Speed Pays For Players in NFL Draft but Gaining Speed Not Easy

Speed kills is a famous football phrase, and guys that can run really fast will bank big bucks in the upcoming NFL Draft. But what makes athletes fast, and can you really make yourself that much faster? We talk speed with UTC’s and McCallie’s strength and conditioning coaches.

No wonder fast guys are fast.
They have fast muscles.
Said UTC strength coach Ethan Reeve:”Well you know some people have a little more fast-twitch muscles than others. That’s at the cellular level.”
Reporter:”Why can’t we make slow-twitch muscles fast?”
Said Reeve:”It’s what you’re born with. It’s what you have.”
Sprinters or speed burners are born with incredible foot plants as well.
Said McCallie strength coach Richard Henderson:”So when their foot contacts the ground. What separates them from a high level football player or just another fast athlete is that they can land with enough stiffness to decelerate their body’s center of mass and maintain that stiffness to spring off the track. And you know what’s even more amazing is when they can put the brakes on after doing that because that’s even more demanding. In terms of force relative to body weight. That’s even more demanding and tough on the body. Then to redo it again. Re-accelerate out of a break.”
And you can see that braking in cone drills.
Said Reeve:”Quickness is probably more important. You’re never going to reach that top end speed. Quickness is everything. If you watch these NFL scouts, and they’re looking at these athletes as they run. You’ll see that they have somebody on the ten, the twenty, the thirty, and the forty because football is really not about a 40-yard sprint. A lot of them really don’t care about the forty, but how fast you can get out ten and twenty is very important because that’s football.”
Reporter:”Are the coaches on you a little bit about that? Hey we want to improve our team speed?”
Said Reeve:”Well they want it all the time.”(laughter)
Turning someone into a speed demon may be difficult, but maintaining your speed with added muscle is nice achievement.
Said Reeve:”But if you do a lot of hill running or stairs, it will really help you with your speed. You’ll never go wrong running stairs. The beauty of running stairs and hills is it doesn’t beat your body up as much.”