MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider got an extended glimpse of early enrollee Kennedy McKoy during spring practice and came away impressed.
This summer granted limited access to another true freshman, Martell Pettaway, and once again Seider likes what he’s seeing from the Detroit-MLK product.
“He looks really good,” Seider said. “He’s got great feet. Just watching the way he moves around, he’s got quick bursts up the field. You can tell he’s been running track.”
And that’s where the eye-popping numbers come in.
“He’s been timed from 10.6 to 10.7 in the 100 meters,” Seider said. “I didn’t know he was that fast. I knew had some good wheels on him but that exceeded my expectations for him coming in, especially for the size he is.”
Pettaway, who enrolled in June, is listed at 5-foot-9 and nearly 200 pounds. That blistering 10.6 time in the 100 wasn’t official, because it would place Pettaway among the Michigan state record-holders. (His best time at MLK last year was 11.17, the third-fastest in school history.)
Still, it’s enough to validate the breakaway speed Pettaway showed as a senior when he ran for 1,629 yards and 22 touchdowns in leading Martin Luther King to a 14-0 record and the Division 2 state title.