If there is one lesson learned for top recruits from Isaiah Bond’s promise to break the 40-yard dash record at the NFL Combine and then not come close, it’s this: Be sure to under-promise and over-deliver.
Not the other way around.
Leading up to Saturday’s run in Indianapolis, the former four-star from Buford, Ga., who started his career at Alabama and then transferred to Texas told reporters at the combine that basically, Xavier Worthy’s record would be short-lived.
“I’m going to break the record for sure,” Bond said. “I anticipate running 4.20 or possibly if I’m feeling great, I might run a 4.1.”
He must not have felt that great.
Bond, who finished third on the Longhorns with 34 catches for 540 yards and five touchdowns last season and is projected as an early- to mid-round draft pick, went 4.41 and 4.39 during his two runs at the combine.
The problem is this: Those are more-than-solid times. But he was promising to break records and that’s nearly impossible to live up to so even though he put up excellent numbers, it underwhelmed and deflated the hype going into the event.
“There’s fast,” Worthy tweeted minutes after Bond’s runs. “Then there’s me.”
The Texas receiver who actually stole the show on Saturday was Matthew Golden, a four-star transfer from Houston who led the team in all receiving categories this season.
The former Klein (Texas) Cain standout blazed a 4.29-second 40-yard dash – the fastest for receivers at the combine – and that further moved him into the late first-round discussion. According to NFL Stats, Golden’s run was the second-fastest by a receiver weighing at least 190 pounds since 2003.
An incredible 10 receivers went under the 4.4-second threshold at the combine which continues to raise the bar for what speed means when it comes to the NFL.
Texas receivers know speed, too.
Golden was moving. Bond had an impressive run despite the overhype. Adonai Mitchell put up good numbers at a previous combine.
And Worthy holds the record after his 4.21 eclipsed the record held by former Washington receiver John Ross, who set it in 2017.
There could be some interesting twists and turns post-combine and through the pro day season that could influence the ranking of the receivers heading into the draft.
Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan did not work out in Indianapolis. Missouri’s Luther Burden did and looked great. Those two former five-stars look to be the first two off the board in the first round. After that, everything seems up for grabs – get the wide receiver joke there?
Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka could be next in line but Golden is certainly pushing the former five-star now at the middle to tail end of the first round.
There could be other movement, too. Bond could have shot up the charts like Worthy did after his record-breaking run but Bond was a tick slower than promised.
He did provide a valuable lesson to the next flock of elite players heading to the combine and looking for NFL stardom: It’s better to let your performance do the talking.
