Texas Longhorns wide receiver Matthew Golden (2) catches a pass in the fourth quarter as the Texas Longhorns play the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff semi-final at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Jan. 10, 2025. Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas WR Matthew Golden Makes Wild Claim Before NFL Draft

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By JD Andress | Last updated Apr 17, 2025 1:57 PM ET

Texas Longhorns wide receiver, Matthew Golden was on Kay Adams show 'Up & Adams' where Adams asked the first-round draft prospect if he could have got his 40-yard dash faster from the NFL combine.

Golden responded with "I think I could have" and went on to say that he wanted to run a 4.1 second 40-yard dash.

Golden said he was held back by a slight ankle injury that was holding him back, but still ran the fastest time in the WR class with a 4.29 and was encouraged by his agent to take off his cleats after his initial try.

His blazing time placed him just outside of the top-10 in terms of records and was .8 seconds short of another Longhorn Alum, Xavier Worthy, who set the combine record in 2024.

Matthew Golden ran a 4.29 on a bum ankle...

But believes he could've ran a 4.1 fully healthy @heykayadams | @matthewgolden_ pic.twitter.com/BpOHaICrkf
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) April 17, 2025

Adams asked Golden if he thinks he would have got faster than Worthy and Golden said "I'm a competitor, I'm not gonna say I can beat him and I'm not gonna say I'm not, but whenever we line up, we are just gonna see who wins.".

Had Golden ran a 4.1, that would have placed him with the fastest 40-yard dash in NFL combine history. The 4.29 was the fastest of the WR class but was the second fastest overall after CB Maxwell Hairston from Kentucky ran a 4.28.

With the NFL Draft just one week away, Golden has been visiting with teams and has been mocked to go in the first-round, and in the latest NFL.com mock draft was the 26th overall pick going to the Los Angeles Rams. He was the third WR mocked to be drafted behind Travis Hunter (3), and Tetairoa McMillan (12).

This article first appeared on Texas Longhorns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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