NFL running back/Olympic sprinter Jeff Demps didn’t immediately return to the U.S. to resume his football career after the World Track and Field Championships.
Demps was in Linz, Austria, on Monday, finishing fourth in a 100-meter race in 10.29 seconds. Justin Gatlin won it in 10.08. The time was far from Demps’ best, but it’s notable given his NFL coach’s comments last week.
“Supposedly he’s coming. I don’t know. We’ll see,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “I don’t worry about guys that are not here, you know? So he’s not helping us get better right now. He’s out there running track somewhere. So, if he’s going to do that — if he gets here and helps us win he will be part of it. If he gets here and can’t help us win, he can go back and run track. We are here to win games.”
Demps, 11th at the U.S. Championships in June, was named to the U.S. 4x100-meter relay pool and flew to Moscow for the World Track and Field Championships that concluded Aug. 18. Demps, who won Olympic silver as part of that relay in 2012, was not chosen to compete on the relay in Moscow, though.
“I’m just focused on running,” Demps said in a phone interview before the World Championships. “Once I get back to the States, I’ll sit down and have a talk with those guys.
Demps said he planned on running “a few meets” after worlds and that he didn’t have any long-term goals set in either sport.
“Once my season is over, I’ll sit down and see what my next move will be,” he said.