Look Out for the Blazin' Blugold

Wait a second: The fastest man in college football plays for UW-Eau Claire?

Tom Giffey |

Even if you’re a big fan of college football, you probably haven’t heard of the fastest man in the game. That’s a shame, because he doesn’t suit up for some far-away BCS title contender. In fact, he plays right here in the Chippewa Valley.

Thurgood Dennis, a junior cornerback for the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds, ranked No. 1 on a list of the speediest returning college football players. Back in June, Chris Huston, who writes about college football for CBSSports.com, compiled rankings of football players who also run track. Instead of human-error-prone 40-yard dash numbers (the kind that typically are used to measure football players’ speed), Huston relied on fully automated time measurements used in competitive track and field, which – because they’re automated – have an accuracy advantage over finger-on-the-stopwatch stats.

By such measures, the Allouez, Wis.-native is pretty impressive: He’s a defending NCAA Division III national champ in both the 100-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay, and has recorded a career-best 10.3 seconds in the 100 meters and 20.86 seconds over 200 meters. On the football field last season, he had 58 tackles and broke up three passes.

“He’s by far the fastest player I’ve ever coached,” UW-Eau Claire football coach Todd Glaser said in an interview with Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Considering his ranking, it’s not surprising Dennis has high hopes: “It’s kind of weird to say you’re preparing for the NFL or the Olympics, but you have to have a goal,” Dennis told Fox Sports Wisconsin. “Otherwise, what would you be motivated by? I just want to keep playing both sports as long as I can and to the best of my ability. Wherever I end up with that, then I’ll be happy with it.”

For the time being, where he’s ended up is with the Blugolds – so catch a game now before he dashes off to the pros.