Going over the Hokies’ winter max testing numbers
Virginia Tech is on spring break this week, so there’s not a whole lot going on. I’ll soon be starting up a countdown of questions to the start of spring practice, which starts two weeks from Wednesday. Plus, Tech’s pro day is March 20, so I’ll have something then.
For today, I’ll go back to something from last week. The Hokies did their winter max testing. The figures were posted to the free part of Frank Beamer‘s personal website. I thought I’d review them here and offer a few comments.
Here are the numbers:
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Front Squat
- Carl Jackson – 425
- D.J. Coles – 420
- J.C. Coleman – 400
- Griffin Hite – 395
- Maurice Taylor – 390
- Michael Holmes – 390
Low Box Squat
- Derrick Hopkins – 650
- Brent Benedict – 605
- Luther Maddy – 555
- Corey Marshall – 550
- Laurence Gibson – 550
Push Jerk
- Nick Acree – 375
- Augie Conte – 370
- David Wang – 360
- Matt Arkema – 360
- Derrick Hopkins – 360
Bench Press (Skill Player Group)
- Brian Rody – 360
- Greg Jones – 350
- Ronnie Vandyke – 345
- Michael Holmes – 340
- D.J. Coles – 340
- Scott Rolin – 340
- Greg Gaddell – 340
Power Cleans (Linemen Group)
- Augie Conte – 375 (Offensive tackle position record)
- James Gayle – 370 (Defensive end position record)
- Laurence Gibson – 370
- Corey Marshall – 360
- David Wang – 340
Bench Press
- Nick Acree – 475
- Andrew Miller – 440
- Laurence Gibson – 430
- Brent Benedict – 430
- Alston Smith – 420
Vertical Jump
- Dadi Nicolas – 40″ (Defensive end position record)
- Detrick Bonner – 39″
- E.L. Smiling – 38″
- Corey Marshall – 36.5″
- Demitri Knowles – 36.5″
- Chris Caver – 35.5″
10 Yard
- Kyle Fuller – 1.59
- J.C. Coleman – 1.63
- Jack Tyler – 1.64
- Dewayne Alford – 1.65
- Josh Stanford – 1.66
Power Cleans
- Augie Conte – 375 (Offensive tackle position record)
- James Gayle – 370 (Defensive end position record)
- Laurence Gibson – 370
- Corey Marshall – 360
- David Wang – 340
- Trey Gresh – 330 (Quarterback position record)
40 yard
- Kevin Asante – 4.36
- J.C. Coleman – 4.37
- Trey Edmunds – 4.37
- Detrick Bonner – 4.39
- Chris Mangus – 4.42
NFL shuttle
- Kyle Fuller – 4.04
- Detrick Bonner – 4.07
- Kyshoen Jarrett – 4.09
- Desmond Frye – 4.17
- Carl Jackson – 4.17
Some thoughts …
– As several people have pointed out, take those 40-yard dash times with an entire barrel of salt. Those figures are usually not in line with the 40′s run at the NFL combine. What’s the difference? I’m sure it’s hand-timed and I’ve heard they run it on a hard track. The combine is electronically timed and on Field Turf. There’s a reason why a “4.3″ guy like David Wilson actually runs a 4.49 at the combine. So if you want a true measure of these 40 times, you probably have to tack on at least .10 seconds.
– BUT, all the times are relative. So while Trey Edmunds might not be a true 4.37-second guy, he did post the same time as J.C. Coleman, who everyone saw last year was pretty darn fast. And Edmunds is doing that at 6-1, 212 pounds, not Coleman’s 192. If Edmunds wasn’t already the player most people were eager to see in the spring, he certainly is now.
– Plenty of records on the list. The most frequent name on there seems to be redshirt freshman Augie Conte, who set an offensive tackle record with a 375-pound push jerk. He was also second in the push jerk at 370 pounds, right behind weight room standout Nick Acree at 375 pounds. Now, that doesn’t say anything about his on-field progress at tackle, but it does tell you that Conte is a strong guy. On the line, that at least gives you a head start, making him another intriguing guy to watch this spring.
– Defensive end James Gayle looks like he continues to put up good numbers, and if you saw him in the Harlem Shake video the other day, he certainly looks like he’s spent some time in the weight room. His 370-pound power clean was a defensive end record, but …
– He lost his defensive end vertical jump record to sophomore Dadi Nicolas, who leaped 40 inches, which was the highest on the team. To put that in perspective, the highest a defensive lineman jumped at the NFL combine this year was 38 inches by Trevardo Williams of Connecticut. Looking at the historical data from the NFL combine, only seven defensive ends have ever jumped 40 inches. I think Nicolas could be a real impact guy next year if he continues to progress.
– Back to 40 times. Receiver Kevin Asante had the fastest time, which I didn’t expect (I’m curious if Demitri Knowles ran the 40, since he’s widely considered the fastest player on the team). Let’s see if Asante can translate that into route running at receiver. There’s certainly a role for someone with that kind of speed.
– There’s probably not a better indicator of explosive power than the box squat. It’s not surprising to see Derrick Hopkins and Brent Benedict at the top.
– Quarterback Brian Rody, back on the team, can move some weight. He benched 360, tops of the skill position players. Acree, as you might expect, led the team with a 475-pound bench press, 35 pounds more than anybody else. Granted, he set a team record with a 505-pound bench press last fall. The point is, he’s big and strong.
– The 10-yard time is a good measure of quickness, so it wasn’t surprising to see Kyle Fuller and Coleman at the top. Linebacker Jack Tyler was third, though. While everyone says Tyler doesn’t have the greatest speed — a notion he disputed last year — he certainly starts quick, which is most important for a linebacker. It makes sense why he was able to move well enough to lead the team in tackles last year.
March 12, 2013 - 9:56 AM
Knowles is on the Indoor Track team too so he probably was doing that instead of running these drills with the football team.
AB, thanks for not shirking from the reality on the 40 yard times. VT has been historically false in their 40 times for well over a decade. The excuse typically is – ‘We want to compare them to past times’ as though that has any merit whatsoever.
It seems like you can easily add .12-.15 and get a real world time to compare to other players today. The NFL combine always proves how deflated Hokie 40 times are on a consistent basis.
I’ve always figured that any RB/WR/DB that ran a real 4.5 40 (that would be a 4.35 with Beamer’s stopwatch) was fast, and the play on the field proved it correct. The fantasy speeds don’t really impress anybody except Playstation geeks. The real test is the play on the field. That’s why everyone agrees Jerry Rice was a better receiver than Renaldo Nehemiah for the 49ers. Jerry ran a 4.6 on his best days, when he was young. RN could probably have run a 4.4 in ski boots.
Andy, how do these numbers stack up with an SEC team especially the weight numbers?
What is the story on Brian Rody?
That’s a good point on Knowles.
I think you’ll see a lot of these team times that are faster than the combine ones. A coach I used to cover noted that there are more 4.3 40 times in high school than at the NFL combine. The point: all of these times are inflated.
I think these numbers stack up pretty well with the SEC. I don’t have exact numbers, but VT would compare favorably, I’d guess.
Rody and Trimble were reinstated once their legal issue was resolved. They got community service time, but were only convicted of a misdemeanor.
Can any of these guys actually block somebody? I get the point that as a team Tech is getting stronger,faster, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but can they block like the guards at Alabama? I’d settle for that.
I am very surprised that Logan Thomas did not make any of these lists. People always talk about how athletic he is. Not to mention that he is a fifth year senior, so he has had plenty of time to develop in the weight room. Did he not participate due to risk of injury? In my opinion, how is a RS freshman like Rody benching 360 and yet a 5th year like Thomas is not even on the radar for that list? I know these numbers don’t translate into football skills, but I would think LT would be near the top somewhere in the weight room.
If Dadi Nicolas can but on a few pounds, he will be a force to be reckoned with.