Some of the fastest, most talented track and field athletes in Texas never slip on a pair of spikes in college.
That’s because they’re wearing cleats instead.
It makes sense that many of the best sprinters, jumpers and quarter-milers in the Lone Star State would double as elite football players. If you’re able to dash past defensive backs while wearing pads, you’re liable to be pretty fast out of the starting blocks, too.
“We joke around, a lot of times our toughest recruiters are our football staff,” Baylor track coach Todd Harbour said. “We see a guy at the state meet, and we’re like, ‘All right, did our football guys already sign him?’ Because they probably did. If they’re fast, Art and Kendal (Briles) and company have probably already got him.”
That’s why Harbour is especially grateful for a recent brisk breeze that blew across the river from the direction of the football offices. Four fleet-footed football receivers — KD Cannon, Chris Platt, Ishmael Zamora and Kaleb Moore — have joined the track team within the past two weeks, adding even more fuel to an already high-octane tank. A couple of them — Platt and Cannon for sure — should get a chance to stretch their legs a bit at Saturday’s annual Michael Johnson Classic, the second and final home Baylor meet at the new Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium.
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Harbour is preaching patience with his new charges. A former high school football player himself, Harbour understands that it requires some time to make the transition.
“It’s just a little different muscles,” Harbour said. “I was a football guy, and it usually took me a couple of weeks to get my track legs under me. You’re running a little different, you don’t have pads on. Things you could nurse in football, maybe being 85 to 90 percent sometimes, you can’t do out here. … Because if we try to go 100 percent on a tight hamstring, that’s a disaster.”
Nevertheless, when the time comes, Harbour thinks the football imports should be able to make the stopwatch sizzle. Cannon won state in the 100-meter dash at Class 4A Mount Pleasant, while Platt was a three-time state champ in the 400 at Willis. Moore soared to a silver medal in the high jump as a high school senior, clearing 6-11, while Zamora claimed state gold in the 110 hurdles as a junior.
Add those guys to an already supremely gifted Baylor men’s team ranked 12th in the country, and one would forgive Harbour if he were harboring daydreams of future Big 12 and NCAA glory.
Cannon passing the stick to NCAA champion Trayvon Bromell in the sprint relay? Putting Platt in a 4x400 mix that includes stalwarts like George Caddick and All-American Isaiah Duke?
It’s enough to make a track coach’s heart race.
“Right now, we’ve been one leg short on the 4x400,” Harbour said. “And with what Chris has done, being a three-time state champion in the quarter, he’s pushing some of our guys really hard right now. So the depth is going to be back.”
Harbour was a first-hand witness at the state meet to Cannon’s high-gear speed, and said the freshman “can really fly.”
Cannon said he simply could not resist the chance to challenge himself and possibly join a relay team with a world-class sprinter like Bromell.
“It’s an honor, because having Trayvon, the fastest dude in the world, being on the same relay team with him is exciting,” Cannon said.
Baylor football coach Art Briles was a standout sprinter at tiny Rule High School in West Texas. Asked if Briles offered him any advice as he made the jump to track, Cannon said, “Coach Briles just told me to kick (butt). That’s all he said.”
Elite performances could be plentiful at the Michael Johnson Classic. Athletes from 15 other schools, including Baylor’s Big 12 rivals Texas, TCU and Texas Tech and former conference foe Texas A&M, will invade the new riverfront Clyde Hart facility. The list of unattached and professional athletes would impress even the most casual fan’s eyes, as it includes the likes of Waco-bred former NCAA sprint champion Charles Silmon and Olympic medalists like Bershawn Jackson, Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards-Ross.
Heck, the meet might even have the fastest spectators in the world. Expected to be on hand is Michael Johnson, the event’s namesake and world record-holder in the 400.
“I think four of the top 10 teams on the men’s and women’s side are here this weekend,” Harbour said. “But you also have some great unattached athletes, Olympians, gold medalists. So with the combination of all that, I think it’s going to be one of the best invitationals in the nation this weekend.”