What began as a ploy to convince football players at Indianapolis (Ind.) Franklin Central to run track has evolved into a very useful service for coaches in college football recruiting offices across the country.

Tracking Football, founded by Mark Branstad, who was an assistant football coach at Franklin Central along with being the head track coach, used to leave posters on student-athletes lockers with pictures of guys like Bo Jackson and his ridiculous track marks listed (10.68 in the 100-meter dash 7.29 in the 55-meter high hurdles and 6-9 in the high jump, 24-07 in the long jump and 13-0 in pole vault) showing that many of the football greats were standouts in the spring as well. Helping Branstad recruit those football players to the track was another assistant coach Brian Spilbeler who now serves as Tracking Football’s vice president.

Branstad pulled in his buddy and business co-foudner Aaron Hunter, and between the three of them the research turned into a passion, which 10 years of fact-finding turned into a company that adds another layer of insightful data for college coaches to utilize in their respective evaluation processes.

Clemson was the latest to purchase the product this week. Others that utilize Tracking Football include Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Florida State, Cal, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Iowa State, Kansas State, Western Michigan, Toledo, SMU, USF and Army.

In a nutshell, Tracking Football has an algorithm developed by mathematician Frank Bogaert that gives prospects a “Player Athletic Index,” based solely on what they did in the track or combine arenas while accounting for measurables and projected position on the next level. Working from a scale of 0 to 5, with 2.0 and above being called average, 3.0 and above being called above average, 4.0 and above rating as excellent, college coaches can use that chart and focus on evaluating film with this tool telling them exactly how athletic a recruit is.

The Tracking Football database has over 40,000 current and former NFL and college players in the system, and college coaches can use the machine to spit out numbers like how does prospect A’s 100m dash time or shot put toss or high jump compare to the rest of the SEC (now or in the last 10, 20 or 30 years), or how does prospect A’s 100m dash time compare to prospects of the same height and weight.

Bo Jackson was obviously a 5.0. So were guys like Julio Jones, Patrick Peterson, Adrian Peterson, Greg Olsen and Gerald McCoy. There are close to 20 of those a year. In tonight’s NFL Draft, first round locks and hopefuls Minkah Fitzpatrick, Frank Ragnow and Derrius Guice were among the few to hold a 5.0 grade along with Billy Price, Jester Weah, Kalen Ballage, Marquis Haynes, Malik Jefferson, Tyrell Crosby, Tarvarus McFadden, Kahlil McKenzie, Harrison Phillips and Josh Sweat who will also hear their names called at some point throughout the weekend. The other 5.0 from that class in Chris Warren will be a value free agent at the very least.

Branstad, Hunter and Spilbeler will be quick to tell you, and remind you, their system only verifies athleticism. It’s up to the college coaches to figure out if the kid is a football player, if the kid fits his scheme, etc. There are certainly guys that have scored over 4.0 that didn’t do squat in college football.

“We can provide efficiency in the process,” Branstad said. “We have a lot of transparency. We don’t cover up our tracks. You can go look at a guy from six years ago and see how did Tracking Football rate him.”

Obviously guys develop athletically in college as Saquon Barkley’s 3.9 PAI track score and a 4.2 PAI combine score coming out of Whitehall (Pa.) High isn’t what most would assume it would have been, but those numbers still say he was close to elite athletically and should be targeted as such. Same goes for the NFL’s leading rusher last season as a rookie in Kareem Hunt who had a 4.7 PAI score coming out of high school including 10.8 100m dash, 6-8 high jump and 23-3 long jump to go along with his 2,685 yards rushing and 44 touchdowns as a senior for Willoughby (Ohio) South High. All the data was there for Hunt (who was 5-10, 205) to be highly recruited, from the verified athleticism standpoint to the tape on the field, and yet he ended up signing with Toledo over a handful of other offers and the rest is history. If Tracking Football was utilized correctly, Hunt’s recruitment probably goes a lot different. Tulane cornerback Parry Nickerson is a prospect in this year’s draft that had a 4.0 PAI score proving that at least athletically at the time he was good enough to play at the other in-state school LSU.

“The average all-conference player in college is a 3.3 out of a 5.0 average,” Spilbeler said. “The average NFL Draft pick is 3.5, the average All Pro has been 4.2. These scores come from the same point in their lives based on their height, weight and track and field data.”

In the SEC, Alabama's average PAI of 3.6 is top in the conference with Georgia right behind at 3.5. South Carolina and Vanderbilt were at the back end at 2.8 and 2.7 respectively, again purely based on kids that ran track or performed in a combine on the high school level.

The No. 1 ranked player in the Top247 2019 player rankings Zach Harrison is a 5.0 (with his 10.7 100m dash time) while Nolan Smith is a 4.7 PAI combine guy as a defensive end (because of his 6-3, 232-pound measurable) and a perfect 5.0 PAI if listed as an outside linebacker. Owen Pappoe is a 4.8 linebacker combine score because of his 6-foot, 209 measurables, but if scored as a defensive back he’s 4.9. Tracking Football has roughly 7,000 prospects currently in the database for the 2019 cycle with about 800 ranking 3.0 and above.

“Zach Harrison from a body type perspective (6-6, 240), we can’t find anything like it,” Spilbeler said. “Ever.”

From helping order the recruiting board, to finding potential diamonds in the rough, Branstad said he wants to give their clients a “numerical perspective” about how athletic their roster is compared to their peers. The search engine allows them to do that or see that 18 of the 22 prospects Baylor signed ranked as a 3.0 PAI or better. Now obviously not all college football players ran track and performed in a combine so they wouldn’t have an PAI, but Branstad points to of the 336 NFL Combine Invitees, that 60 percent ran track.

“We can provide efficiency in the process,” Branstad said. “We don’t have a dog in the fight. Our objective is to give them information to help them make more efficient decisions.”