There’s AU Fast and Then “Schwartz Fast”

[toddc 13,194]

Anthony Schwartz is fast, but he says he's still not up to speed 5 hours ago AUBURN, Alabama — Anthony Schwartz turned the corner, looked downfield and realized no one was going to catch him. Never mind the fact two Texas A&M defenders were closing in on him near the sideline. No, the speedster said, no one was going to stop him on his way to a 57-yard touchdown run on Auburn’s first possession against Texas A&M last week. “Before I even turned the corner,” Schwartz said of the reverse play. “When I got the ball, I knew it.” Schwartz’s world-class speed was on display for the entire nation to see in the 28-20 victory. The track star and record-breaker in the Florida high school ranks is, easily, the fastest player on Auburn’s offense. Moments after scoring against the Aggies, NFL legend Deion Sanders and former Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant marveled at his speed on Twitter. Schwartz was humbled by the tweets, but he’s also ultra confident. Asked if he could have beaten Sanders when “Primetime” was in his prime in the NFL, Schwartz didn’t hesitate Tuesday. “Honestly, I think so,” the sophomore receiver said. Sanders ran the 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds at the 1989 NFL Combine, where he famously waved to the NFL scouts, continued to run after the drill and into a tunnel to leave the event. Schwartz’s 57-yard run Saturday in Week 4 of the college football season was Auburn’s first glance at Schwartz’ capabilities in 2019. He sat out spring practices to run track, and then injured his left hand and underwent surgery Aug. 5. He’s played in every game this season, but had yet to make a big play, let alone score a touchdown. “I told him on the sidelines it’s the first time I’ve ever seen world-class speed in real life,” Auburn quarterback Bo Nix said. “I mean, he was just running away from guys and it was really incredible. That’s what Flash does; he’s a playmaker like that. You get him the ball with some space and room to run, and he’ll do stuff like that.” Schwartz broke Auburn’s freshman record in the 60-meter dash twice in the spring with times of 6.62 and 5.69 seconds. He won a silver medal at the IAAF under-20 world championships in July 2018 and was also part of Team USA’s 4x100 gold-medal team. With a new cast on his hand, Schwartz felt more at ease on the road against the Aggies. He still isn’t up to full speed in football pads after limited playing and practice time, however. He said his speed is at about 80 to 85 percent. He hopes to be between 90 to 95 percent when the No. 7 Tigers (4-0, 1-0 SEC) host Mississippi State (3-1, 1-0) Saturday inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. “I feel like I can go way faster,” Schwartz said of his blazing touchdown run. “Just near the middle to the end of the run, my legs got heavy, andI I feel like if I was up to full fitness, I probably would’ve looked even faster and ran faster, maybe the angles wouldn’t have been as close as it was on film.” Still, Schwartz was by far the fastest player on the field. He split the two A&M defenders and was not touched on his way to the end zone. “To get him the ball on the edge is completely different,” Auburn right tackle Jack Driscoll said. “It changes our whole game plan. They have to prepare for him so much more. He’s just a great player. His speed is second to none, really, in the country, so having him just helps us out.” Schwartz is still wearing a cast to protect his surgically-repaired hand, but he has caught two passes so far this season. The hope is he can still surpass his numbers from his freshman season, when he scored seven touchdowns, rushed for 211 yards and caught 22 passes for 351 more. The man they call “Flash” joked Tuesday he doesn’t know much about the DC Comics character that uses the speed force to garner his power and sometimes run so fast he travels across time. “I’m not really a comic guy, and if I am, I’m more Marvel than DC,” he said. While Schwartz has picked in a side in the ongoing comic-book war, he knows he may have a tougher decision to make in the next “year or two.” Should he pursue an Olympic career as a sprinter, or chase a career in the NFL? He said in high school some pushed him to stick with track, but his dream is to play football and pursue an Olympic career at the same time. “It’s a hard decision,” he said. “Really, of course my ultimate goal is to do both, but if it comes to one or the other … I don’t really answer that question fully. I will just say that I’d rather go to the Olympics than go to a Super Bowl. That’s the only thing I’ll say about that.”

[augolf1716 21,109]

Amazing weapon for us................speed kills

[toddc 13,194]

11 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Amazing weapon for us................speed kills

I’ve never seen someone who “literally “ could take it to the house every time they touch the ball. People say it about players a lot, but he’s just another gear!

[augolf1716 21,109]

4 minutes ago, toddc said:

I’ve never seen someone who “literally “ could take it to the house every time they touch the ball. People say it about players a lot, but he’s just another gear!

I can only imagine the nightmares defenses have planning for him

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

7 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

I can only imagine the nightmares defenses have planning for him

You would have to scheme a bracket around him on a jet motion. Somebody to contain outside, somebody to kind of trail or spy for when/if he cuts up field, and somebody over the top just in case. He should require the immediate focus of 3 DEF players.

[The Plainsman 948]

Would love to see a Schwartz to the house combined with a Gatewood scramble to the house vs LSU.  

[JDUBB4AU 5,112]

Schwartz is quicker than a hiccup. He is so fast he can hit the light switch and be in bed before the room gets dark 

[creed 1,635]

11 hours ago, JDUBB4AU said:

Schwartz is quicker than a hiccup. He is so fast he can hit the light switch and be in bed before the room gets dark 

And he can deliver tomorrow's mail today😁 .

[oldaufeller 367]

I've never seen Flash Schwartz and Flash Zootopia in the same room. Coincidence? Orange and blue tie? Gold AU tie pin (obfuscated to keep from violating  trademark.) Hmm....

[Viper 3,132]

Def the fastest I’ve seen since Tim Carter. Before that Alexander Wright. 

[1auburn1 1,110]

13 hours ago, Tigerpro2a said:

You would have to scheme a bracket around him on a jet motion. Somebody to contain outside, somebody to kind of trail or spy for when/if he cuts up field, and somebody over the top just in case. He should require the immediate focus of 3 DEF players.

Yep.  And after that run we shoud be able to use the same motion to counter back the other way and gash the D.

[kennypowers 1,431]

Bo Jackson =

Schwartz Speed

Spikes' Power

Cadillac's Agility

......but in the 80s

[Mjudy 0]

Schwartz and Ontario both hit 2nd gear around the edge on the speed sweep, who hits the end zone first?

[Swamp Eagle 5,134]

1 hour ago, Viper said:

Def the fastest I’ve seen since Tim Carter. Before that Alexander Wright. 

You must not remember Randy Walls. Coach Jordan once described him as 'deceptively' slow...😂

[aubiefifty 16,766]

Just how fast is Anthony Schwartz? Let his Auburn teammates try to explain

Today 7:00 AM

6-8 minutes

Joey Gatewood was on the sideline when he saw Anthony Schwartz take a reverse from Boobee Whitlow and make a turn upfield.

Left tackle Prince Tega Wanogho was sprinting downfield to try to make a block for Schwartz, but he wasn’t fast enough to get out on front of the Auburn wide receiver — nor was he needed. As soon as Gatewood saw Schwartz hit the corner, he knew it was — as Gus Malzahn likes to call it — a house call; it didn’t matter that at least three Texas A&M defenders appeared to have a good angle to make a play.

“That’s a touchdown,” Gatewood said. “That’s a touchdown. You know, it’s something y’all can see. It don’t make no sense how fast he is.”

Fifty-seven yards later, Schwartz was in the end zone — nearly untouched, thanks to an Aggies defensive back essentially patting him on the back as he crossed the goal line — and the Tigers had an early 7-0 lead in their SEC opener before going on to defeat then-No. 17 Texas A&M, 28-20, at Kyle Field.

It was the first true glimpse of Schwartz’s speed being put to use in Auburn’s offense this season, as the sophomore speedster was limited through the first three weeks after breaking a bone in his left hand during the third day of fall camp last month and undergoing surgery.

Schwartz’s speed is well-documented. He set a world youth record in the 100-meter dash in 2017, running a 10.15 at the Florida Relays that year, when he also won Florida state championships in the 100 and 200, both in record times of 10.07 and 20.41, respectively. He won the silver medal with a 10.22 at the IAAF World U20 Championships before enrolling at Auburn in 2018, when he also helped Team USA win gold in the 4x100 relay.

The numbers put Schwartz’s speed into context, but just how fast is Auburn’s world-class sprinter/wide receiver?

“A lot faster than me, obviously,” right tackle Jack Driscoll said. “He’s different level. You see him in that play (against Texas A&M), and it seems like everyone else is running in slow motion. Their receivers out there were fast, and their D-backs are very athletic, but he’s just another weapon that we didn’t really have…. To get him the ball on the edge is completely different. It changes our whole gameplan. They have to prepare for him so much more. He’s just a great player. His speed is second to none, really, in the country.”

To truly get a sense of just how fast Schwartz — the 2018 Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year in high school — is, perhaps it’s best to hear his teammates attempt to describe his speed.

“That boy is too fast,” fellow sophomore receiver Seth Williams said. “He's at a different speed. That's real speed right there.”

That real speed has Schwartz as, arguably, the fastest player in college football. He’s near-impossible to catch in the open field, and he never expects to be caught in a footrace.

“I know they’re not going to catch me — and if they do, that’s props to them,” Schwartz said. “I’m going to keep on running. I like have tunnel vision to the end zone. Yeah, pretty much, if they do catch me, they must be fast too.”

His 57-yard run against Texas A&M was nothing new for Auburn; cornerback Javaris Davis said the Tigers see that every day in practice.

“He’s very explosive,” Davis said.

As a freshman last season, Schwartz put his speed on display while rushing for 211 yards and five touchdowns on 27 carries and catching 22 passes for 357 yards and a pair of scores. Eleven of his 27 carries went for at least 10 yards, including one of more than 20 yards, while five of his receptions went for at least 25 yards. In the spring, while running track for Auburn, he won gold in the 60-meter in his first collegiate meet and then set the program freshman record in the event two weeks later.

The highlight-reel run against the Aggies was his first touchdown of the year and the Tigers’ longest play from scrimmage this season. It garnered attention on Twitter from former Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant — whom Schwartz said was always one of his all-time favorites growing up — and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who knows a thing or two about speed; he owns a 4.27-second 40-time.

Schwartz said the recognition from two of his idols made him feel like he’s doing something right. The man knowns as Flash was also confident he could beat Sanders — nicknamed Primetime — in a footrace in the latter’s prime, “honestly.”

Lest we forget, this is the same confident kid who challenged NFL speedster and Kansas City Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill to a footrace last year, a showcase that — as far as we know — has yet to take place despite Hill accepting the challenge via Twitter.

“Flash, you know, Flash, he's fast,” Gatewood said. “Flash is fast. He's a hard dude to catch.”

Texas A&M’s defenders learned that the hard way, even with Schwartz admitting his legs started to feel heavy toward the end of his touchdown run.

“I told him on the sidelines it’s the first time I’ve ever seen world-class speed in real life,” Auburn quarterback Bo Nix said. “I mean, he was just running away from guys and it was really incredible. That’s what Flash does; he’s a playmaker like that. You get him the ball with some space and room to run, and he’ll do stuff like that.”

The scary thing for Auburn’s upcoming opponents? Schwartz believes he hasn’t reached his top speed yet. The 6-foot, 180-pounder with Olympic aspirations said he’s not quite where he needs to be in terms of conditioning after his broken left hand sidelined him for much of the preseason, and he said he’s at about 80 to 85 percent speed right now after having practiced for just the last two and a half weeks.

He hopes to be closer to 100 percent speed — likely around 90 to 95 percent — this weekend, when No. 7 Auburn (4-0) hosts Mississippi State (3-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m.

“I feel like I can go way faster,” Schwartz said. “… I know I feel like if I was up to full fitness, I probably would’ve looked even faster and ran faster, maybe the angles wouldn’t have been as close as it was on film.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[Linayus 676]

Just think of how worried defenses will be when he goes in motion... that opens up every other single option we have in those formations. Nix/Gatewood keeping and running opposite, tossing to Boobie on the power, giving to Boobie for an inside run, etc. That is what really makes this offense click. Hell, we can even FAKE all of those and let Nix toss it downfield as the LBs and safeties bite on the run.

I mean.. I'm not saying all those plays will be successful.. but the potential is there! 😁

[AU64 10,122]

There is " football fast' and "track fast".....AS is definitely track fast and yet Nix can still over-throw him....gotta develop that combination as the season progresses because it does not look like even fast DBs can keep him from making a dash for the end zone on some kind of post pattern. . 

[augolf1716 21,109]

5 hours ago, Swamp Eagle said:

You must not remember Randy Walls. Coach Jordan once described him as 'deceptively' slow...😂

Randy ran in slow motion hell of a golfer though

[AURex 1,994]

Thank you fifty for posting this in readable form.

Schwarz is a burner, fur shur. To paraphrase Paul Simon, he got lightnin' in the soles of them shoes!

 

[LKEEL75 2,566]

3 hours ago, AURex said:

Thank you fifty for posting this in readable form.

Schwarz is a burner, fur shur. To paraphrase Paul Simon, he got lightnin' in the soles of them shoes!

 

Just fyi op and whay fifty posted are 2 different articles about AS.  First is AS saying he can go faster and fifty's is rest of team saying elite speed doesn't describe AS accurately enough

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

One of the greatest talents Auburn has gotten since I’ve followed them. I think Shivers could be used in some impressive ways himself, but Schwartz is just plug and play and let him rock 

some double reverses using those two and defenses keying in on the Shivers sweep would be interesting 

[Quietmaninthecorner 1,945]

On 9/24/2019 at 8:04 PM, JDUBB4AU said:

 . He is so fast he can hit the light switch and be in bed before the room gets dark 

I must be getting faster in my old age..     Lately I find myself in bed and asleep before I even make a move toward  the light switch.

[doc4aday 1,887]

I wish Gus would come up with some plays that would have Schwartz, Shivers, and Stove on the field at the same time. This would be an opposing defensive coordinator's nightmare if done right. I am not up to speed with offensive plays, but I know there are some posters on this site that are coaches and could come up with some plays with this combination of speedsters.

[JDUBB4AU 5,112]

1 hour ago, Quietmaninthecorner said:

I must be getting faster in my old age..     Lately I find myself in bed and asleep before I even make a move toward  the light switch.

Hilarious. I am headed that way

[milehighfan 1,240]

I told my brother this two weeks ago, Schwartz has super hero speed.