Fort Dorchester High coach Steve LaPrad first laid eyes on Dakereon Joyner when he was 12 years old.
The seventh-grader was working with high school coaches at a three-day middle school combine, as the staff tried to get a sense of the talent in the pipeline.
“We had about five stations that day, and my offensive line coach was doing the 40-yard dash. I’m standing there and he runs over, says, ‘Coach, we just had a seventh-grader run a 4.75.’ Now that’s fast for seventh grade.”
LaPrad was skeptical. A coach hand-timing middle school players might not be accurate.