SuperCats: EHS football measures athleticism with unique skills test

Coaches all across the country have various ways of measuring their team’s athletic ability, and Enterprise’s Rick Darlington has his own unique test called the SuperCat Test.

The SuperCat Test is a skills test that uses a combination of eight drills that measure strength, speed and agility.

Darlington said that when he first got into coaching in 1989 he was interested in a skills test that he had heard legendary Valdosta (Ga.) coach Nick Hyder speak about, and after learning everything he could about the test he helped implement it at Lakeland High School in 1990.

“(Hyder) had his test and he had been doing it for forever and it sounded like a really cool thing,” Darlington said. “He was all about physical fitness and if a kid asks you why he’s not playing you can say, ‘Well, here’s where the guy in front of you is on the test and here’s where you are.’ It’s a very objective way of how to quantify athleticism.”

The SuperCat Test features four strength drills and four speed/agility drills. For strength, players compete in the power clean, bench press, squats and jerk, while they compete in the 40-yard dash, pro shuttle, the grueling stadium circuit and bench hops for speed and agility.

This combination of strength and agility drills makes it possible for all players – regardless of size or weight – to be graded on the same scale.

“People will ask if we grade it different for lineman vs. a skill guy or for a guy that’s 120 pounds compared to a 300-pound guy,” Darlington continued. “No, we don’t because the test does that naturally. That 120-pound kid is going to run a lot faster than the 300-pound guy, but the 300-pound guy is going to lift more.

“So, it all evens out itself. The kids that score really high on the test are going to be the really good athletes.”

For each category players get graded and the combined score at the end of the test puts players in each category which sees the lowest scores in the “others” category. Those players are looking to climb into the next categories.

Those that score between 125 and 149 points reach the “Winners” category with the next group being the “Champions” that score between 150 points and 174 points. Those that score between 175-199 points reach the “Super Cats” territory followed by “Ultra Cats” for players that score between 200 points and 224 points. The “Bad Cats” are those that reach between 225-245 points, and the rarest of all is the “Wildcat” for players that get 250 points or more.

Darlington said in his more than 30 years of doing the test no more than 20 players have reached the “Wildcat” level and it just so happens that 2019 senior Larry Magwood became the first – and only, so far – EHS athlete to reach that level when he scored 261 points on the test last spring.

Not only can players see their progress in the testing over their years at EHS, but they’re also rewarded as their pictures are placed on a wall in the Wildcat Field House honoring players that reach the “Super Cats” category and above. Darlington said those pictures are permanent.

“We put their picture in their area and it will never come down,” Darlington said. “It can move up (to a higher category) but it will never come down. So, when (Larry) Magwood comes back in 20 years, as long as I’m here, his picture will be there.”

This year’s test had to be adjusted a bit as the COVID-19 pandemic put a premature finish to the SuperCat test with the Wildcats only able to complete five tests before school was canceled. So, Darlington adjusted the grading scale for the lesser amount of drills.

Former Enterprise quarterback – and soon-to-be Air Force quarterback – Jackson Darlington was the highest “Bad Cat” in the most recent testing with a score of 147, while incoming EHS senior nose tackle Xavier Moore also scored 147 points. Senior cornerback Jalen Cunningham (145), senior athlete Josh McCray (142) and senior receiver Jared Smith (141) rounded out the “Bad Cats” category.

While the Wildcats won’t get another chance at a complete “SuperCat” until next April, Enterprise is already hard at work with summer workouts going on. According to Darlington, more than 100 varsity players and 40 freshmen have been attending workouts regularly.

“It’s been good,” Darlington said. “It’s really great to see the guys and we’ve had real consistent attendance and effort. It’s going good.”