Michigan QB Denard Robinson thinks he could beat Usain Bolt in the 40

These guys have no conception of how fast Bolt and Blake and GAy and Gatlin really are.

They understand the difference between D 1 and D 2 football, but not sprinting.

Bolt to Denard is like D 2 to NFL.

Nester Carter might even break 4

I knew a guy - Ian Campbell of Australia who could break 40.

This is just a different league.

Bolt can probably throw a football more accurately than that f*ckstick Robinson.

Good luck Dumbnards, I mean Denard

So basically, someone is saying they can beat someone else (Bolt) at a distance where bolt is known to be at his weakest and has no world records and no medals.

Sounds like an impressive task......NOT!

Who cares?

40 yards is what? 36 metres? Most humans wouldn't hit top speed at that distance. Has this Denard guy even gone under 10 secs in the 100?

He isn't on the current UM Track roster, but I think he has run about 10.3 in the 100m.

Usain Bolt hit 40 meters in about 4.8 seconds. Which comes out to be around 4.35 seconds for 40 yards (36m).

And there are several football players that could do that. We all know bolt sucks at starting. He also hit 60m in about 6.5 which is fast compared to Robinson's 6.8 he has posted in college.

I think it would be close first 40 yards.

Bolt prolly wasn't in the lead at 40 meters in the 100 finals. Bolt might not be the best in the world at the 40.

Still don't think he could beat Bolt in a 40.

Well if you look at the scientific breakdowns of Bolts race. He goes through 40 yards in 4.35 seconds. Robinson has gone 4.32 in the 40. So it would be close. But if it was head to head I still do not think Robinson would have fast enough reaction time.

Football players go off their first movement, bolt goes off gun.

Now Chris Johnson on the other hand.. Would smoke his ass in a 40 yard dash but get ran down by 50.

Interesting. Larry Rawson estimates Bolt's 40-yard time at 3.97 sec.

As much as I love Denard, he's flat out wrong. I saw him run the 60M dash indoors his Freshman year and he ran some like 6.65. He ran three more times that year and ran more in the 6.7s.

Denard should know better and if he's not joking, then he forgot what it is like to use starting blocks and react to the gun. As I recall, he was last out of the blocks because he did not want to false start.

In terms of running at full speed, it's Bolt. Besides, Denard's is only 6 feet tall. He does have good accelaration and gets up full throttle quickly, but, Denard, we could have used you in London if that's the case.

The link below indicates all Olympic 100-m gold medalists since 1988 are about equal through 40m. If true, Olympic sprinters are not much faster than top football players (sprinters) through 40 yards.

http://speedendurance.com/2008/08/22/usain-bolt-100m-10-meter-splits-and-speed-endurance/

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Bolt was beaten by some of the faster football players at the 40 yard dash.

The football players don't start in blocks for the 40, they are running on grass or artificial turf, they are running in football shoes.

All things being equal, I would expect some of the faster football guys to be ahead of Bolt at 40 yards. They would all be crushed at 100 meters of course.

Beating Bolt in the 40 wouldn't exactly be superhuman. For that short of distance, top end speed (like Bolt's) wouldn't play nearly the part reaction time and acceleration would. Bolt isn't known for the first 40 of his races. He's known for what comes next.

It would be like a 1:44 800m runner bragging about how they could beat El G in a 1000m race. It might be true, but then again El G isn't known for what he can do in the first 1000m.

I'm pretty sure Bolt would still beat a 4.30 40 yard guy any day. Bolt's 40 yard in his 100m world record was 4.35, but his reaction time was 1.5 seconds or more. So subtract that to get what you would for a football 40yd and you get 4.15 or faster. And despite the turf and football shoes (which I don't think is always the case), I think Bolt would run a 36 meter race differently technique-wise than he would a 100, so he would likely run it open faster than he would split it in a 100 meter.

Keep in mind that the accuracy of 40-yard dash times are not as rigorous as FAT in track. Perhaps Robinson could beat Bolt, were they on turf, in cleats and football pads.

Please check your message for errors. You wrote: 'reaction time was 1.5 seconds or more.'

I don't believe 1.5 seconds.

the obvious wrote:

I'm pretty sure Bolt would still beat a 4.30 40 yard guy any day. Bolt's 40 yard in his 100m world record was 4.35, but his reaction time was 1.5 seconds or more. So subtract that to get what you would for a football 40yd and you get 4.15 or faster. And despite the turf and football shoes (which I don't think is always the case), I think Bolt would run a 36 meter race differently technique-wise than he would a 100, so he would likely run it open faster than he would split it in a 100 meter.

Bolt's reaction time was nowhere near 1.5 seconds. Maybe .165 seconds. I think that the blocks probably more than make up for any reaction time advantage that the football players have.

Between that and the shoes and the running surface, I think there are certainly some NFL guys that could edge out Bolt to 40 yards.

Some NFL players were once (or could have been) world class sprinters. Not a stretch that a few could be ahead of Bolt at 40 yards.

You have to give Denard credit for intelligence. An idiot would have boasted he could take Bolt in the 100.