from espn....

[Frishmanflz]

Last summer, South Florida strength coach Ron McKeefery was pushing his players pretty hard in the weight room. Nose tackle Terrell McClain got a bit frustrated and walked out to get some water.

On his way back in, McClain stopped in front of a six-foot ledge that borders the weight area. He calmly reached one hand on the ledge -- and then leaped right over it. Keep in mind that McClain weighs 304 pounds.

"I was like, you've got to be kidding me," McKeefery said. "That was like jumping a 6-foot-fence with just putting your hand on top of it."

No matter how long strength and conditioning coaches have been at it -- and McKeefery in his ninth season with the Bulls --- they still find themselves surprised sometimes by the athletes in their care. Some are just freaks -- or workout warriors, as we're highlighting today on ESPN.com.

Five of the eight Big East schools responded to our request for their list of strength-training studs. Earlier today, I wrote about Cincinnati and two of their workout warriors, Adrien Robinson and Marcus Waugh. Here are some more around the league, leading off with McKeefery's Bulls.

South Florida:

Senior safety Nate Allen made my list of the Big East's Top 30 players at No. 26, but based on his workout numbers alone, he should be much higher.

Allen ran a 4.38 40-yard dash this spring, making him one of the fastest players on the team. By comparison, USC's uber-freak safety Taylor Mays ran a 4.32.

"That 4.3 shocked me, to be honest with you, because I didn't think he was that fast," McKeefery said. "But at the same time, he's been running really well."

One of Allen's teammates in the secondary, cornerback Jerome Murphy, was a tenth-of a second slower in the 40. But the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Murphy boasts some pretty impressive numbers himself. He has a stunning 3.5 percent body fat, as measured by the BodPod. He can bench 320, squat 450 and has posted a 10-foot, 1-inch standing broad jump.

"He's just shredded," McKeefery said. "He is as pretty as they come. His numbers in a lot of respects are a lot better than (former Bulls cornerback) Mike Jenkins, who was a first-rounder for us. I think he's set to come out and do some big things this year."

In addition to his ledge-leaping prowess, the 6-foot-3 McClain benched 405, squatted 560 and ran a 4.99 40-yard dash. And of course, there's star defensive end George Selvie ... but I'll have more on him later this week.

Link

[CousinRicky]

Those are some impressive numbers.

[cmhatter]

**** nice numbers... thats great that they can run fast...

its a shame they can't guard receivers.

[mutt]

Ronnie is a great coach who knows his stuff... 

[RSSMOOTH]

Allen's got great speed....I remember two years ago Mike Jenkins said that Nate Allen had 4.3 speed. I guess he wasn't lying....on another note....Noel Devine and his 435 lb bench is just ridiculous......

[LunchTimeBully]

And you will see those 40 yard dash numbers go up at the NFL combine... Mike Jenkins didn't get beat on the deep ball and is still faster.

[Mama_Bull]

Allen's got great speed....I remember two years ago Mike Jenkins said that Nate Allen had 4.3 speed. I guess he wasn't lying....on another note....Noel Devine and his 435 lb bench is just ridiculous......

As a testament to his speed, I remember Nate running down Devine from behind in 2007. There is a video of him doing that on the Web.

Ben Williams, who was also small, put up similar weight lifting numbers as Devine.

[smazza]

**** nice numbers... thats great that they can run fast...

its a shame they can't guard receivers.

big deal

they need better tackle skills and better cover skills

they should be running track

[The_Reaper]

Let's hope he is working hard to strengthen their ankles. Seems like this is the injury every year that does in our players.