'Fast' being redefined within Penn State football

As a matter of clarity, John Reid’s name does not appear among the top three 40-yard dash times for defensive backs on the Penn State records board in the weight room.

And yet, listen to the rising fifth-year senior cornerback give his assessment of the football team currently working its way through spring practices, and his confidence would seem to be well-founded. In nearly every phase of the game, but particularly at wide receiver and defensive back, the Nittany Lions are blazing their way across the field this spring.

“We're fast here,” said Reid, surrounded by reporters at the team’s open practice last week. “We put in certain packages today where we pretty much said, ‘Welp, today is a track meet. I hope everybody stretched and rolled out yesterday and (iced up) because we're running.’ We got dudes that are putting up fast numbers.

“Everybody is fast when you're going against speed every day. I hope you're getting faster. If not, you're getting burnt.”

A quick glance at Penn State’s top performers' board, divided by position hanging on the wall in the Lasch Building weight room, demonstrates as much.

Though it had not yet been updated to reflect the developments of the 2019 winter workout session and max-out numbers when the media most recently had access in February, names from Penn State's current roster are littered throughout.

For just the 40-yard dash, Drew Hartlaub’s 4.30 recorded in the summer of 2017 stands as the best in recent history, followed closely by cornerback Donovan Johnson’s 4.32 and Saquan Barkley’s 4.33. But even broken down into individual positions, the concept stands.

Running back Journey Brown’s 4.35 is second only to Barkley. Both Tommy Stevens (4.59) and Will Levis (4.69) have spots on the board at quarterback. Three defensive line standouts with high expectations for the season ahead hold spots in Jayson Oweh (4.45), Shaka Toney (4.54), and Yetur Gross-Matos (4.66). Tight ends Zack Kuntz (4.66) and Nick Bowers (4.70) have a place, as does Micah Parsons (4.52) at linebacker. Even Bryce Effner found the board on the offensive line with a 5.06, while Blake Gillikin’s 4.81 is the top spot among the specialists.

And while DeAndre Thompkins’ 4.34, Saeed Blacknall’s 4.39, and Brandon Polk’s 4.39 haven’t yet (officially) been displaced at wide receiver, safety Garrett Taylor professed Tuesday morning that speed is ubiquitous on both sides of the ball, and in fact has become an identifying factor on a team-wide basis.

“I think obviously each year, the teams are going to be a little different. Obviously, when you lose guys and you have young guys stepping into new roles, that's a given. But I think this team, we have a lot of speed on both sides of the ball,” said Taylor. “Looking at guys like K.J. (Hamler), Jahan (Dotson), guys like Journey and Ricky (Slade) at running back. And then our defensive coaches are telling us all the time, we're flying around fast, making plays. So I think we're going to be a fast team with a lot of speed on both sides of the ball.”

Describing his own 40 time as being “in the 4.3s,” Reid would later describe a joke that runs through the defensive backs room daily.

Coming from a place in which the perception of running in the mid-4.4s was considered “fast,” Reid said that those numbers wouldn’t even make the team’s “4 x 100” meter relay team anymore.

“What we talk about in the corner room is, you gotta be able to make the 4 x 100 team. And if not, your ball skills need to be crazy,” said Reid. “It's just kind of like a joke, just the pride that we take in how hard we work in the weight room, working on our speed and extra plyometrics and stuff like that. Just dudes trying to be fast.”

Of course, an important caveat to that concept is that the program’s top performers boards don’t necessarily reflect the actual speed floating around the roster.

Hamler, for instance, has not run an officially tested 40 in either of his two years on Penn State’s campus. Predicting a “4.28, 4.25, something around there,” for himself, though, the slot receiver would likely have a place. “I'm going for the gold,” said Hamler. “I'm quick and I'm fast, and you don't find that in a lot of players, so I think I can get it. Y'all are just going to have to find out.”

Similarly, a name head coach James Franklin has referred to frequently this spring, preferred walk-on Dan Chisena, also has some jets.

“Chisena can really run,” said Franklin. “He won the 100 meters in the state of Pennsylvania. The track team ended up recruiting him away from us. We lost him for a year or two and then we were able to get him back. So he's had a really nice spring. He's big, he's strong, he's fast, and we're going to need that.”

Given those notable exclusions, Reid tapped himself, Hamler and Chisena to the team’s hypothetical 4 x 100 team, leaving a vacant fourth spot for any of a plethora of choices.

What Reid, Taylor, Hamler and the rest of Penn State’s roster can agree on, though, is that this is a team blessed with speed and, more important, devotion to learning the techniques specific to their positions in order to maximize its effects.

“I’m in the 4.3s. But going against K.J. every day, you just gotta be on point with your technique,” said Reid. “This is kind of what I would help with the young guys. Know you're fast, but you just can't rely on that. Coach (Terry) Smith makes a joke like, K.J. runs a 4.3 and you run a 4.3, but if he gets a step on you, he's beating you.

“So it's just making sure you're on point in your technique just because of that same emphasis. You just can't play with athleticism when you're going against our receivers. That's not going to get it done. So it makes you improve and work on your technique and things like that to get that extra step.”