First, 4.8 for a 40 as a freshman is outstanding. The key ingredient is building your strength. Get someone who knows how, teach you to power clean This is because a human timer must react to the starters gun (creating a small delay in starting the clock), and also because human timers tend to anticipate the athletes crossing the finish line, and tend to stop the clock slightly early. Odds & lines subject to change. Every football player covets a fast 40-Yard Dash time. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. The hours-long investigation compared the 40-yard dash times given to high school recruiting sites by 203 players with the 40-yard dash times recorded by those same athletes at the NFL Combine.