Get ready to see a Monster FB this season......

[JR4AU]

I guess THAT's possible. Bo was near 230 when he clocked the 4.12 in 1986 in Indy.

This cat aint Bo!   

[GH2001]

This cat aint Bo!

Ummm....NO

[AUChizad]

What I've seen more consistently, and more recently is 4.8. Still not too shabby for a boy that big.

[djsimp]

What I've seen more consistently, and more recently is 4.8. Still not too shabby for a boy that big.

Enuff times being run over at 4.8 speed can pay dividends...like missed tackles.

[Godfather]

What I've seen more consistently, and more recently is 4.8. Still not too shabby for a boy that big.

Didn't Aubie run a 4.8 in the suit?

[GH2001]

What I've seen more consistently, and more recently is 4.8. Still not too shabby for a boy that big.

No doubt....4.8 in general is a fast human being. Like JR and WE!!! stated, 4.4 gets tossed around WAY too much.

All I can say to anyone is go run a timed 40 to see exactly how fast a certain time is and then you get more of a appreciation for these guys and their times. I'm kinda in the same boat as WE!!, I was never able to clock a 4.4 (and I was only 200-205) and I was usually one of the faster guys on the field of play, whatever the sport was. I find that a lot of the recruiting site guys who toss the term around so loosely have probably never ran one, especially looking at their pictures.

A 4.4 is just THAT damn fast. Which is a testament to how fast Bo really was. LP is not running a 4.4 Forty.

[JR4AU]

No doubt....4.8 in general is a fast human being. Like JR and WE!!! stated, 4.4 gets tossed around WAY too much.

All I can say to anyone is go run a timed 40 to see exactly how fast a certain time is and then you get more of a appreciation for these guys and their times. I'm kinda in the same boat as WE!!, I was never able to clock a 4.4 (and I was only 200-205) and I was usually one of the faster guys on the field of play, whatever the sport was. I find that a lot of the recruiting site guys who toss the term around so loosely have probably never ran one, especially looking at their pictures.

A 4.4 is just THAT damn fast. Which is a testament to how fast Bo really was. LP is not running a 4.4 Forty.

Most HS teams would only have a small handful of players that could run sub 4.8 or better, WRs and DBs included.   Some may have no sub 5.0 players.

[GH2001]

Most HS teams would only have a small handful of players that could run sub 4.8 or better, WRs and DBs included.   Some may have no sub 5.0 players.

Back in the day, at some of the summer camps and at some of the scrimmages between teams in the area where I played, I saw some of the most blatant 40 yd dash 'fixing'. One school in Columbus (GA) where a former AU great now coaches, was notorious for doing running starts, marking off 38 yards as 40 yards, and stopping the stopwatch before the player crossed the finish line. They would have a handful of players under 4.3 and half the team under 4.7. When the D1 prospects would camp with schools, those times were nowhere near what the real number ended up being. The whole team basically had artificially inflated times which only hurt those kids in the long term. This school still produces a ton of D1 talent, with one of them being Jarvis Jones who just went to UGA from USCw. I am certain they no longer partake in time fixing.

[AUChizad]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/big_ladarious_phillips_looks_t.html

AUBURN - Mario Fannin knows a thing or two about being a running back, so it might be best to hear him out when discussing one of the most intriguing new players in Auburn's fall football camp.

Fannin says freshman Ladarious Phillips, who looks like a lineman at 290 pounds but played fullback the first week of fall drills, may indeed be his running mate on occasion this season.


Ladarious Phillips shows his moves at Auburn practice (Todd Van Emst photo)
Fannin, the starting tailback, smiles at the prospect.

"He's going to shock a lot of people because he's so big, but he's so athletic,'' Fannin said. "He's a guy who can get out of the backfield and catch it. He'll catch it one-handed. I've seen it.''

Running backs coach Curtis Luper says Phillips can stand flat-footed and do a back flip. He can also dunk.

Phillips rushed for 3,000 yards and 49 touchdowns and also played in the defensive line for three at Handley High School in Roanoke. He publicly showed up on the Auburn recruiting board on signing day.

"You just can't pass on a young man who's 45 minutes away...and he's that athletic,'' Luper said.

The question is what happens next. He could be a crowd-favorite fullback. Or a defensive lineman. Even offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn's rich playbook doesn't have a chapter for a 290-pound fullback. But Malzahn, like Fannin, is intrigued.

"We're still learning about him and his skills,'' Malzahn said. "He's a load and he's got running back feet. He probably needs to lose a little bit of weight, but still, he's very athletic.

"You can tell that he wants to be good. It's important to him. He's one of those guys who has a chance.

"We'll see about how he responds once scrimmages start.''

Phillips said he would like to lose some weight, maybe down to 275. He said he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds, though that was 10 pounds ago.

He's already trying to tip the scales in his favor.

"I run after practice and everything,'' he said.

That disciplined approach may be beating the summer workouts.

"I worked out and tried to keep my weight down,'' he said. "During the summer, you're not out doing the physical running with the team, it was hard for me to keep it down.''

Phillips' immediate concerns are learning the plays.

"That's the big jump. I'm enjoying it, though,'' Phillips said.

Phillips was able to power his way through high school football last season as a tailback. Playing fullback may be the next best thing in college. Phillips said no one at Auburn has mentioned him playing in the defensive line.

He's just trying to follow the simple advice from Mike Battles, his high school coach.

"He told me to keep my head on straight and do what's right,'' Phillips said.

Coach Gene Chizik said Phillips is ahead of the game on that count.

"He's just a great kid. He works really, really hard,'' Chizik said. "He is an extremely gifted athlete. At 290-some-odd pounds, he can do a lot of different things. We knew that. He was one of those guys that kind of flew under the radar for a long time. We think he's going to be a very good football player here.''

[Snaggletiger]

I like this kid the more I keep reading about him.  I thought he was just an afterthought to fill out the class at the last second.  Maybe he was, but occasionally, you stumble across something you didn't expect. 

[djsimp]

Thats a pretty hefty cat to be dunking and doing back flips. All I can say is that when he hits you with that 4.8 speed, there will be some pads cracka-lack'n.

[GH2001]

Thats a pretty hefty cat to be dunking and doing back flips. All I can say is that when he hits you with that 4.8 speed, there will be some pads cracka-lack'n.

Zack Lee

4.8 is plenty fast when its 300 lbs and hits you at full speed.

[djsimp]

Zack Lee

4.8 is plenty fast when its 300 lbs and hits you at full speed.

For some reason the hit that Cadillac lays on the Syracuse DB at the endzone comes to mind...that was cracka-lack'n. I could only imagine what kind of dividends this guy will pay when the D is tired and not as enthusiastic about tackling somebody.