In the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, 2022, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud passed for 348 yards and four touchdowns, but the Buckeyes lost to Georgia 42-41.

In their next outing, the Bulldogs completed an undefeated season by beating TCU 65-7 in the CFP national-championship game.

“C.J. Stroud gave us hell in the Peach Bowl,” said Kamari Lassiter, a starting cornerback for Georgia in the game. “I don’t remember too many passes hitting the ground, and that was one of the few games we really didn’t have a true answer for the quarterback, so that’s one thing I vividly remember my sophomore year. We scraped out of there barely.”

Stroud and Lassiter are now teammates with the Houston Texans after the NFL team used the 42nd selection in the draft on the cornerback on April 26.

Stroud joined Houston in last year’s draft as the No. 2 pick. The quarterback helped spark a turnaround by the Texans as he won the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. Under first-year coach DeMeco Ryans, Houston went from a 3-13-1 record in 2022 to a 10-7 showing, the AFC South title and a playoff victory in 2023.

“I feel like the Texans are coming back with a different kind of mindset,” Lassiter said. “They’re bringing a different approach to the game, and I feel like the staff is bringing in a lot of the guys who have the same mindsets – you know, guys that really want to be successful, who’re willing to eat off the floor — and I feel like I add that to the team.”

At 6.62 seconds, Lassiter recorded the fastest three-cone drill among the participating players at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine. The three-cone drill is meant to measure a player’s ability to change directions.

The former American Christian Academy standout didn’t run the 40-yard dash at the combine, and reports on his 40 performance at Georgia’s pro day included times that ranged from 4.5 to 4.65 seconds. Of the 29 cornerbacks who ran the 40 at the combine, only two clocked slower than 4.54 seconds.

Houston general manager Nick Caserio didn’t sound concerned about Lassiter’s speed after picking the cornerback in the second round.

“Lassiter has position flex,” Caserio said. “He’s played on the perimeter of the formation; he’s played inside the formation. I’d say he plays with a linebacker-type mentality. I mean, he’s corner, but he tackles. He’s tough. He’s physical.

“I’m sure there’ll be a question about his speed and how fast he ran. But he’s not slow, so the speed wasn’t really a concern of ours. The time’s the time, but we’re drafting football players. We’re not drafting track teams. I know speed’s important. I’m not saying speed’s not important, but we don’t feel that’s an issue for this particular player. You watch him play in the SEC, you don’t walk away and have that concern. …

“He’s probably one of the top, I would say, makeup kind of players that we identified throughout our process. He’s a football player, so we’re drafting football players because we’re trying to put together a good football team, so I’d say that’s kind of where he fits.”

Caserio also said playing for Georgia coach Kirby Smart made Lassiter a more polished prospect.

“He’s well-coached,” Caserio said. “I’d say Kirby’s as good of a coach — probably him and (Alabama) coach (Nick) Saban are probably as good of secondary coaches from a technique standpoint, how they play the ball.”

Lassiter said he thought three seasons in the SEC had prepared him for the transition to the NFL.

“I feel like playing in the SEC is like a direct pipeline to playing the league,” Lassiter said. “You play some of the best players in the country, you’re playing in the best conference and you’re playing the best football. I was blessed to be able to play that for the last three years, and it really helped me become a better man and a better football player. …

“My rookie season, I just feel like I want to come in and I just really want to earn the respect of my teammates and my coaches and show them that I’m someone who’s reliable and I’m someone you can count on to do whatever it is that you want me to do.”

Houston used the third selection in the 2022 NFL Draft to obtain LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. Although injuries have limited Stingley to 20 games in his first two seasons, the Texans are high on his prospects after he intercepted five passes in 2023.

But Houston did not re-sign Steven Nelson, who started 16 games at cornerback last season.

“What happens relative to opposite Derek, we’ll find out,” Caserio said. “There’s nothing that’s predetermined. We’ll have a better idea, I think, in training camp how it’s going to transpire. But there’s a good chance we’re going to have five or six corners on the roster. Three are going to play on defense; whoever four, five and six are are going to be backups. …

“I think we’ve created a significant amount of competition in that area, which is a good thing.”

Houston had nine cornerbacks on its roster when it added Lassiter with its first selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. Seven of those cornerbacks have started in the NFL. Last season, Myles Bryant started nine games for the New England Patriots, C.J. Henderson started seven games for the Carolina Panthers and Jeff Okudah started nine games for the Atlanta Falcons.

Could “The Locksmith” wind up with the starting spot as a rookie? On his draft day, Lassiter wore a silver lock on a chain around his neck.

“I call myself the Locksmith,” Lassiter said, “and I pride myself on having stuff on lock, so I really wanted to get a lock and just put the name Locksmith Lassiter on there and then kind of just say I got this on lock right now.”

Lassiter won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A Back of the Year Award for the 2020 season at American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa.

Lassiter will start work with the Texans at their rookie minicamp on Friday and Saturday.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.