UTC’s Skrine has unofficial 4.29 40 at NFL combine

Unofficially, former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga cornerback Buster Skrine ran a very fast 40-yard dash at the NFL combine Tuesday in Indianapolis. Officially, Skrine’s best 40 time was mediocre, but he burned up the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium in several other events.

In his first attempt, the two-time All-Southern Conference player was hand-clocked by the NFL Network with an unofficial time of 4.29 seconds.

He stumbled a bit on his second run but still finished, unofficially, in 4.36.

“I told every scout that came in here that he was going to run fast,” Mocs coach Russ Huesman. “I’m not surprised.”

Later, however, the official results were released, based on electronic timing, and Skrine’s fastest time was a pedestrian 4.48 by his standards.

Based on the reactions of the NFL Network’s Deion Sanders, who raved about what he saw, and numerous NFL writers on Twitter, Skrine’s unofficial times seemed legitimate.

Skrine officially had the fastest time in the 60-yard shuttle run and was second-fastest in the 20-yard shuttle and the 3-cone drill. He also did 20 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press Monday, not bad for a player that was measured at 5-9 1/2 and 186 pounds.

The Mocs will conduct their Pro Day on March 23, and Skrine’s running at the combine could attract a lot more scouts than normal. Before the combine, many analysts projected Skrine as a late-round pick.