Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat, who played at Stephenson High, on Sunday ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 seconds, a new modern record (since 2003) for a defensive lineman at the NFL scouting combine.
The previous mark was held by Manny Lawson (2006) and Isaac Hilton (2004), according to NFL research.
The 4.41 time would have been the eighth fastest time among the wide receivers at the combine.
Sweat, who started his career at Michigan State, was originally recruited as a tight end.
Sweat is expected to be the first player from Georgia selected in the draft.
“I don’t really pay attention to the blogs,” Sweat said. “I mean, of course you hear that you’re one of the pass-rushers that people are looking at. But you just want to take that stuff as fuel to get you even better.”
ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper has projected that he’ll go fifth overall to Tampa Bay.
“Montez Sweat is a pass-rusher,” Kiper said. “He showed that early on. In fact, when we got into early October, I had Sweat as the eighth best player on the big board. Then he got kind of quiet.
“Then he came through with a couple of sacks late in the season. Then he had the really good Senior Bowl week. He’s got the length. He’s got the explosiveness.”
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