It only took Jeff Demps 10 seconds to announce his arrival to the world of elite track and field.
The soon-to-be UF freshman from South Lake High School ran a 10.01 second 100-meter dash Saturday at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
The 18-year old beat dozens of professional and collegiate athletes in the process, including NCAA 100-meter champion Walter Dix of Florida State and finished second in his heat to gold-medal hopeful Tyson Gay.
Demps, who became the first high school athlete to compete in the Olympic 100-meter trials in 28 years, set the American high school record and tied the world junior record with the time.
Walter Monroe from Tampa Robinson High was the last in 1980.
Demps surpassed the previous prep record of 10.08 seconds, which was set by J-Mee Samuels in 2005.
Samuels, who will be a senior at Arkansas next season, finished five places behind Demps on Saturday.
Though he was eliminated in the semifinals of the trials, it is remarkable that a high-school football player who runs track in the off-season could do so well with so little experience.
Demps just showed up and beat professional athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to track and field with relative ease.
He burst onto the national scene when he ran a 10.17 second 100-meter dash during a high school meet at the Florida Relays earlier this year.
At the time, it was the fourth fastest time in the world this year.
It's remarkable that someone so young was able to lower his time so dramatically in just a span of a few months.
Consider what he may be able to accomplish if he chose to focus solely on track or had professional coaches.
Is there any doubt that after that kind of performance someone is going to come after Demps with a professional track contract?
If Urban Meyer wants Demps to stick around in Gainesville for a while, he is going to need to give him a reason to stay.
A year or two on the bench could lead to an Xavier Carter like exit from the freshman.
You may recall that the former LSU wide receiver gave up his collegiate eligibility as a sophomore in 2006 in favor of a multimillion-dollar contract to run professionally for Nike.
Football may be Demps priority at the moment, but at some point he is going to have to make a choice.
It would be hard to turn down big time money to stay at school unless he thought he had an equal opportunity for success on the football field.
Scout.com ranked Demps as a four-star prospect.
But at 5-10 and 180 pounds that could be a tall proposition.
With Kestahn Moore, Emmanuel Moody and Chris Rainey all set to man the running back rotation this fall, and Brandon James holding a firm grip on the return duties, it could be difficult for Demps to find his way onto the field.
If Meyer can't find a way to get him involved early on, he may have to watch the speedster run right out of town.
