Oklahoma WR Marvin Mims' Performance at NFL Combine Explains a Lot

The Sooners' big-play specialist explained much of his success at OU with amazing athletic ability that ranked him among the leaders in Saturday's workouts.

John E. Hoover | Mar 5, 2023

Oklahoma WR Marvin Mims' Performance at NFL Combine Explains a Lot /

The bottom line in explaining Marvin Mims’ big-play success at Oklahoma was on display Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Simply put, Mims is more athletic, more explosive and more dynamic than you think.

Mims’ physical measurements — 5-foot-11, 183 pounds — certainly don’t jump off the page. But his overall combine performance this weekend no doubt impressed the NFL team personnel assembled in Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis.

Marvin Mims / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

His 40 time of 4.38 seconds was tied for the fourth-fastest among wide receivers. His vertical jump of 39.5 inches was tied for fifth and was only 1.5 inches out of first. His broad jump of 10 feet, 9 inches ranked 12th among the 42 wideouts who participated. His 3-cone drill time of 6.90 seconds ranked fourth. (Mims did not participate in the 20-yard shuttle or the bench press.)

Looking back on Mims’ three seasons at OU, in which he set a modern-day record by averaging 19.5 yards per catch, he always seemed open on deep balls because, at 4.38, he was faster than the defensive backs trying to cover him.

Mims was a record-setting receiver in high school and plied that to exciting downfield catches in college because, at 39.5 inches, he can jump higher than the DBs he was going against.

Maybe most telling, Mims’ 10-yard split in the 40 — 1.55 seconds — ranked tied for 29th among receivers. But his official 40 time — 4.38, again, fourth among the wideouts — shows an uncommon ability to raise his pace to elite levels. In other words, his top-end speed, or his closing speed, allowed him to get to footballs that others couldn’t.

“I think it’s natural and something you work at,” Mims explained earlier in the week.” I played a lot of basketball growing up, AAU and all that stuff. Never a big guy. Always had amazing jumping skills, so getting rebounds and all that stuff. And just the footballs in the air, the way I look at it, I’m coming down with it no matter what I have to do. You talk about the Tech catch, sticking a hand behind the guy’s back, trying to tip it to myself, just like crazy stuff, whatever I can do to get the ball in my hands.”

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Published Mar 5, 2023

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.