NFL issues corrections to Tyquan Thornton and Chris Olave's 40-yard dash times
NFL fans were mesmerized on Thursday night, when Baylor wide receiver Tyquan Thornton ran a 4.21-second 40-yard dash, just moments after Chris Olave ran a 4.26-second 40, setting an extremely high bar for a speedy wide receiver class. Thornton’s 4.21-second 40-yard dash, while unofficial, would have been an NFL Draft Combine record; meanwhile, Olave’s 4.26-second time was far faster than anyone expected, potentially helping his NFL Draft stock.
Turns out, both times were incorrect.
The NFL issued stat corrections a few hours after Thornton and Olave’s unofficial times came in. Thornton’s official time was a 4.28-second 40-yard dash, which was relatively far from the record everyone thought he’d set. Olave’s time was off by over a tenth of a second, as his corrected time was 4.39 seconds.
Before Thornton’s 4.21-second 40-yard dash, the previous record holder was Ross, a wide receiver that was drafted out of Washington in 2017 by the Cincinnati Bengals and is now on the New York Giants. In the 2017 NFL Draft Combine, Ross ran a 4.22-second 40-yard dash time, beating what man expected to be a longstanding record set by Johnson. A longtime Tennessee Titan, Johnson in 2008 ran the fastest 40-yard dash in NFL Combine history at the time, logging a 4.24-second final. In the end, though, Ross’ record stood firmly in place as Thornton’s time was miscounted.
Thornton just finished up his most productive season with Baylor in 2021. A frequent contributor in the Bears’ offense, he reeled in 62 catches for 948 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 15.3 yards per reception. Besides for his senior season, Thornton’s second-best performance came as a sophomore in 2019, when he reeled in 45 catches for 782 receiving yards and five touchdowns.
Thornton, a native of Miami, FL, finished his Baylor career with 143 receptions in four years, along with 2,242 receiving yards. He also scored 19 total touchdowns across four seasons.
Coming out of Booker T Washington High School, Thornton was a four-star recruit, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. That rating made him the No. 62 wide receiver in the 2018 recruiting class, as well as the No. 56-overall recruit coming out of the state of Florida. He was the No. 329 prospect in his country in the 2018 recruiting cycle.
During his storied career in Columbus, Olave cemented his legacy as arguably one of the greatest wide receivers in recent Ohio State history. On Nov. 20, 2021, he broke the school record for most touchdown catches by any Buckeye in program history (35). The previous record was held by David Boston.
Olave easily could’ve chosen to enter the 2021 NFL Draft but decided to come back for one more year with Ohio State. In doing so, only further etched his legacy in Buckeye football history.
During his Ohio State career, Olave hauled in 175 catches for 2,702 receiving yards, while notching in 35 touchdowns. Olave’s final season with the Buckeyes was his best one, catching 65 passes for 936 receiving yards, while reeling in 13 touchdowns.
Per PFF, Olave averaged 2.77 yards per route run for his college football career, ranking him second of any receiver in the 2022 Draft Class.