Valhalla Legends Archive

From Warchant.com --

Craphonso Thorpe is back. And the frightening thing is he appears to be faster than ever.

With scores of his teammates watching in silent anticipation, the senior wide receiver exploded from the starting blocks at FSU's track Tuesday and ran his first timed 40-yard sprint since breaking his right leg on the Doak Campbell field eight months ago.

Moments later, those teammates erupted in a chorus of hoots and hollers when Thorpe's time showed up on an electronic readout – 4.30 seconds.

"That was really for me – just to see where I was at," an elated Thorpe said. "That's a pretty good marking point, considering I'm not 100 percent yet."

Thorpe has been running routes in voluntary passing drills all summer, but Tuesday was his first attempt at running "wide open." And he turned in the fastest time of any scholarship football player.

FSU track standout Derrick Baker, who is planning to walk-on as a receiver in football this fall, posted the only faster mark at 4.28 seconds.

Thorpe said he expected to run the 40 in less than 4.4 seconds, but even he was impressed with the 4.30.

"Two years ago we ran out on the grass, and I ran a 4.4," Thorpe said. "And that was at 170 pounds. Now I'm like 200 running a 4.3 electronic. I feel like I've really been blessed ... beyond a reasonable doubt."

The tension was palpable before Thorpe ran his first sprint. Senior defensive tackle Travis Johnson had gone down with a pulled hamstring moments earlier, and the last thing any onlookers wanted to see was Thorpe suffer a setback.

But Thorpe said he never had any negative thoughts.

"I was kind of anxious, just to be able to get out and run again," Thorpe said. "I don't really feel like I've got to prove anything to anybody, because that's not really what I set out to do. I don't feel like I've got to prove myself to anybody."

Though he said he's still not 100 percent, Thorpe actually improved his performances in every phase of Tuesday's testing over last year. He ran a 4.06 shuttle (4.20 last year), posted a 38.5-inch vertical (36 inches last year), and a 9.7 broad jump (9.3 last year).

He also experienced no pain after any of the exercises.

Thorpe is cleared to participate in two-a-day practices next month, but he still hasn't been given approval for full-contact drills. He expects that clearance to come at any time.

"I feel like this is way bigger than just me," Thorpe said. "I have my other teammates – almost 100 or something teammates – counting on me to do get the job done."

FSU's 40 timings are such bs.

Quote from: DarkMinion on July 21, 2004, 11:59 PM
FSU's 40 timings are such bs.

These were on the track, and electronic.  No hand-held timings.  What's bullshit about that?

Sims is pound-for-pound the best

Most everybody that witnessed Tuesday's testing figured that Ernie Sims would finish first on the performance index. On Wednesday the 6-foot, 230-pound linebacker was officially named the team's top pound-for-pound athlete.

No one was surprised that the rising sophomore took home the prize. When Sims signed with Florida State last year everybody knew he was a special player with enormous heart and athletic potential. Nevertheless, the players and strength and conditioning staff were still in awe at what they saw from the player that wears jersey No. 34.


 
"He's the best pound-for-pound athlete I've seen and I've seen some good ones," strength and conditioning coach Jon Jost said. "He could play a lot of positions and do a lot of things very well. It's exciting. There's no question that he has a lot of tools."

When the dust settled, Sims ran a 4.39 40-yard dash (fourth best on the team), leaped 39.5 inches in the vertical jump (tied for second), ran a blazing 3.95 second shuttle run (second best), and finished it all off with a 10.8" broad jump (top five).

With a total score of a little over 3,600, Sims not only took home the title as the top athlete, he also set a new school record in the performance index. Previous three-time champion Michael Boulware, who now plays for the Seattle Seahawks, twice scored in the 3,100 range but Sims easily topped that with his effort on Tuesday.

Didn't you say we should automatically add .1 seconds to all FSU 40 times because of your track?

Quote from: DarkMinion on July 22, 2004, 12:51 PM
Didn't you say we should automatically add .1 seconds to all FSU 40 times because of your track?

I may have but I was wrong.  The 0.1 seconds is what the NFL uses to compare electronic to hand-held timings.  Apparently they adjust them by 0.1 seconds if they are hand-held, but I don't know in which direction.  I would think they penalize hand-held times by 0.1, not trusting the accuracy.  So if FSU says Coles got a 4.12 hand-held, NFL may think of it as 4.22.  But I'm guessing on the direction of penalty.  The electronic timings are accepted at face.

FSU QB's goofing around yesterday.  As someone said -- . "The over-under on this photo being "photoshopped" and all over the internet is 2 hours."



Wyatt Sexton, Chrix Rix, and Xavier Lee

You suck at the internet

Quote from: DarkMinion on July 23, 2004, 11:46 AM
You suck at the internet

HuH?

I'm sorry but Chris Rix looks really gay.

FSU Performance Test Outline:

-Walk a straight line (without hurting yourself)
-Chew gum without biting tongue more than 3 times an hour.
-Be able to perform the infamous head-pat-stomach-rub.
-Be able to do no less than 8 jumping jacks.
-Be the proud owner of a felony record.

38-34  

Stupid Florida Hators  

Kenny O'Neal finished his summer track circuit and arrived at FSU yesterday.  His fastest 100 time of the summer was in June at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state meet trials, where he ran a 10.34, which was just 0.04 off the meet record.

Can't wait to see that speed on the field with all the other Noles.  I wonder if this is the fastest FSU team yet assembled.  There have been some fast teams, but this group has a 2 track stars (O'Neal and Baker), a few guys who could compete in track, and nearly a dozen more who are steps slower than those.

FSU at Miami in 33 more days on Monday Night Football.