Speedy may not be enough to describe RB Dri Archer

It's not that often a football player is offended when asked about running a 4.3 in the 40-yard dash.

But that's how junior Dri Archer sounded Thursday afternoon following the second day of Kent State's spring football camp. Asked to verify that he'd indeed run the 40 in an impressive 4.3 seconds, Archer shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, somewhere around there."

Well, how "around" do you mean?

"Actually, it was a little lower than that," said Archer, the fastest member of the Golden Flashes team.

Lower than a 4.3? A mark considered top-notch, NFL kind of speed?

"We ran some 40's at the end of January, early February, and my first one was 4.21," Archer said. "My second was a 4.32."  

Granted, the time was clocked by a coach with a stop watch, not a professional timer. But either way the times are pretty impressive.

"It feels like I'm getting faster as I age," Archer offered. "I've been working on my lower body. It seems the stronger I get, the faster I get."

In fact, when Archer was told he'd clocked the 4.21, even he was shocked.

"When they told me I didn't believe them," he said. "I was like, 'no, you're lying.' I was shocked."

Archer has gotten so fast, his teammates don't even challenge him to race anymore. That's because the last guy to do it - former fellow running back Rob Hollomon - got toasted.

"When Rob came in his freshman year, he thought he was the fastest guy on the team," Archer said. "Every day he would say he was faster than me. Then the last practice (last year), we raced (with the whole team gathered around)."

The result? It wasn't even close.

"Afterwards, he really couldn't say nothing, " Archer said. "He was just like, 'O.K., you're faster than me.' "

In fact, the only race that the former prep track star at Venice High in Laurel, Fla., ever lost came in the state championship his senior year.

"I came in second to a guy who runs track at Tennese now," Archer said. "I wasn't mad because that's all he did was run track. He's one of the best in the country now."