“They say when you’re having fun, time flies,” says Jeffrey Demps, who had the crowd at the Percy Beard Track thinking that time isn’t the only thing that can fly Friday afternoon. Demps ran a 10.17 100 meters at the Florida Relays, one of the fastest times in the world this year and only .02 off the all-time high school record set by Henry Neal of Greenville, Texas back in 1990.
After that incredible sprint to win the high school division, Demps wandered next door where the Florida Gators were going through their tenth football practice of the spring. As happy as he was about the 10.17, he felt more in his element watching football practice.
“I’m a football guy that runs track, not the other way around,” said Demps, one of the prizes for Urban Meyer’s recruiting class of 2008. He has approximately six more weeks of school at South Lake in Clermont and then he’ll be on his way to Gainesville to begin summer school at the University of Florida.
At Florida, he will play wide receiver or tailback but Friday afternoon he was simply a focused runner whose extraordinary concentration allowed him to get out of the blocks fast. One hundred meters later, the crowd at the Florida Relays was wowed and he was satisfied at least for one day.
“10.17 is flying,” he said with a grin. “We worked in practice hard all week to run a 10.1 and I’m happy with that.”
Now that he’s gone 10.17, the next and obvious goal is 10-flat, which he says, “I think I could do it if I worked hard enough. I just get out there and work hard and run and have fun.”
The crowd watching the Gators practice got the news of Demps’ extraordinary sprint when the PA announcer at the track announced the 100-meter winner and the time. The fans weren’t the only ones that got the news though.
“The word trickled through our practice field and someone said that’s third in the world or something like that and I made a couple of comments to people that I know how to coach guys that run 10.17,” said Meyer after the Gators’ completed their practice. “If I don’t I’ll figure that out real fast. That’s awesome.”
Demps and Meyer have been talking regularly since national signing day back in February. The conversations are about everything from what’s going on in his life to schoolwork to his workouts but inevitably, the conversation winds up focused on speed.
“Every time I see or talk to Coach Meyer he says he can’t wait for me to get here,” said Demps. “Every time he tells me how much he loves speed and needs speed. I’m glad I can add that to the team.”
At South Lake, Demps used his speed to carry the ball 327 times for 3,162 yards in his junior and senior seasons, good for 37 touchdowns. Primarily a tailback at South Lake, at Florida Demps will likely be used the way Meyer uses Percy Harvin and the way Chris Rainey will be used in the fall — a true wide receiver some of the time, a slotback that is part receiver/part tailback some of the time, and a true tailback some of the time. The way the Gators run the offense, it’s all about getting mismatches so Demps can figure he will line up wherever the defense has the most difficulty defending him.
He really doesn’t care where he lines up. He just wants the football in his hands and his philosophy is quite simple.
“I just see daylight and run to it,” he said. “I feel I can break it from anywhere if I can get a step.”
There is a misconception that he’s simply a speed guy who tries to outrun everybody. He’s got moves and he’s also not afraid of contact.
“People who’ve never seen me play think I’m just a track guy and all I can do is run fast,” said Demps. “I can plant and change directions and I can make people miss. Once I get past somebody, I think I’m able to get away faster than other guys. I always feel I just need one step.
“I’ve been playing football a long time. I was playing football before I started running track. I’m not just a fast track guy.”
Most sprinters shy from contact but Demps thinks nothing of lowering his shoulder and bowling an opponent over for that extra yard or two. He says that opponents are sometimes shocked at impact.
There was this one occasion this year when his reputation for speed got through but not his willingness to deliver a hit. He was trying to break loose when a tackler squared up to bring him down. Demps lowered the shoulder and sent the tackler sprawling.
“He told me after the play not just a fast guy and that I hit hard,” said Demps. “He said it was hat was one of the hardest hits he ever got and that made me happy.”
Maybe he isn’t the prototypical size for a tailback, but he’s still filling out an already muscular frame.
“I’m 5-9 and I weight 184,” he said. “I’m benching 300 right now and I’ll get stronger.”
His high school days will be over soon. In a few more weeks he will graduate and then his college career will begin. When he thinks about his high school years, he still wonders where the time went.
“It went by so fast,” he said. “They say that when you’re having fun, time flies.”
When Jeffrey Demps makes his debut in The Swamp in the fall, he’s hoping to show the 90,000 fans that time isn’t the only thing that flies.
“I just run fast and have fun,” he said.