Damian Harrell doesn't run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. Or 4.4. Or even 4.5.

"I ran one about six years ago," he said. "It wasn't that good. Maybe 4.6, 4.7."

Harrell isn't the next Mr. Olympia either.

"He's not a kid who's earning a living pumping weights, so he's not the strongest guy around," said Mike Hohensee, a former Gophers quarterback and Harrell's head coach with the Arena Football League's Chicago Rush.

Harrell isn't even a kid anymore.

"He'll be 33 in September," said his agent, Paul Sheehy. "For NFL teams looking at guys in alternative leagues, 27 usually is an age that comes with a red flag."

Now that we've determined what Harrell doesn't have, here's one thing the 6-3, 182-pounder does:

"He's got the greatest hands I've ever seen," Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway said a few years ago when Harrell played for the Colorado Crush, an AFL team that Elway co-owns.

"It's true," Hohensee said. "Damian has made more circus catches than anybody I've ever seen at any level."

Heading into Saturday night's game against the Crush, Harrell needed two touchdown catches to surpass the AFL career record of 303. Harrell also had 916 catches for 12,227 yards in nine seasons, leaving him just 75 catches and 1,136 receiving yards from owning the AFL's other two major career receiving records.

Here's another number that may surprise you: three.

That's how many NFL tryouts Harrell has had in his career. The Packers worked him out in 1999. The Jets soon after that, and then the Redskins in 2005. None of the one-day auditions led to so much as one NFL training camp appearance, although Washington was interested but couldn't convince Harrell that he was better off leaving AFL stardom to become an aging NFL longshot.

"Getting the opportunity to go to a training camp is the one thing I always wanted early in my career," Harrell said. "I would have loved to have put in a few weeks of film for NFL teams to get a good, long look at what I can do."

Harrell's chances of being drafted by an NFL team disappeared when he blew out both knees in a span of three years at Florida State. His chances of latching on as a free agent in his mid-20s disappeared when a broken left arm ended each of his first two AFL seasons.

Harrell has been healthy the past seven seasons. But he no longer considers the NFL a priority.

"People find it hard to believe, but the NFL is the furthest thing from my mind," Harrell said. "I'm very happy in the AFL. I've found my niche. This game was made for me."

It helps that Harrell is the second-highest paid player in the AFL. His total compensation last year was about $158,000. Or as Sheehy put it, "Damian is a very big fish in this pond."

Rick Spielman, the Vikings vice president of football operations, has an open mind when it comes to AFL players. He was with the Bears when they signed quarterback Clint Dolezel (now in his 12th AFL season). He was in Miami when the Dolphins signed receivers Bobby Sippio (now with the Chiefs) and Chris Jackson (third in AFL career touchdown catches). And he was with the Vikings in 2006 when they signed AFL pass-rushing standout Khreem Smith.

Spielman has yet to unearth an AFL-turned-NFL standout such as Mike Furrey (Lions), Rashied Davis (Bears) or former Gopher Greg White (Buccaneers). But he's always looking.

George Paton, the Vikings director of player personnel, scouts the AFL. He and Spielman have at least noticed the Hands of Harrell.

"We've followed him a little bit as the Arena League is getting going here," Spielman said. "We'll continue to evaluate that."

Let's just say it's unlikely that a soon-to-be 33-year-old AFL receiver will be in Mankato this summer.

"We have a specific age we're looking at," Spielman said. "A guy who is 33 years old in the Arena League, there's not a lot of upside when he comes here."

Spielman is probably right. Signing an older AFL receiver is probably a crazy idea.

Then again ...

Is it crazier than the Vikings signing Todd Lowber, a former Division III high jump champion who had never even played football, as a receiver last year? Is it crazier than the previous Vikings regime signing professional wrestler Brock Lesnar as a defensive tackle? Is it crazier than that same regime using the seventh overall draft pick on Troy Williamson, a receiver who can't catch?

No, not really.

Mark Craig • mcraig@startribune.com