They call it "The Dash for Cash."
No drill gets fans more lathered up than watching a young player tear up the track in the 40-yard dash.
Fans aren't the only ones who swoon over a fast 40 time. One run got wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey drafted inside the top 10 in 2009. Another got running back Chris Johnson his own nickname, "CJ4.24."
Auburn running back Corey Grant isn't going to be drafted in the first round in 2015. In fact, Grant wasn't even invited to last month's NFL Scouting Combine.
However, after lighting up the track at Auburn's pro day on Tuesday, Grant's NFL draft "Q Score" has increased exponentially. And that's exactly what a Day 3 prospect like Grant should be trying to accomplish on a day such as this.
There were plenty of questions entering Auburn's pro day. Representatives from all 32 teams were in town to view prospects like wide receiver Sammie Coates.
The question du jour soon turned to "Who is Corey Grant?"
As Knox Bardeen of Fox Sports South reported, Grant's 40 time was the hot topic in Auburn:
Granted, pro day 40 times generally run a tad faster than those at the combine. Still, even if you add a couple of hundredths to Grant's time he would have tied for the fastest 40-yard dash in Indy this year.
And according to Duane Rankin of the Montgomery Advertiser, there were some in attendance who thought that 4.26 was slow:
4.15? Yikes.
Usually, Grant's performance was the sort that would send scouts scrambling to look at more tape on Grant.
The problem there is that there really isn't much tape on Grant, at least as a running back.
Despite that blazing speed and a 205-pound frame, Grant touched the ball fewer than 80 times on offense in 2014. He got decent bang for his buck, averaging over 6.5 yards per touch. Still, it was as a kick returner where Grant (who checked in at his pro day at just under 5'9") made most of his impact while in college.
Grant told Rankin in an interview before the combine that his time at Auburn didn't end as he hoped, but that he was looking forward to opening some eyes at his pro day:
It was hard at times. You really don't know what's going on. You just go with the game plan. I just had to sit back and look at it as if the way (Coach Gus Malzahn) did his game plan, that's what was best for the team. I didn't complain at all. Whatever he asked me to do, I did it.
You've probably seen over the past years some guys slip up in the draft and you're like, 'Where did they come from? Who are they?' Hopefully this year, maybe I can be one of those guys.
In that respect, mission most definitely accomplished.
Now, it's important not to get too carried away over a couple of sprints on a familiar track. There's a reason Grant was never more than a complementary back at Auburn. He didn't have even 10 carries in a game after Week 2 last year.
And for draftniks like Russell Clay, that's a big red flag:
However, that 40 time is going to leave a lot of teams considering what Grant might be. And even if all they arrive at is a solid kick returner, that could be enough to get Grant onto some boards he may not have been on before.
Last year, running back Dri Archer was a third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers based largely on his return skills and a 4.26-second 40 at the combine. Yes, Archer was a fair bit more productive in college than Grant.
As Bardeen points out, Archer is also a fraction of Grant's size:
Also, it wasn't just the 40 time. As Chase Goodbread of NFL.com reported, Grant fared well in the broad jump, a good indicator of leg drive in a tailback:
Grant acquitted himself well in the bench press as well, per Joel Erickson of The Birmingham News:
Those numbers compare pretty well with other running backs at the combine. Very well, in fact.
Per the combine information at NFL.com, Grant's 40 time would have been over a tenth of a second faster than every other back in Indianapolis. His broad jump, vertical leap and bench press numbers would all have placed inside the top 10 at his position.
Not bad for someone who wasn't even invited to the combine.
That isn't to say that Grant is the next Alfred Morris, ready to come from nowhere to take the NFL by storm as a rookie. It may well be that Grant will never be more than a decent kick returner, and, even after this pro day, Grant's all but certainly going to be a Day 3 pick.
But Grant is going to get picked now, and just being able to say that makes Tuesday a rousing success for the youngster.
Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPManor.
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