High school fotball players are gaining attention for their speed on the track as well as past performance on the field.
There's no quicker way for a high school football player to gain immediate attention from a college recruiter than to produce a time or mark in track and field showing speed and explosiveness. They are mostly electronic marks, so that makes them verified and not made up on social media.
That happened last week to 210-pound junior running back AJ McBean of Mira Costa. He ran the 100 meters in 10.61 seconds, an early season mark that means he's going to go even faster. He said he received several calls and texts after that time was publicized.
"It meant a lot to me," McBean said. "It showed all the hard work I've done since football season ended. I played last season with an ankle injury. I had a couple weeks of rest, then was right back to the grind. I expected nothing less than that. The goal is to get to low 10.4, high 10.3."
Another football player showing off speed was Loyola defensive back Zion Phelps in his first year of running track. He ran the 100 in 10.79 seconds. Santa Margarita receiver Jacob Caragao ran 10.81.
On Saturday at the Los Alamitos Invitational, three Sherman Notre Dame football players will have their first events to show how much faster they are — sophomores Emmanuel Pullins and Noel Washington and junior Quincy Hearn. Quarterback Wyatt Brown, instead of heading off to West Virginia, has been training in the 400 to gain speed for his college season this fall.
Other football players think time spent traveling for seven-on-seven competitions is the way to get better. Others try to do both track and seven-on-seven.
For McBean, track has been critical in his speed development.
"In the offseason, a lot of people do the football program lifts," he said. "I like to go to track to get my speed up. It's helped me since my freshman year. I've seen the growth."
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Category: General Sports
