Former Northside star shows off his talents at NFL Scouting Combine

There were many winners coming out of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis as players continue to prepare for next month’s NFL draft. Former Northside standout Robert Davis may have been one of the biggest.

Davis, who had a strong career at Georgia State, took advantage of his opportunity at the combine to show off his talents as a wide receiver and make a name for himself entering next month’s draft.

“It was a great experience, one of those once-in-a-lifetime things that you know you’ll never get a chance to do again,” Davis said. “I just tried to take everything in, but it was a great experience. Most definitely, I feel like I was able to show people how athletic I was because coming from a small school, you can get overlooked in certain aspects.

“But I felt like I was able to show that I can compete athletically with the best around.”

Davis drew the attention of the scouts, coaches and front-office members working at the combine with a 4.44 time in the 40-yard dash, which tied for ninth among the wide receivers. But that wasn’t his only strong showing.

Among the wide receivers, he was first in the broad jump (11 feet, 4 inches), second in the vertical jump (41.0 inches), tied for second in the bench (19 repetitions of 225 pounds), 14th in the three-cone drill (6.82 seconds) and 12th in the 60-yard shuttle (11.48 seconds).

Davis, who measured at 6-3 and 219 pounds with 33-inch arms and 9 5/8-inch hands, also completed the 20-yard shuttle in 4.28 seconds.

“Everything that had to do with what I did athletically, I felt like I helped myself,” he said. “My 40 was the main thing because a lot of people had me projected to run a lot slower time. And just going out there and being able to run the time that I ran, it really showed that I can be a deep threat for an offense.”

Davis said he has heard his draft prospects as “anything from first round to free agent.” He was a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference first-team selection with the Panthers and is the program’s all-time leading receiver with 222 receptions and 3,391 receiving yards.

He is second at Georgia State with 17 career touchdowns and is projected as a fifth- or sixth-round pick by nfldraftscout.com and cbssports.com.

“I really enjoyed it,” Davis said of the combine. “I got to show off my football knowledge. It was one of those things where they asked you about identifying coverages and that aspect. I felt like it was an experience that I will carry with me the rest of my life.”

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Former Northside star shows off his talents at NFL Scouting Combine."