Nolan Smith had plenty of career accolades already on his resume before this week began. On Thursday, March 2 at the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, the former Calvary Day School and University of Georgia star edge rusher added to his legacy.

The 6-foot-2, 239-pound Savannah native missed the second half of Georgia’s 2022 season with a torn pectoral muscle, and that had many NFL scouts concerned about his stock in the upcoming NFL Draft. The doubts weren’t anything that would have kept him from being drafted. He was already a first-round or second-round pick, according to most draft analysts.

Those doubts are long gone now, after Smith posted a 40-yard dash time of 4.39 seconds. It was the second fastest 40-yard time since 2003 for a defensive lineman (Amare Barno, 4.36, 2022). In other combine tests, Smith continued to make history.

He posted a 41.5 in the vertical jump and a 10-8 in the broad jump. He is the heaviest player in the combine’s history to post a sub 4.4 40-yard time and a 40+ inch vertical jump. Still, Smith said afterwards that he didn’t perform up to his full capabilities. That’s a scary thought for his future opponents on Sundays.

“I really wanted to do everything full speed today,” he said to the NFL Network on Thursday. “I didn’t run my best race … I thought I had a little more juice. I felt like I was going 85 percent.”

At Georgia, Smith was a major part of the Bulldogs’ back-to-back National Championship seasons in 2022 and 2023. He totaled 114 tackles (21 TFL’s) and 11.5 sacks in 46 career games.

The NFL Draft’s first round is set for Thursday, April 27, 2023.