Nolan Smith had a historic day on the NFL Draft Combine

Watching the NFL Combine from inside Lucas Oil Stadium is a quite surreal expertise.

Instead of the raucous environment you normally see in an NFL stadium, it’s a far more subdued, even sterilized atmosphere. The solely sounds you actually hear are the directions from the NFL coaches and scouts operating the drills, and generally the exasperated exclamations of the prospects after a dropped move, a gradual 40-yard sprint time, or one thing else. There have been moments when a powerful drill drew the eye of the followers in attendance, and even the journalists within the constructing, however for probably the most half, Thursday afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium was extra subdued than your traditional NFL atmosphere.

That close to silence, nonetheless, couldn’t overshadow the day that Georgia move rusher Nolan Smith had on Thursday afternoon.

Smith posted a blazing-fast 4.39 40-yard sprint, and while you added within the 41.5-inch vertical that he posted, it added as much as a little bit of NFL Combine historical past. As famous by Rich Eisen throughout the broadcast, Smith turned the heaviest participant in Combine historical past to publish a sub-4.4 40-yard sprint, together with a vertical of greater than 40 inches.

Smith weighed in at 239 kilos earlier than testing on Thursday.

Both his vertical, and his 40-yard sprint, have been the quickest of the defensive linemen who examined on Thursday. He additionally posted the third-best broad soar of the group, which measured in at 10’8:

This is the type of efficiency that may see a participant power their manner into the primary spherical of the NFL draft. Coming into the 2022 season, Smith was thought of a possible first-round prospect, however a torn pectoral muscle suffered in November price him the remainder of his season for the Bulldogs.

That noticed his draft inventory, which based on the mock drafts collected by NFL Mock Draft Database had been inside the primary spherical, begin to slip in the direction of the second:

However, a efficiency like this doubtless sees that inventory take one other flip, this time greater into the primary spherical.

It is price noting that Smith’s dimension makes him undersized by defensive finish requirements. As famous by Kent Lee Platte and his Relative Athletic Scoring, Smith’s testing was within the elite vary, however his weight is undersized for a pure defensive finish:

Someone else that posted comparable measurables? Someone that Smith is drawing comparisons to. Haason Reddick, he of the 16-sacks season this previous 12 months for the Philadelphia Eagles:

Perhaps probably the most notable facet of Smith’s day? How his 40-yard sprint in comparison with some NFL huge receivers:

However you slice it, a really sturdy day for the Georgia move rusher.