Projected as a top 20 NFL draft pick by one analyst for 2016 as an outside linebacker, Leonard Floyd was making plays Saturday for Georgia at inside linebacker.
“Oh, I love it,” Floyd said. “I love making plays at inside linebacker. It was an adjustment at first because I had to learn all the different scenarios you can go through, but as soon as I learned that it was like I was at home.”
The 6-foot-4, 231-pound Floyd was Georgia’s co-leader in tackles with eight and had one and a half tackles for loss, including a sack when he teamed up with safety Quincy Mauger.
“That didn’t help the equation at all,” Louisiana-Monroe coach Todd Berry said with a chuckle on Monday. “We weren’t necessarily expecting his location to be what it is and he was really impressive. He had a play at one point in time on the quarterback that I thought was just tremendously athletic, but he’s a big talent obviously. Those first ball games you’re never exactly sure what you’re going to get and that surprised us a little bit in terms of kind of what they did with him and how much they did with him.”
Outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins said he didn’t always get a great look at Floyd in action during the 51-14 Bulldogs victory.
“What I saw, the blur that was going past me, it looked like he knew what he was doing,” Jenkins said.
Stay tuned on whether Georgia employs Floyd again in the middle Saturday at Vanderbilt.
It could be a week to week decision. Getting Jenkins and outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter on the field at the same time as Floyd is a big benefit.
“We definitely want to get our best 11 on the field, but we also want to matchup the personnel against the style of offense that we’re playing,” Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. “Leonard’s so versatile we know he can play on the edge as a rusher, we know he can play middle linebacker now and we know he can play nickel which he’s done for some time now. We’re going to get him in the spot that gives us the best chance to get him in a playmaking spot.”
Said Floyd: “It depends on what coach (Jeremy) Pruitt wants me to play and I’m going to play it to the best of my ability.
Floyd worked some this preseason at that star nickel spot, where he saw some playing time last season.
“I played a lot of star during camp,” Floyd said. “I probably got a whole week of playing star.”
ESPN’s Todd McShay listed Floyd as the No. 17 overall prospect last week as an outside linebacker.
“There's no doubt Floyd has the speed and athleticism to beat OTs around the edge and handle coverage assignments as a 3-4 OLB in the NFL,” he wrote. “It's just a matter of whether he can improve his strength and consistency against the run.”
Many expected Floyd, who now has 13 career sacks and 118 tackles, to make the jump after last season when he also was pegged as an early round possibility, but shoulder surgery kept him out of the bowl game and he decided to return for as a fourth-year junior.
“The guy had two surgeries,” Richt said. “To come back off of that and play like he did and compete like he did all during camp, it was impressive.”
Floyd sat out spring practices and was briefly out last month while undergoing an MRI on the surgicially-repaired shoulder.
“It wasn’t me being worried, it was me trying to clear my head for practice because I would think about it as I was practicing, but ever since then I’ve been good,” he said.
On Saturday, Floyd not only lined up in the middle but came off the edge.
“Probably the biggest thing is just how relentless he plays and we really appreciate that,” cornerback Aaron Davis said.
“Having hindsight being 20/20,” Berry said, “I wish we did a few more things trying to impact him to try to keep him from making all the plays that he did make.”
Floyd will have a whole season of lining up all over for the NFL to evaluate. He’s not sure where they will project him at the next level.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Hopefully something good. I need them to say I’m something good.”