I went hunting around for info on Saalim Hakim when I heard he was Az Hakim's brother and he ran a 4.22. Not a lot out there, but I found a few interesting things...
6'1" / 190 and hand-timed at 4.22/4.23 at a pro day and 20 on the bench.
According to Tarleton's website, he didn't play football until his Freshman year at Junior College. Played soccer in HS.
He's been listed as an UDFA from Tarleton St. He declared last year but screwed up sending in his paperwork and missed the NFL deadline for declaring. So he went to play in the UFL in 2011.
He played for the Las Vegas Locomotives (Locos) in the UFL. Head Coach of the Locos is Jim Fassel. Who was the head coach for the Giants when Garrett was there? Jim Fassel. Reminiscent of the Norv and Laurent Robinson situation, though with a far less ready player.
The Locos are also owned (partly) by someone named Rob Ryan. But it's not our Lebowski. It's a different Lebowski. Just a weird coincidence.
Limited opportunity in the UFL. There are only 4 teams in the league. Lack of funds forced them to shorten their season to 4 or 5 games I think.
He was also a special teams gunner for the Locos.
Hakim is bleepin' fast. Not just straight-line fast. He's bleepity bleepin' fast going in and out of his cuts. He shows an ability to reach full speed almost immediately and chews up the CBs cushion. He can stop on a dime and start up again. And he seems to have hands for WR (rather than Newman hands) and fine body control. I'm just going off highlight videos, so maybe the hands aren't there fulltime.
The QBs he's been playing with can't throw far enough or accurate enough to take advantage of Hakim's separation. If he ever figures it out, his ceiling is enormous.
If you haven't looked him up on Youtube already, here he is as a Sophomore, having played football all of 1 year at Palomar JC...
He's limited to a couple routes. Now, here's a video of his work with the Locos 2 years later...
Clear improvement on his routes, adjustment to the ball, getting a clear release from the line, etc. The guy runs like a shifty 5'9" guy...except he's 6'1" and 190. Kind of shocked he's not a returner. We'll see what he does against other world class athletes, but he might breakout in training camp.