“The Buckeyes have come in here and they are burning it up.”
Those were the words uttered over the broadcast shortly after Terry McLaurin ran a scorching 4.35-second 40-yard dash, becoming the third Buckeye in a matter of hours to turn heads with his speed.
McLaurin's 4.35 followed Johnnie Dixon's impressive time of 4.41 and Parris Campbell's 4.32, which is tied for the fastest time at the NFL Combine this season as well as Ohio State combine history.
The trio of receivers accounted for three of the top-10 times at the combine through Sunday. No other school had even two players in the top-25, except Ohio State actually had one more, with running back Mike Weber running a 4.47 – tied for the 21st best time.
4.32u!@OhioStateFB WR @PCampbell21 with the fastest 40 of the #NFLCombine so far
— NFL (@NFL) March 2, 2019
: #NFLCombine on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/phEfD691Gn
The results make it clear: Ohio State had the fastest offense in the country in 2018.
That Buckeye offense featured the first, fifth and ninth fastest receivers in the 2019 NFL Draft, as well as the third-fastest running back and his counterpart, who was widely considered the faster of the duo. At the offensive skill positions, no team touched Ohio State in terms of speed.
Amazingly though, there's a real chance the fastest player on the roster actually played on the other side of the ball, even though he won't get a chance to show it at the combine. Cornerback Kendall Sheffield's speed is well documented. Last spring, he set a new Ohio State track and field record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.63 seconds.
Unfortunately, Sheffield won't get to add his speed to the Buckeye tally as he suffered a torn pectoral in the bench press portion of the combine and will be unable to run the 40-yard dash on Monday.
Even without Sheffield's time, which almost certainly would have been sub-4.4 seconds, Ohio State absolutely dominated the 40-yard dash, making a loud statement about Buckeye speed.
