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He will go Number 1 - Overall. This boy can run like the wind.....Category 2 wind.

Wow!

Demps has blazing speed. Hope he develops into a player instead of being another guy with track speed trying to play football.

i would love to see him and LSU's trindon holliday in a foot race. holliday's personal best in the 100 is 10.02, and holliday fared better than demps at the trials. it would be fun to watch.

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 05:54 AM ET  10.24 by Bond 007

He will go Number 1 - Overall. This boy can run like the wind.....Category 2 wind.

He'll go #1 overall? The gator coaches just realized how to use this kid one game ago. I think you might be getting just a little bit ahead of yourself. Raw speed rarely equals great football talent, especially NFL caliber talent. Just take a look at some of the greatest rushers of all-time - Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Jim Brown. All of them are pretty fast, but there's not a speed demon in the bunch. Confidence instead of arrogance, the ability to play through pain, and above all - toughness...IMO, those are the things that make for a truly great running back. Oh, and a hard-working O-Line helps too. Just my two cents...

QUOTE(#5):

Originally posted 09:05 AM ET  10.24 by eyesWIDEopen

He'll go #1 overall? The gator coaches just realized how to use this kid one game ago. I think you might be getting just a little bit ahead of yourself. Raw speed rarely equals great football talent, especially NFL caliber talent. Just take a look at some of the greatest rushers of all-time - Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Jim Brown. All of them are pretty fast, but there's not a speed demon in the bunch. Confidence instead of arrogance, the ability to play through pain, and above all - toughness...IMO, those are the things that make for a truly great running back. Oh, and a hard-working O-Line helps too. Just my two cents...

Walter Payton and Jim Brown were exceptionally strong with tremendous hearts. They were unique. Emmitt Smith was an average back at best who played behind a tremendous run-blocking line. All pros up and down the line. Did you see the holes he ran through? John Doe would have gotten 1,000 yards behind Erik Williams, Larry Allen, Derek Kennard, Nate Newton, and co.

Speed does not hurt... as Tony Dorsett, O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson and others have shown.

Of course, speed alone is not enough... as we have seen with Nehemiah, Ron Brown, Willie Gault and others too.

"he appears to be the swiftest running back ever to play college or professional football". The "historians" seem to have forgotten Bob Hayes, gold medal winner and former "world's fastest man". I believe that Bob Hayes did play running back in college at Florida A&M.

QUOTE(#6):

Originally posted 10:34 AM ET  10.24 by eugenemcgirt

Walter Payton and Jim Brown were exceptionally strong with tremendous hearts. They were unique. Emmitt Smith was an average back at best who played behind a tremendous run-blocking line. All pros up and down the line. Did you see the holes he ran through? John Doe would have gotten 1,000 yards behind Erik Williams, Larry Allen, Derek Kennard, Nate Newton, and co.Speed does not hurt... as Tony Dorsett, O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson and others have shown.Of course, speed alone is not enough... as we have seen with Nehemiah, Ron Brown, Willie Gault and others too.

Good counterpoint, but I think we're all in agreement that speed alone isn't a guaranty the guy's a lock. There are several elements that a truly great player needs to have both physically AND mentally to be great.

Chasin Utleys:
True, a prime example of speed being negated by track star physique and bad attitude wopuld be Charles Rogers

QUOTE(#7):

Originally posted 12:23 PM ET  10.24 by Armchair Athlete

"he appears to be the swiftest running back ever to play college or professional football". The "historians" seem to have forgotten Bob Hayes, gold medal winner and former "world's fastest man". I believe that Bob Hayes did play running back in college at Florida A&M.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/sports/football/24florida.html?_r=2& oref=slogin&ref=sports&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Heres the full article.

QUOTE(#5):

Originally posted 09:05 AM ET  10.24 by eyesWIDEopen

He'll go #1 overall? The gator coaches just realized how to use this kid one game ago. I think you might be getting just a little bit ahead of yourself. Raw speed rarely equals great football talent, especially NFL caliber talent. Just take a look at some of the greatest rushers of all-time - Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Jim Brown. All of them are pretty fast, but there's not a speed demon in the bunch. Confidence instead of arrogance, the ability to play through pain, and above all - toughness...IMO, those are the things that make for a truly great running back. Oh, and a hard-working O-Line helps too. Just my two cents...

AS THEY SAY, YOU CAN'T TEACH SPEED , SO IT CAN'T HURT BEING REALLY, REALLY FAST BUT YOU NEED TO DO IT OVER THE LONG HAUL. LET'S SEE A GREAT YEAR AND NOT JUST A GAME. TED GINN HAD GREAT SPEED TOO BUT IT TOOK A WHILE TO DEVELOP INTO A FOOTBALL PLAYER. HE IS FAST THOUGH!

Us up here in Illinois have to hope for 5.0 forty and offer them a tractor to come to school

There is no question that speed kills....once you get into the open field. The difference between a great back is that he can break at least one tackle on his own and has patience following his blockers and picking the hole. My beloved Bucks have 2 track (speed) backs....Boom Herron and Brandin Seine, but who is the horse? Beanie Wells, who has good speed but can break those tackles! If this kid Demps can develop patience, bust some tackles, avoid injuries (this is big) and hang on to the ball....he MAY develop in to a star.

BTW, where are all the "U" fans that were so sold on Shannon and argued how you were "baaaaaack." Don't read many posts from you guys.

Didn't Bob Hayes play a little running back in college? if so, then he was faster.

QUOTE(#13):

Originally posted 01:14 PM ET  10.24 by river1075

There is no question that speed kills....once you get into the open field. The difference between a great back is that he can break at least one tackle on his own and has patience following his blockers and picking the hole. My beloved Bucks have 2 track (speed) backs....Boom Herron and Brandin Seine, but who is the horse? Beanie Wells, who has good speed but can break those tackles! If this kid Demps can develop patience, bust some tackles, avoid injuries (this is big) and hang on to the ball....he MAY develop in to a star.

This is so true. There are a lot of extremely fast guys in the game. It is the ones who can bounce around and stay afloat who excel in the game. This guy may drop like a feather when touched. He will need to put on meat to play the game. Once he does that, his speed will drop.

QUOTE(#11):

Originally posted 01:05 PM ET  10.24 by osddad

AS THEY SAY, YOU CAN'T TEACH SPEED , SO IT CAN'T HURT BEING REALLY, REALLY FAST BUT YOU NEED TO DO IT OVER THE LONG HAUL. LET'S SEE A GREAT YEAR AND NOT JUST A GAME. TED GINN HAD GREAT SPEED TOO BUT IT TOOK A WHILE TO DEVELOP INTO A FOOTBALL PLAYER. HE IS FAST THOUGH!

Why are you SCREAMING?! All I said was that is that 007 was getting ahead of himself anointing this kid the #1 overall pick. That's just an ignorant statement. The kid has barely gotten his feet wet in college ball. This type of hype and expectation have derailed more than one "can't miss" prospect. Can't we ever just enjoy watching a kid play, without saddling him with this type of nonsense.

QUOTE(#4):

Originally posted 09:01 AM ET  10.24 by schmub

i would love to see him and LSU's trindon holliday in a foot race. holliday's personal best in the 100 is 10.02, and holliday fared better than demps at the trials. it would be fun to watch.

If Trindon Holliday's best 100 was 10.02 and Demps ran 10.01 at the Olympic Trials, then how exactly did Holliday fare better than Demps at the Trials?

If Demps can build up some upper body strength so that he can break some tackles than he can become amazing. What most people don't know is that Florida has another running back, Chris Rainey, that runs like the wind as well. Everyone knows Percy Harvin, I don't think there is any doubting that UF has 3 of the fastest players in College Football.

i keep hearing he'll go #1 in the draft this guy just got known nation wide he past few games speed dont mean anything look how long reggie bush is taking to shine in the monday night football game the clocked him at 22.5 mph and is smaller than reg and number one man! be real he's not even mentioned as an all american he's a good football player but dont put your money on him being number on maybe number one in the 3 round or possible 10 th in the second that as high as i go sorry

i keep hearing he'll go #1 in the draft this guy just got known nation wide he past few games speed dont mean anything look how long reggie bush is taking to shine in the monday night football game the clocked him at 22.5 mph and is smaller than reg and number one man! be real he's not even mentioned as an all american he's a good football player but dont put your money on him being number on maybe number one in the 3 round or possible 10 th in the second that as high as i go sorry