The Miami Hurricanes will be dealing with some serious speed issues Saturday against Florida.
Gators sophomore running back Chris Rainey and true freshman Jeff Demps finished as the Gators' leading rushers in Saturday's 56-10 win over Hawaii, but it's their speed that's already created a mythical story involving the two.
Right before the start of fall two-a-days, Rainey beat Demps in a 40-yard dash footrace.
"I'd like to watch that,'' Florida coach Urban Meyer said during SEC media days. "I wasn't there, but I would have liked to. Could have probably sold about 10,000 tickets for that. ESPN GameDay probably would have been there as well."
The matchup itself was impressive: Last year in high school, Demps ran the 100-meter dash in 10.37 seconds, then topped that at the AAU Junior Olympics with a time of 10.25. As a senior at Lakeland (Fla.) High School, Rainey scored 32 touchdowns, 15 on runs of 50 yards or more.
The story goes that Rainey heard about Demps, and how he was - as Meyer put it - "the fastest 18 year old to ever run track." Rainey kept hearing about it, Meyer said, and finally the two went back to the dorms to decide things.
"I guess Chris nudged him out,'' Meyer said. "So we got some speed."
Florida quarterback Tim Tebow wasn't there to witness the race, but heard plenty about Rainey's victory.
"That's pretty unbelievable 'cause Demps is one of the fastest men in the country or in the world probably,'' Tebow said. "So for Rainey to beat him in the 40 yard dash, that says a lot about how fast he is."
-Trae Thompson


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