Baylor’s Tyquan Thornton takes South Florida speed to Patriots as second-round Draft pick
Tyquan Thornton embodies South Florida speed better than anyone else in the 2022 NFL Draft and now the fastest player in the Draft is headed to the New England Patriots.
The Patriots selected the 6-foot-3, 182-pound wide receiver with the 18th pick of the second round — No. 50 overall — in the NFL Draft on Friday, hoping his blazing speed will make him a second-day steal.
Thornton, who starred for Booker T. Washington and then the Baylor Bears, ran the fastest 40-yard dash among wide receivers at the NFL Scouting Combine in March, clocking in at 4.28 seconds. Thornton briefly thought he set the NFL Combine record when his unofficial time topped up at 4.21 seconds, but the official time was about a hundredth of a second slower, meaning the receiver had to just settle for being the fastest guy at the 2022 Combine.
Still, the time was enough to solidify Thornton as an NFL Draft prospect, especially when paired his solid frame and his highly productive 2021 season. In his final season at Baylor, Thornton had 62 catches for 948 yards and 10 touchdowns to earn second-team all-Big 12 Conference honors.
Speed has always been Thornton’s calling card, dating back to when he was a four-star prospect in the Class of 2018, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. He won the Class 2A championship in the 400-meter dash with a time of 47.09 seconds and also clocked a personal best of 10.50 seconds in the 100 dash, earning a scholarship offer from the LSU Tigers for his track and field ability.
His speed also made him one of the best wideouts in the state. He racked up 1,133 receiving yards in his high school career while splitting time between quarterback and receiver, and was a finalist for the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Male Athlete of the Year for his two-sport excellence. As a senior in Miami, he caught 55 passes for 473 yards and four touchdowns to earn first-team all-county honors.
He’s the first player from Miami-Dade County to be picked in the 2022 Draft and the first former Tornado picked since the 2018 NFL Draft.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 8:45 PM.
