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Georgia DT Jordan Davis, weighing in at 341 pounds, runs 4.78 40-yard dash

Five months ago, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was given the unenviable task of explaining why the Georgia defense had just steamrolled the Gamecocks' offense. He gave a number of reasons, but singled out only one player, "a defensive lineman that weighs 340 pounds and runs better than everybody on this call."

The player was Jordan Davis, and as it turns out, Beamer may have been underselling the mammoth nose tackle's speed.

On Saturday, Davis threw down one of the wildest performances at the NFL scouting combine when he clocked in at 4.82 seconds in the 40-yard dash. That number would later be corrected to 4.78 seconds, cementing Davis' reputation as arguably the preeminent physical freak of this year's NFL draft class.

There are plenty of ways to describe that run, but Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a former defensive lineman himself at Miami, may have done it best: "Holy s*** fast."

Just the sight of Davis hauling himself down the field is enough to realize the kind of athlete we're dealing with, but the picture becomes even more astonishing with some perspective.

Jordan Davis' 40-time was historically good

If you were to group Davis with year's offensive lineman, he would be a) the second-heaviest prospect of the group, behind only Minnesota's 384-pound Daniel Faalele, and b) the fastest prospect of the group. Heck, if you were to group him with the tight ends, the players whose job description actually includes outrunning other players, he would have been the eighth fastest out of 13 players to run the 40. He also would have been the sixth fastest quarterback.

By the math of Pro Football Focus' Kevin Cole, Davis' time was the best weight-adjusted time in the history of the combine.

Just look at this:

Davis later added a 10-foot, 3-inch broad jump, the best mark in his position group by 11 inches and the best seen in the position over the last 16 years, per Underdog Fantasy's Josh Norris. His 32-inch vertical jump was second-best among all defensive tackles as well. Again, he is 341 pounds.

The combine performance backs up a college career that will go down in Georgia history as an all-timer. In Davis' senior year, he was a unanimous All-American and winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award for college football's top defensive player and the Outland Trophy for college football's top interior lineman. Most importantly, he held a best-in-the-nation Georgia defense to the program's first national title in four decades.

Georgia defensive lineman Jordan Davis (05) walks on the field at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano)
Georgia defensive lineman Jordan Davis (05) walks on the field at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano)

Davis' senior year stats — 32 tackles, five for loss, two sacks — were hardly reflective of his impact on the field, as he basically presented offenses a choice of double-teaming him or watching him immediately collapsing the middle of the pocket.

Now, Davis stands as an expected first-rounder, and Saturday's performance could help push him into the top 10, a place where few nose tackles hear their names called. He wasn't the only large Georgia defender to show out on Saturday though.

Devonte Wyatt, Davis' frequent companion in the middle of the Georgia defense, ran an unofficial 4.80, later corrected to 4.77, at 304 pounds.

And then there was the 276-pound Travon Walker running a 4.60, corrected to 4.51.

It really makes you wonder why anyone bothered running on Georgia last year.