[Fly Like a Duck]

Track speed is completely different than football speed;very few college football players could be top college sprinters. If you have 5 guys on a HS football fiield who can run a 4.4 to 4.6, you have more speed than most teams,Highlands very often does have that many kids or more on the field (this is not what I would call fast track speed,but is very very good for football). Too many people think you need to have 4.3 speed to be good. When Collinsworth was at HHS he had 4.5 to 4.6 speed but was one of the best RB's I have seen go through HHS.

Just because the are from the "holler" does not mean they can't be just as good of athlete. If they started playing young like HHS kids do then they too might be state champions, it takes a lot of work and dedication.

I think you might be doing the wrong workouts,because I have seen some kids from HHS turn from out of shape chubby kids as freshmen to very cut kids JR and SR year. And Charlie is from NKY not EKY.

1) Nobody is talking 4.3 speed. The only reason I used the 4x100 relay teams was soley for who is faster on average. I see you failed to answer why it's the case that most of Alabama (and, most all major football schools) skill kids. As a matter of fact, I roll my eyes at people on here who say that "Johnny" runs a 4.2-4.4. Are there some legit 4.4's (and, by legit, I mean laser/electronic timed)? Sure. James Quick is one of those and I'm sure, while he has great speed, is pushing more towards the 4.45-4.5 than 4.40-4.5.

2) Just because they come from unathletic parents, there are SOME exceptions to the rule (not insinuating that all people living in a holler or on the farm are unathletic, but the numbers show that your best football programs don't come from extremely rural communities, either. It's all about what's valued. Fact is, football, nor athletics in general aren't viewed in extreme rural communities like they are within the suburbs. Try to slice that however you may to fit your argument, but it's fact)


3) Nobody is talking chubby and turning them into skinny. I didnt think you would get my "ankles" joke. I was a chubby kid turned lean, too. I know many lean looking people who have thick(er) ankles and many a heavy kid with little ankles. Thick ankles= slow, not very good feet. There is a ceiling on those kids. Can they get better, sure. Is their ceiling a little bit shorter? Dang right.
(just bc you are heavier doesn't mean you can't have little ankles and/or good feet, many GOOD college linemen and all NFL linemen are proof of this. Being big is one thing. Being strong is another. Having great feet, though is what sets them apart..not if they are "cut".)