Cornerback Kamari Lassiter is preparing to enter the NFL. But at the NFL Scouting Combine, the former American Christian Academy standout had the opportunity to look back at his Georgia career during a Thursday press conference.

“Favorite mic story about coach (Kirby) Smart?” Lassiter said in response to a request from a reporter. “I just remember one time he was screaming on the mic so loud after practice, one of my friends back in the dorm said he could hear him back over there at ECV. …

“He was just screaming in general on all of us. I guess we just weren’t having one of our best days, and he let us hear it.”

But did Smart ever get on Lassiter?

“Did he? I got it,” Lassiter said. “I got it a bunch. But that’s just what helped me. Me being able to accept the hard coaching and hearing the message, not the tone. That’s just his way of showing his passion for the game. It’s showing how much he just wants us to be able to execute at a high level.”

In Lassiter’s three seasons at Georgia, the Bulldogs had as many CFP national championships as they did losses. Georgia won the 2021 and 2022 national crowns and lost to Alabama in the SEC championship games in 2021 and 2023.

Lassiter thinks he has “the ability to be a first-round corner” because of choosing to go to Georgia after earning recognition as Alabama’s Class 4A Back of the Year at ACA in 2020.

“I think Georgia prepared me in every way from a player standpoint to a mature standpoint,” Lassiter said. “Georgia helped me mature in a way that I never thought I would be able to mature in. From just playing football, they helped me understand the game in a way that I never understood, honestly — situational football. Now I’m able to talk football with GMs and coaches and everything. I’m sitting in front of you guys in a place I didn’t think I would be sitting in a couple of years ago. …

“Whenever you get to Georgia, it’s a different style of coaching. It’s hard coaching, so you got to be able to have thick skin, be able to take coaching. Especially like whenever you’re young, you don’t really understand that, so just being able to hear it from the older guys — like just understand the message. Hear what he’s saying, not how he’s saying it, and it’ll take you a long way.”

In addition to the position drills, Lassiter participated in two of the measured events on Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine. He plans to undertake the others at Georgia’s pro day.

Lassiter ran the three-cone drill in 6.62 seconds and completed the shuttle run in 4.12 seconds. He had the fastest time at the combine in the three-cone drill and the ninth-fastest time in the shuttle run.

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The three-cone drill is meant to measure a player’s ability to change directions while the shuttle run tests a player’s lateral quickness.

Lassiter hadn’t been preparing for the combine quite as long as some of the other participants. After Georgia lost to Alabama 27-24 in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 2, Lassiter chose to stay with the Bulldogs for the Orange Bowl, where they smashed Florida State 63-3 on Dec. 30.

“I just know if I’m able to play a football game,” Lassiter said, “and it’s on our schedule and I had a chance to play with those guys one more time, for my teammates, for my coaches, for the fans, for Georgia and everything, I had to do it. I was 100 percent healthy, and I felt like I had an obligation. I love football, I love the game so much, and I love my teammates and the fan base so much that I just wanted to be able to play.”

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