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Pacing The Pack: Who's the fastest Red Wolf at Arkansas State?

One-hundredth of a second separates the 4 fastest Red Wolves.

By AStateFanRules
Is Dijon Paschal secretly the fastest Red Wolf on the A-State roster?
Is Dijon Paschal secretly the fastest Red Wolf on the A-State roster?
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Red Wolves fans have been talking speed the moment Cameron Echols-Luper, the former wide receiver and track athlete from the TCU Horned Frogs, announced his intention to transfer to A-State. Already recognized by NFL.com as among the fastest college football players, Echols-Luper promised to add an exciting element to the Red Wolves offense: breakneck velocity.

At first glance, it would appear the Echols-Luper is the Red Wolf with the fleetest feet. And then his happened.

It appears that Texas Longhorns transfer Kendall Sanders edges Echols-Luper, who was a 2014 Outdoor USTFCCCA All-American Second Team (4x100 Relay) member at TCU. Of course, nobody doubted Sander’s speed. He was a 4-star roadrunner coming out of high school. But to see Echols-Luper and Sanders racing head-to-head is exciting to see for any Red Wolves fan.

And it begs the question, Just how fast are these Red Wolves?

Speed is only useful when it is complimented by a host of valuable football skills one can only acquire through discipline. Simply said, fast doesn’t mean great. Usain Bolt may not be very good wide receiver. Dexter McCluster, who kinda looks fast, recorded an official 40 of 4.53.

The way we measure speed is not without controversy either. In football, we accept the 40-yard dash as speed’s standard. But where is speed most needed in football? Five yards off the line of scrimmage? Or thirty yards down field?

Because I’m not paid to answer the tough questions, I’ve assembled some of the Red Wolves fastest forty times and comprised a list of the speediest Red Wolves. Most of these times I’ve gathered from the website Hudl, most of which are not verified. So take this list with a skeptical grain of salt.

The Fastest Arkansas State Red Wolves for 2016

  1. Kendall Sanders, 6’, 187 WR, 4.33

  2. Daryl Rollins-Davis, 5’9" 165 rSo RB, 4.33

  3. Cameron Echols-Luper, 6’, 190 Jr WR, 4.34

  4. Chris Booker, 5’11" 185 Jr WR, 4.34

  5. Nehemiah Wagner, 6’, 170 Jr DB, 4.40

  6. Brandon Bowling, 5’9" 168 Fr, 4.42

  7. Dijon Paschal, 6’1" 211, rJr WR, 4.44

  8. Torrance Marable, 5’10" 180, Fr Athlete, 4.45

  9. Darvean Brown 5’11, 176. rFr WR, 4.47

  10. Jaylon Marshall, 6’2" 190, rFr WR, 4.48

  11. Justin McInnis, 6’6", 195, Jr WR, 4.49

  12. Money Hunter, 6’1", 210 Sr DB, 4.5

Tales of the Tape

The first question you might be asking is, who the heck is Daryl Rollins-Davis? A former "Mr. Football of Tennessee," Rollins-Davis redshirted in 2015, but the legend of DRD's speed has tantalized Red Wolves fans since he signed with the team in 2014. Is the running back really faster than Sanders and Echols-Luper?

For that matter, is Echols-Luper, considered to be college football's 10th fastest player according to NFL.com, really only the third quickest man on the roster? According to the (not all verified) 40 times, only a hundredth of a second separates the four fastest players on the team. That makes for a very interesting foot race come Fall practice, no?

But let's put this list in perspective. How do the Red Wolves stack up against the very best (but not necessarily fastest) wide receivers in the conference? Here are the listed 40-times from 2015's top five Sun Belt receivers (based on receiving yards):
  1. Penny Hart (Georgia State Panthers), 4.40
  2. Robert Davis (Georgia State Panthers), 4.52
  3. Teddy Ruben (Troy Trojans), 4.61
  4. Jamal Robinson (Louisiana Ragin Cajuns), 4.5
  5. Dezmon Epps (Idaho Vandals), 4.58
The fastest Red Wolves rank very favorably among the best receivers of the Sun Belt, based on these times (Ruben, Robinson, and Epps times were curated from nfldraftscout.com). Gauging whether or not the Red Wolves are the fastest in the Sun Belt for 2016 may be a matter of conjecture, but there's no disputing that these guys are high-class fast.

I probably missed a Red Wolves speedster. Feel free to scream at me in the comments section.


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