return role vacated by BA.
 



Unregistered User said:
Watched him play a couple of times this year. You could immediately tell when it was a run play when he would barely leave the LOS at the snap. Worked really hard running routes on passing plays, but needs to increase the intensity when the ball isn't going his way.
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My gut tells me Kill will get that fixed rather quickly.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Gotta love the inflated 40 times.

Nonetheless, I'm very excited to have D C-T on board!
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He does the 100 in just over 10. Why would you doubt his speed! The kids the state high school 100 meter champion. I go to church with one of the track coaches. He salivates over this kid. Says he will run track with the Gophers.

Ski-U-Mah!
 

Mustang Mountain Man said:
He does the 100 in just over 10. Why would you doubt his speed! The kids the state high school 100 meter champion. I go to church with one of the track coaches. He salivates over this kid. Says he will run track with the Gophers.

Ski-U-Mah!
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I don't doubt his speed. He is fast, especially by Minnesota HS standards.

But I do doubt his coach saying that he runs a 4.3, because he does not run a 4.3. He was electronically timed at 4.57. Handheld times are less than meaningless, because they distort an athlete's true speed.

(P.S. 10.5 is not "just over 10". If he could really run "just over 10", he would be in the Olympics or an alternate at the very least.)
 

Mustang Mountain Man said:
He does the 100 in just over 10. Why would you doubt his speed! The kids the state high school 100 meter champion. I go to church with one of the track coaches. He salivates over this kid. Says he will run track with the Gophers.

Ski-U-Mah!
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I don't think he doubts his speed. He doubts he can run a 4.3 40, as do I. He ran a 10.5 100m, it's not like he ran 10.01 like Jeff Demps did, who is a low 4.3 40 guy officially. Hand-timed, sure DCT could definitely run a 4.3 40. But add that .2 on it and it's like maybe low 4.5. Still blazin though, and being a trackster, he could hold that speed on a long route. I'd like to see him maybe get that stride more efficient for quick bursts, he kinda has a long stride that makes it a little tougher for quick acceleration, but it's something to work on for him. But he's got raw speed you just can't teach anybody, it's just there.

EDIT: Yeah, what dp said LOL, though even a just over 10 might not get you in the Olympics, but point taken.
 



dpodoll68 said:
I don't doubt his speed. He is fast, especially by Minnesota HS standards.

But I do doubt his coach saying that he runs a 4.3, because he does not run a 4.3. He was electronically timed at 4.57. Handheld times are less than meaningless, because they distort an athlete's true speed.

(P.S. 10.5 is not "just over 10". If he could really run "just over 10", he would be in the Olympics or an alternate at the very least.)
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I just emailed a Gopher track coach I know who might know the inside scoop on how fast DCT really is or is not. Should have the results back in a few hours.

Not to support my dumb brother, but, 10.5 is a whisker away from being blow your mind speed. The difference between DCT and Olympians is about $500,000 at Colorado Springs. Chew on that DA.
 

Track speed seldom correlates to football speed and usually has little relevancy, If if did, track and field stars would have little problem making the jump to football. A good corner will simply redirect a long strider which will negate straight line only speed.
 

Oneoldgopher said:
I just emailed a Gopher track coach I know who might know the inside scoop on how fast DCT really is or is not. Should have the results back in a few hours.

Not to support my dumb brother, but, 10.5 is a whisker away from being blow your mind speed. The difference between DCT and Olympians is about $500,000 at Colorado Springs. Chew on that DA.
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Running 10.5 vs. 10 flat in the 100m is a world of a difference, and more than just a half mil and training at Colorado Springs, which I'm not sure why one would do that when all the sprint groups train in areas like California, Florida, and Texas, to get optimum weather for sprinting pretty much year round. Many guys run times like 10.3, 10.4 in high school, spend their careers trying to get to the Olympics, only to max out in the 10.1, 10.2 range. That's not to say DCT can't run 10 flat if he trained for it, I'm just saying, it's far more than just a "whisker away" for him to be an Olympian.
 

I've seen alot of track and field, DCT is incredible.
His only issue that I can see is he hasn't been strong out of the blocks(relatively) or in football terms strong in accelerating. This is a strength issue and as many folks know, kids add alot of strength as they mature in high school. I'm hoping Coach Klein gets ahold of him early and often in the weight room.
He will be the fastest Minnesotan short sprinter ever, he very well could be down around 10.3 this spring, I don't doubt a 4.3 if his coach says so.
 



Ole said:
I've seen alot of track and field, DCT is incredible.
His only issue that I can see is he hasn't been strong out of the blocks(relatively) or in football terms strong in accelerating. This is a strength issue and as many folks know, kids add alot of strength as they mature in high school. I'm hoping Coach Klein gets ahold of him early and often in the weight room.
He will be the fastest Minnesotan short sprinter ever, he very well could be down around 10.3 this spring, I don't doubt a 4.3 if his coach says so.
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Oh yeah, if he can work on getting out quickly and getting his acceleration up, no doubt he can pop a 10.3 this year with good conditions (which is hard to get in Minnesota during the spring) . If he's able to do that, it would be huge going into his first year on campus, he could be real explosive out of the gate here.
 

Monty519 said:
Oh yeah, if he can work on getting out quickly and getting his acceleration up, no doubt he can pop a 10.3 this year with good conditions (which is hard to get in Minnesota during the spring) . If he's able to do that, it would be huge going into his first year on campus, he could be real explosive out of the gate here.
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Not to go all Nancy negative on the bit but quickness and reaching top speed quickly is paramount in football. If I'm being told that quick starts are a problem....for me red flags start going up.

Keep in mind I have never seen him run track or play football so my concerns/comments may be way overblown and without merit.
 

Don't care his times or numbers. Kid is fast. Simple as that: fast. I like fast.
 

Sportsfan24 said:
Track speed seldom correlates to football speed and usually has little relevancy, If if did, track and field stars would have little problem making the jump to football. A good corner will simply redirect a long strider which will negate straight line only speed.
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This is probably an over-encompassing statement since there are many different kinds of "track speed", and there are plenty of guys that run track and play football in college. In general, a long-striding receiver would not have a great 60 meter or 100 meter time, even on a fast surface. However, that same receiver could still excel in other events like the 200 meter or 400 meter.

A few names I can recall off of the top of my head of track guys excelling in football include Michael Bennett, Jacoby Ford, Jacoby Jones, Xavier Carter, and Trindon Holliday. Also, to put some perspective of DCT's speed: C.J Spiller ran 10.42 his senior year of high school and Jahvid Best ran 10.31 and 10.36, which were both faster than Tyson Gay's personal best as a senior, according to wikipedia.
 

Sportsfan24 said:
Not to go all Nancy negative on the bit but quickness and reaching top speed quickly is paramount in football. If I'm being told that quick starts are a problem....for me red flags start going up.

Keep in mind I have never seen him run track or play football so my concerns/comments may be way overblown and without merit.
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Absolutely spot on, but watching his highlight tape he ran alot of jailbreak screens where he was able to pick his way through traffic and gain speed slowly, he's definitely a strider, but he's got some quicks, just not maybe the incredible acceleration of a Percy Harvin(probably a poor reference)
Basically I see him as a raw super fast track kid with 5 years to work on strength and acceleration along with the nuances of the WR position. He's gonna be special if he works at it.
 

Ole said:
Absolutely spot on, but watching his highlight tape he ran alot of jailbreak screens where he was able to pick his way through traffic and gain speed slowly, he's definitely a strider, but he's got some quicks, just not maybe the incredible acceleration of a Percy Harvin(probably a poor reference)
Basically I see him as a raw super fast track kid with 5 years to work on strength and acceleration along with the nuances of the WR position. He's gonna be special if he works at it.
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I hear ya...you can't coach speed. I'm sure any coach would love to have this "problem".
 


gold0383 said:
Also, to put some perspective of DCT's speed: C.J Spiller ran 10.42 his senior year of high school and Jahvid Best ran 10.31 and 10.36, which were both faster than Tyson Gay's personal best as a senior, according to wikipedia.
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Also, as I've mentioned here previously, Jeff Demps ran a 10.01, which is the national HS record and the junior world record (under 20 years of age).
 

dpodoll68 said:
Also, as I've mentioned here previously, Jeff Demps ran a 10.01, which is the national HS record and the junior world record (under 20 years of age).
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Ok, so we know DCT won't be the fastest player in the country...
 

Ole said:
Absolutely spot on, but watching his highlight tape he ran alot of jailbreak screens where he was able to pick his way through traffic and gain speed slowly, he's definitely a strider, but he's got some quicks, just not maybe the incredible acceleration of a Percy Harvin(probably a poor reference)
Basically I see him as a raw super fast track kid with 5 years to work on strength and acceleration along with the nuances of the WR position. He's gonna be special if he works at it.
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And it's not to say long striders can't be effective, it's just to get that initial burst, I'm thinking he'll have to shorten his stride during acceleration and then it's like, if he's in the open field, forget about it, he's gone. Like Robert Smith or Randy Moss come to mind, big striders, but had the quick acceleration and then opened up their stride when hitting top speed. Needless to say though, he is right up Kill's alley of speed, that's for sure.
 

I would like to thank Coach Thornton for speaking with me today. I asked him about DCT and how fast he is. Coach Thornton said he is most likely the fastest Gopher football player in quite some time and one of a handful in the entire Big Ten with his speed. He qualified his comments and noted that the SEC has many more Wide Receivers with his speed or slightly better. I asked if DCT's speed has peeked or could improve and he said there is room for improvement. Since he is the sprinters coach for the U, I valued his remarks highly. He had only one question about DCT and football for the rest of us, can he catch the ball? I for one can't wait to find out. One way or another, DCT is a great recruit for the University.
 



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