Chris Johnson's friend-aided 40 boosts stock
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Johnson was content with the 4.29-second time posted on his first attempt and didn't plan to run again. But he then received a text message from University of South Florida cornerback Mike Jenkins, who was watching the workouts on TV.
Jenkins relayed that McFadden — the star Arkansas rusher — had blazed an unofficial time of 4.27 seconds.
"When I found that out," Johnson said, "I started warming up to run another 40."
And did he.
Johnson ran faster than all but one of the roughly 3,000 combine participants since electronic timing was adopted in 1999. He was clocked at 4.24 seconds, which easily bested McFadden's official time of 4.33.
"I thought I was fast, but I didn't know I was that fast," Johnson said after a recent post-combine workout at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. "I would have been happy with anything in the 4.2s. It surprised me."
Yet, Johnson's time didn't receive as much media buzz as the player he bested — and understandably so.
McFadden enjoyed a more storied college career and entered the combine as the draft's top running back prospect. Johnson averaged an NCAA-best 227.7 all-purpose yards in 2007 but didn't face the same level of competition in Conference USA.
Johnson said he isn't envious of all the attention McFadden has received. Instead, it has served as motivation.
"I just knew I had to be the fastest one there to get any publicity," said Johnson, who is 3 inches shorter and 15 pounds lighter than the 6-foot-2, 210-pound McFadden. "It's a political thing. McFadden already is rated so high that for him to run a 4.33 was good on his part and helped his stock rise.
"I'm in another situation. I'm a late first-round/early second-round guy. My time, I hope, rose me up."
It definitely didn't hurt.
"That's my first time ever running an electronic 40," Johnson said. "I've run a stop-watch 40 where I've had a 4.22 and 4.18. The electronic time is really accurate, so I was pretty happy with that."
A high school track star who proudly proclaims himself "the fastest dude in Orlando," Johnson didn't have to travel far for pre-combine training. He spent time at Disney with renowned speed coach Tom Shaw, who describes Johnson as a "workaholic."
"He's been working on stride length and stride frequency, which are the only two ways to increase speed," Shaw said. "But Chris is not just a track kid who happens to play football. He's a football player who happens to be fast."
Opposing defenders who took bad angles on Johnson found that out the hard way.
Johnson — who chose to play at East Carolina because the school stood by him when he initially struggled qualifying for college admission — rushed for 2,982 yards in 47 career games. He also set a Pirates record for running backs with 125 career receptions, which could make him an attractive option coming out of the backfield in the NFL.
Johnson was especially dominant late in his senior season. He set a Hawaii Bowl-record with 408 all-purpose yards (223 rushing, 32 passing and 153 on kickoffs) in an East Carolina upset of Boise State.
Johnson believes his Pirates resume separates him from other speedy combine prospects who never achieved NFL success. One of them is Eastern Kentucky wide receiver Rondel Melendez. He was the only other player whose 40-yard dash was electronically timed at 4.24 seconds at the 1999 combine.
"If you go back and look at my film, football for me was first," Johnson said.
Johnson, though, knows NFL teams are also taking a hard look at his medical records. He underwent neck surgery in the 2007 off-season for what he describes as "a small crack in one of my bones."
"It wasn't a serious injury," Johnson said. "But any time you're dealing with a neck, people are going to put a lot of emphasis on it. (The doctors) put a screw in. Since then, I've had no problems. There's nothing to worry about with any failed physicals or things like that."
Johnson isn't fretting about having to prepare for another 40-yard dash before April's draft. He didn't participate at East Carolina's Pro Day workouts last week, choosing to stand on his combine time.
"That's it," said Johnson, flashing a smile that reveals a golden grill of upper teeth. "I'm done running."
For now.
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