A pro scout who asked not to be identified was certain he had made a mistake. His stopwatch read 4.91 seconds, but the player who had posted the time stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 317 pounds.
“Guys that big just don’t run that fast,” he said.
So he clocked the huge offensive lineman a second time: 4.93.
The stopwatch wasn’t malfunctioning. Those were Fordham offensive tackle Andy Tyshovnytsky’s times. And they weren’t his only mind-boggling numbers of the day. He also bench pressed 225 pounds 33 times.
“Guys that big that move like that don’t grow on trees,” Dan Mogollon of NFL Draft Bible told The Post. “If you can steal a guy like that late in the draft or as a priority free agent, you’ve saved yourself a lot of money.”
Tyshovnytsky, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, isn’t thinking of the riches the NFL can offer or where he might be picked in this week’s NFL Draft. Just to be mentioned as a legit offensive tackle prospect is pretty heady stuff for a guy who didn’t even play football until seventh grade and overcame microfracture knee surgery after the 2007 season.
“I’m just going to watch the draft with my family like a casual fan, even if it isn’t casual for me,” Tyshovnytsky told The Post. “If [getting drafted] happens, it happens. I have no idea.”
Tyshovnytsky knows he probably wouldn’t have even caught the eye of scouts if not for the fact that he protected one of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in this draft. Fordham’s John Skelton is expected to be the first quarterback from a Football Championship Subdivision school to be drafted, and he could go as high as the third round.
As scouts pored over tapes of Skelton, Tyshovnytsky literally stood out. Then they saw his freakish athletic ability and the interest among NFL teams, which isn’t a surprise compared to other elite tackles in this draft.
Bryan Bulaga ran a 5.26 and bench pressed 225 pounds 26 times. Anthony Davis of Rutgers ran a 5.38 and did 21 reps at 225.
Tyshovnytsky was named the National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American Strength and Conditioning Athlete of the Year. He weighed 257 when he got to Fordham, but made the weight room a second home, especially after undergoing the same surgery as former Eagles running back Bryant Westbrook.
“Andrew is a true example of how hard work can turn an undersized freshman into an all-conference, dominating player.” said Fordham strength coach Ted Perlak.
lenn.robbins@nypost.com