Emerging UCF football factory's latest gem: Speedy WR Breshad Perriman

ORLANDO, Fla. – People here at UCF chuckle when asked about the Breshad Perriman 40-yard dash time. They don't laugh at the time itself; they laugh at the reaction.

Why was the nation surprised?

"There was this drill we'd do, where all of us would have to chase the ball," says tight end Justin Tukes, who is hoping to be in the same draft class as Perriman. "Anytime Breshad got the ball, there was no need to chase the ball. He had already left us."

Perriman's 4.24-second run at his pro day sparked national head-shaking but local head-nodding. This is the second straight year a UCF player has been a draft surprise, as Blake Bortles was not generally expected to be taken third overall in 2014. Throw in 2013 sixth-rounder Latavius Murray's flash of greatness with the Oakland Raiders before an injury last season and there's a trend developing here. A recent report shows UCF draftees outpacing performance expectations in the NFL more than any other school's football products. That makes some sense considering UCF has the largest undergraduate enrollment in the country, at 51,269, but most fans haven't watched the team play a lot on Saturdays.

"People just don't see UCF as a huge school," shrugs wide receiver Jordan Akins.

Case in point: Perriman made one of the best catches of the 2014 season last December in a last-second touchdown to beat East Carolina. It was about as under-the-radar as a televised Hail Mary catch can be.

"We practice that every Thursday," says wide receivers coach Sean Beckton. "It never works."

Literally, never. Over years and years. And what made it even less likely was that quarterback Justin Holman threw the pass way too high. Perriman had to track the ball for what seemed like an hour. It was an incredible grab, and yet it probably would have gotten a lot more attention if it happened at a Power Five school.

"We're not playing as much against the top competition as we want," Tukes says. "It's teams that aren't as strong as the Georgias the Miamis and the Alabamas."

But that catch was no surprise either around here. Perriman, son of former NFL receiver Brett Perriman, averaged 20.9 yards per catch last season. Tukes remembers a players-only scrimmage on MLK Day a couple of years ago when the game was decided on a Hail Mary.

"The QB throws the ball up, and you see a big crowd jump," he says. "Everybody starts to drop and he is still rising. He makes the catch."

The game went to overtime and another Hail Mary was called. Perriman did the exact thing. "We all called him Julio Jones," says Tukes.

This doesn't mean Perriman is fully formed as a receiver. Beckton said he had some ankle issues coming out of high school (now healed) and a nagging hamstring problem kept him from running at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. There have been some notable drops, which Beckton dismisses as "all mental." The receiver's greatest challenge, according to the coach, is his flexibility. That may affect his route running in the NFL if he doesn't work on it habitually.

So while his cut speed may not be quite as good as his straight-ahead speed, the burst is real. Tukes has been staying with Perriman and training with him and he says his acceleration between the first few steps and the next several is what sets him apart.

"Whenever we ran 20s [yard dashes] he'd get a 2.3," Tukes says. "And he wasn't even running full speed. He couldn't even open up really."

Another Perriman advantage comes from another UCF advantage. The Knights run a pro-style offense, a dwindling resource in college football. Watching UCF play may not be as thrilling as, say, Texas A&M or Oregon, but NFL prospects are benefiting because it's easier for scouts to project them into next-level systems.

"The kids get a lot of pro terminology," Beckton says. "A lot of the other schools are faster-paced, but we're more controlled. We feature the running game. The quarterbacks know how to change protection, and the wide receivers have to understand that protection."

This doesn't lend itself to buzz – UCF was a 17-point underdog to pinball-machine Baylor two years ago in its Fiesta Bowl victory – but it has tended to produce pros lately.

"A lot of people don't understand the stuff we go through here," says Tukes, who is also getting looks from teams even though he had only five catches last season. "It's a strong and hard-working program. We're taught to work. Nothing is given. Everything is work."

Beckton actually thinks that held Perriman's speed down a little during the season.

"We do everything hard here," he says, "so he needed some time to get his body fresh [for the pro day]. I knew he'd run fast."

It seems everyone here knew. And a second-straight first-round pick, which is possible, won't be a surprise at UCF. After all, shouldn't the biggest school in Florida be a football factory?