When Justin King started playing organized football, his midget-league coaches made him lean over and plant his hand in the dirt. That's the tight end's stance.
It took a few more years before King's career got off the ground..
"My speed didn't really kick in until about seventh grade," King said. "I guess that's when I started dominating some."
King is now a senior running back/defensive back at Gateway High School and considered one of the top players in the country. A few scouting services rank him in the top 10.
Watch King play and you'd swear the fast-forward button is stuck. He is one of the fastest players in the WPIAL in recent years. He can run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds and his speed, quickness and cutting ability are traits college coaches love.
But King (6 feet, 185 pounds) is a prime example of what high school football is about these days. While the NFL and college games have gotten faster, the high school brand also seems to be without a speed limit.
"It's definitely a lot faster than even when I played," said Gateway coach Terry Smith, a 1987 Gateway graduate who played receiver at Penn State. "Justin ran a 4.34 electronically timed at the University of Michigan last year. Nobody ran 4.3 40s 20 years ago. That was unheard of, especially in Western Pennsylvania."
It's everywhere
High school players across the country are faster than 15 or even 10 years ago. It might not be as noticeable in running backs and receivers as in other positions.
"The skill position players have always been fast, although there seems to be more fast ones these days," said Allen Wallace, Super Prep publisher and national recruiting editor for theinsiders.com. "But you have to look at the speed of players like linebackers and defensive ends. These guys can hunt down running backs nowadays."
Ten of Super Prep magazine's top 11 linebackers in the country run the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds or less. In 1989, only three of the top 11 ran a 4.6 or better. That year, Super Prep ranked Jerome Bettis as the No. 11 linebacker in the country.
Tray Blackmon of LaGrange, Calif., is Super Prep's No. 1-rated linebacker this season. He runs the 40 in 4.5. Two other linebackers in the top 10 run the 40 in 4.5. For the record, six of Super Prep's top 10 running backs in the country run a 4.5 40.
"I think 40 times are exaggerated more than ever nowadays, but a lot of these kids are still a lot faster than ever," Wallace said.
King said his speed started to improve in seventh grade when Smith, his stepfather, convinced him to start running track. This past spring, King was one of the top sprinters in the WPIAL. On the football field, he also runs in the fast lane. In a scrimmage against Butler two weeks ago, King had 200 yards on six carries.
"He's one of those rare players who can change a game with one play, just because of his speed," said North Hills coach Jack McCurry.
Florida, Texas and California have a reputation for producing many fast players, but Western Pennsylvania is producing more and more speedsters.
"College coaches will tell you the Pittsburgh area is good for linemen and quarterbacks -- and it is," said Joe Butler of Metro Index Scouting in Pittsburgh. "But now the skill guys with speed are starting to come on more. There are more defensive backs with speed."
FASTER BACKS:
A Litmus Test
Butler believes the speed in Western Pennsylvania has improved "dramatically" from 15 or 20 years ago -- and statistics back him up. Butler runs a spring camp that is attended by many top players in Western Pennsylvania. This past spring, 14 players at the camp were timed in the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds or better. Twenty years ago, it was rare when someone ran better than a 4.5.
"I remember a guy who stood out in the late 1980s was Ken Morgan, a receiver from North Catholic," Butler said. "We always have college coaches watching the 40s and Morgan ran a 4.45. That was very rare. Coaches were saying, 'Wow.' Nowadays, we get close to 20 kids running a 4.5."
Morgan ended up with a scholarship to Syracuse.
"I think we started seeing a change in the speed of kids in this area in maybe the mid to late 1990s," Butler said.
This past spring at the Metro Index Camp, Penn Hills standout receiver David Harvey had the best 40 time with a 4.37. Blackhawk star running back/defensive back Jeremy Bruce ran a 4.41 and Central Catholic running back Eugene Jarvis, the Post-Gazette Player of the Year in 2003, ran a 4.46. Less-heralded players also were running the 40 in 4.5 seconds.
Central Catholic coach Art Walker Jr. played at Baldwin in the late 1980s and was the fastest player on the team with a 4.5 40. He said no one else could run better than a 4.7. At Central this season, Walker has five players who can run a 4.6 or better.
"It's not just backs or receivers who can run any more," Walker said. "Bigger guys are able to run, too."
Smith believes former Aliquippa star linebacker Sean Gilbert was instrumental in changing the way "big" players were viewed. A 1989 Aliquippa graduate, Gilbert was about 6-5, 250 pounds in high school, but could reportedly run the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds. As a senior, he was USA Today's Defensive Player of the Year. He went on to play at Pitt and was a first-round NFL draft pick. He eventually became a lineman.
"I think he was the first big guy who could really run," Smith said. "Before him, big guys didn't even see under 5.0 in the 40."
Where is it coming from?
A natural question is why are high school players faster these days? One reason is size. Players are bigger and stronger than 20 or 30 years ago.
"When I used to order [football] shoes for our players 15 years ago," said Penn Hills coach Neil Gordon, "I'd order maybe 15 in size 8 1/2. I'd order a lot of 9s and 10s, maybe four 12s, a couple 13s and maybe once in a blue moon a 14.
"Now, the most common shoe size I order is 12. I might order only a couple 8 1/2s or 9s. Nobody wears those sizes any more. And if you're bigger and stronger, you're probably going to be faster."
But maybe the biggest reason for the speed increase is training -- at least in Western Pennsylvania. More and more players -- and teams -- are being trained to simply improve their speed and agility. Speed training is being conducted at bigger schools like Gateway and Central Catholic and smaller schools such as Mars in Class AA.
"We've been doing speed training here for eight years," said Mars coach Scott Heinauer.
For two nights a week in the offseason, speed trainer Dale Boring works with Mars' players. Boring trains athletes in other sports at Mars, and also works at other schools. Mars' football players raise money to pay him.
Heinauer said the speed training has helped his team immensely over the years. He said he's had nine kids in the past four years run 40-yard dash times below 4.5.
"When I first started here, running a 4.4 was unheard of," said Heinauer, in his 13th season. "But I've talked to coaches from Florida, Texas and California. They've been doing speed training for a while in those states. I think we're just starting to catch up on it in this area."
A few years ago, Heinauer had one of the fastest players in the eastern part of the country in Brad Mueller. He ran a 4.29 40-yard dash at a Nike camp the spring before his senior year. Mueller now plays at Boston College.
Companies are being formed that provide speed trainers for teams. At Gateway, Smith used to handle the speed training for his team. But Smith is now Gateway's athletic director and doesn't have as much time to spend with his team in the offseason. This summer, trainers from Athletes Fitness in Monroeville were hired to work with Gateway's players four days a week. Gateway's football boosters paid half the cost and the players the other half. The workouts were open to all players in grades 7-12.
Speed training includes a number of workout routines. At Gateway, players sometimes ran with parachutes tied to their backs.
"Even linemen are challenged to be fast and athletic now," Smith said. "We have a lineman here, Paul Shulikov, running a 4.77. When I played, linemen were seeing only the low 5.0s."
King works with speed trainers but said one of the things that helped develop his speed was running track.
"Terry made me run when I was in seventh grade," King said with a laugh.
Central Catholic had speed trainers work with its players three days a week for eight weeks this spring and summer.
"Look at things like that and look at all the time we put in with kids in the offseason with drills and things like 7 on 7 camps," Walker said. "It's helped speed to become a major factor, and not just with backs and skill guys. Colleges don't want just big horses any more. They want big guys who can run, too."
Speed helps
Speed can attract college recruiters and sometimes help earn a player a scholarship. Blackhawk's Jeremy Bruce is a case in point. He had an excellent junior season, rushing for 1,767 yards and catching 23 passes. Some Division I colleges were expressing interest, but it was questionable how serious they were. Some were concerned with his size (5 feet 9, 185 pounds).
Then in May, Bruce attended the Nike camp at Penn State and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds. He also showed agility and strength in other drills. But the 40 times opened the eyes of college coaches that were there. Others heard about it. At the Metro Index camp, he ran a 4.41.
Within the next month, Bruce had scholarship offers from West Virginia, Akron, Kent State and Temple. Other schools started showing serious interest and Bruce made a verbal commitment to West Virginia in July.
"Everything started happening after I ran that 40 time at Nike," Bruce said. "I don't think I would have gotten the offers if I didn't do that."
Gateway's King started getting scholarship offers after running impressive 40 times in the summer before his junior year. By this summer, he had offers from schools across the country. Michigan, Penn State and Florida are his top three choices. Ohio State, Miami and Southern California are next in line. He is being recruited to play defensive back. The Sporting News ranks him the No. 1 defensive back in the country and rivals100.com ranks him the No. 1 cornerback. Super Prep ranks him the No. 1 "skill athlete" in the country.
"With speed, you can make mistakes as a defensive back, but yet recover if you're fast enough," King said. "In college, the gap to recover from a mistake is closed some, but it still helps to be fast."
But Butler cautions against the theory that speed is everything.
"Just because you have great speed doesn't guarantee you a college scholarship," Butler said. "There are a lot more young men today who have dynamic speed. Converting the speed into the game of football is the vital thing."
Heinauer said, "So much of football used to be about power, power, power. Speed has surpassed power. If you can't catch a kid, it doesn't do any good if you're strong."
