When I played college football, it amazed me at how many of my teammates had no clue how to optimize their sprint times. Their technique is poor, their starts are awful, and they think they are ok!

And their high school coaches are "know-it-alls"! While I was a player, several teammates approached me to help them improve their 40-yard dash (one was a legitimate draft pick). The situation was a quick fix for speed.

I had no time for a training program so I had to look at their technique. I have found with most football players untrained in sprint technique, they make four common mistakes.

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Portis flys through the air to grab one of his two touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals on October 21st.

In Tennis, a chop stroke is a shot where the angle towards the player and behind the racquet, made by the line of flight of the ball, and the racquet travelling down across it, is greater than 45 degrees and may be 90 degrees. The racquet face passes slightly outside the ball and down the side, chopping it, as a man chops wood. The spin and curve is from right to left. It is made with a stiff wrist.

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Chris Cooley, the tight end for the Washington Redskins drags the defender to make the first down.

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Clinton Portis stiff-arms one of the Tampa Bay defenders en-route to one of his touchdowns.