Nick Booth/WildcatSportsReport.com

For the average Arizona Wildcat football fan, if you mentioned Nick Booth and pro football career, they’d probably say “who’s Nick Booth?” Well, Booth may not be a household name, but he took the first steps towards playing at the next level on Friday.

Arizona held its pro timing day on Friday and no player turned more heads than Booth. The running back put on a show, especially running the 40-yard dash. He ran times of 4.4 and 4.5, turning the heads of several NFL and UFL scouts.

Although the time in impressive, Booth has gone that fast before.

“I’ve ran it a couple times in junior college and high school,” Booth explained. “I wanted to stay relaxed, run hard, run fast.”

At 6-2, 221 Booth has NFL size, but he has a lot to prove. He began the season as the fourth string running back and only carried the ball 36 times for 150 yards and only had 209 yards in his two-year career. Booth’s best game was against Washington State where he carried 18 times for 84 yards and a score.

“I didn’t get to play as much as some of the other guys,” Booth said. “A lot of these guys see me as an unknown and are just learning about me. I knew I had to come out here and run hard, do all the drills hard and take advantage of every opportunity I am given.”

It remains to be seen just how much Booth impressed scouts. Although back-up running backs can get noticed due to their physical gifts (think Willie Parker or Chris Henry) it is hard for a guy who had limited playing time in college to get pro teams to take a flier on him. One option might be the UFL. Scouts from the second year league seemed quite impressed with Booth’s time in the 40. At the very least, Booth felt that he impressed some people.

“I am not sure, hopefully a lot,” Booth answered when asked if he felt he impressed people. “I am just going to take what they say, learn off of it, work as hard as I can and hopefully someone picks me up.”

After signing day Arizona Wildcat football coaches said that that program would feel the effect of their second place finish in the Pac-10 and their Holiday Bowl invitation would be felt more in the 2011 recruiting class than in the 2010 class. The early returns seem to support that argument.

Arizona has a pair of 2011 commitments and if they wind up signing with the Wildcats, they will be the earliest commitments of the Mike Stoops era.

A pair of Oklahomans have already committed to the Wildcats. Quarterback Daxx Garman pulled the trigger just days after signing day and this week Lawton linebacker Jabral Johnson pledged to the Wildcats.

Previously, the earliest a player has committed, and signed, was April. Kylan Butler committed to the Cats in April of 2008 and last April Chase Gorham and Mickey Baucus chose the Wildcats.

Getting players to commit in February, especially players who have no family ties to the Wildcat program, show that the Wildcats’ message is being received.

Commitments this early usually go to elite, top-tier players or by recruits who have some ties to the program. Of the 12 commitments the Wildcats have gotten June or earlier, two were by younger brothers of Wildcat players (Baucus and Hans Phillipp), one was by a local product whose brother signed to play baseball at Arizona (Devin Veal), while a fourth had his father and grandfather played at Arizona (Gorham).

Of course an early commitment is not a guarantee of success. The player who actually verbally committed the earliest in the Stoops era never signed with the Wildcats. Phoenix’s Gerrell Robinson committed to Arizona in November or 2006, nearly a year and a half before he was supposed to sign. That did not work out so well as Robinson eventually signed with ASU.