Nolan Smith Smashed His Combine Workout

Nolan Smith entered Georgia with huge expectations. As the consensus top recruit in the country, big things were expected from the edge rusher. While he did win two national championships with the Bulldogs, he never exploded statistically and is entering the 2023 NFL Draft facing a lot of questions about his lack of productivity. After absolutely crushing his combine workout on Thursday, some of those doubters may have been silenced.

Smith measured in at 6-foot-2 and 238 pounds. That's undersized for an NFL edge rusher, but the insane athleticism he displayed may make up any deficiencies in that department.

Smith ran a 4.44 40-yard dash, which is incredible given his size. Better yet, his 1.52 10-yards split would be the fastest ever for an edge rusher (it was later upgraded to 4.39 officially).

That 40-yard dash was faster than Stefon Diggs and DeAndre Hopkins.

And Smith complained about his performance, claiming he had been running in the 4.3s while training.

If that wasn't enough to entice scouts, he broke out a 41.5-inch vertical jump:

And added a 10-foot-5 broad jump, which puts him in the 95th percentile.

It was the kind of workout prospects dream of having.

In four college seasons, Smith played in 38 games and only managed 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss. He missed time due to injuries, including a torn pectoral muscle suffered in November. He never quite made the impact to match his physical ability. But given the raw talent he has, there's almost no chance that he'll escape the first round after that workout. An NFL team will fall in love with his athleticism and feel they can harness it.