Bo Jackson says he ran a 4.13 electronically-timed 40-yard dash

It wasn’t at the combine, but it was still mighty impressive.

There isn’t anything someone could say about a Bo Jackson athletic feat that I wouldn’t believe at the drop of a hat. When I was in college, someone told me Jackson came as a visiting opponent with the Auburn baseball team and launched a home run out of the park and onto the roof of the basketball arena next door. I choose to believe it as an unimpeachable fact to this day.

There are many other things said about Jackson, but a consistent urban legend is that Jackson once ran a 4.13 40-yard dash. That would beat the official NFL Combine record of 4.22 that John Ross set last year, but Jackson didn’t attend the 1986 Combine before he was taken by the Raiders first overall. Instead, he ran the electronically timed 4.13 at Auburn for scouts pretty much because his coaches begged him to.

Jackson recalls that it was an electronically-timed 4.13 during what would or could be considered a regional combine or expanded pro day that Auburn hosted. According to Jackson, numerous prospects from several colleges attended. He said that it took place in the indoor bubble at Auburn, there was electronic tape at the start that triggered the clock, and that there was a laser at the finish line of the 40-yard dash.

“The coaches asked me, they said, ‘Bo, we have a bunch of pro scouts here, and it’s 40-yard dash time, they’re having a little combine, why don’t you come in and run a 40 for them, because they really came here in hopes to get you to run a 40 for them,’” Jackson recalled. “‘I’m on my way to track practice, I’ll be running for the next two hours.’ ‘Just come in and appease these people, just come in and run 40 for them.’”

Jackson had sprinter training — as did Ross — but there you have it from the horse’s mouth. He says he ran a legit 4.13, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a football player who can top that.