Kirby Smart expects Nolan Smith to make an NFL team better all around
ATHENS, Ga. — Former Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith is shooting up draft boards, now less than a month ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft. Part of that is because of the performance he put on at the NFL Combine back in March in Indianapolis. Another reason why is because of the person he’s proving to be to teams in the interview process, and nobody knows that better than his head coach of the last four years, Kirby Smart.
“Oh, he’s going to make the organization better. He’s going to make the community better,” Smart said about Smith. “First of all, he’s a very bright individual. He’s a huge personality. He’s a hard worker. He’s coachable. That’s why they draft those guys in the first round: they want to look and say where are the pitfalls? When you look at Nolan Smith, you’re not going to get many because his character stands out. He’s got a great mama and grandmom at home. They raised up a bright young man. He’s fun to be around. He texts me all the time, and you can tell he’s — I miss him because when you walked into the team meeting room, he was sitting right there smiling, loud as hell, always talking. And they’re going to get a great personality that I think will represent whatever organization takes him. He’ll represent them the right way.”
Not only will Smith represent whoever drafts him well off the field, but he’ll probably play well for them on it. The nation’s No. 1 ranked recruit coming out of high school, Smith shared the outside linebacker room his first two seasons with the likes of Azeez Ojulari, Jermaine Johnson and Adam Anderson. He totaled a combined 40 tackles. However, in 2021, Smith finished top five on the team with 56 stops including nine for loss on the way to the National Championship, the Bulldogs’ first in 41 years.
Smith got off to a great start in 2022 too, recording seven tackles for loss including three sacks in the first eight games. He suffered a torn right pectoral muscle though in that eighth game and missed the rest of the season before returning to the field at the NFL Scouting Combine in March with the fastest 40 and highest vertical jump of any player at his position. Running a 4.39 and jumping 41.5 inches, Smith became the heaviest player to go sub-4.4 and over 40 inches in Combine history.
Since the Combine, Smith is almost unanimously projected to be picked in the first round. Both Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay have him off the board at No. 12 to the Houston Texans in their latest ESPN mock drafts. Meanwhile, NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah has him at No. 13 to the New York Jets with others projecting him as high as No. 8 to the Atlanta Falcons or No. 10 to the Philadelphia Eagles.
