Former Georgia running back Keith Marshall didn't do much Wednesday morning during the Bulldogs' pro day drills in Athens.
He didn't have to.
The 5-foot-11, 219-pounder was one of the stars of last month's NFL combine in Indianapolis. Marshall ran the 40-yard dash in 4.31 seconds, which was the fastest time at the combine, and his 25 repetitions of 225 pounds in the bench press were the most of any running back.
"The whole process picked up a lot after that," Marshall told reporters Wednesday afternoon. "I got a little bit more exposure."
Longtime ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said Marshall's combine performance verified what observers saw at times during his Georgia career.
"When he's healthy, he's a good football player and a good back," Kiper said last week on a teleconference. "He's not going to be your featured guy. He's going to be an accent piece, but he'll be a good one.
"I think he could end up now in the fifth-round area, but these running backs always tend to drop."
CBS projects Marshall will be selected in the fifth or sixth round, tabbing him as the No. 16 running back and the No. 179th overall draft prospect. The NFL draft will be held April 28-30 in Chicago.
Georgia's pro day drew several NFL head coaches, including four-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. Also present was Indianapolis Colts quarterbacks coach Brian Schottenheimer, who was Georgia's offensive coordinator last season but was not retained by new coach Kirby Smart.
"I've got nothing but love for my time here," Schottenheimer told reporters. "I'm excited for Georgia. I'm excited for the Schottenheimers."
Marshall was a five-star prospect in 2012, according to ESPN, Scout.com and 247Sports.com, and he signed with the Bulldogs along with another touted tailback from North Carolina, Todd Gurley. While Gurley became an instant star for the Bulldogs, Marshall more than held his own as a freshman by rushing for 759 yards and 6.5 yards per carry.
His first game against Tennessee yielded a career-high 164 rushing yards, but his second encounter with the Volunteers resulted in a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Marshall was not fully recovered for the 2014 season and redshirted after just 12 carries for 24 yards. He had 68 carries for 350 yards (5.1 per carry) last year while backing up Nick Chubb and then Sony Michel.
Marshall started just twice in his Bulldogs career and admitted Wednesday that he wishes he could have played more.
"Absolutely I do," Marshall said, "but at the same time, we were trying to win football games and do what's best for the team."
Georgia had another combine standout in 2013, when outside linebacker Cornelius Washington ran the 40 in 4.55 seconds, performed 36 reps on the bench press and had a vertical jump of 39 inches. He was faster than several tailbacks, had seven more bench reps than any other linebacker and jumped two inches higher than receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who was a first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings.
Washington had not been overly productive at Georgia, notching 76 career tackles and just half a sack as a senior, and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round.
Georgia's only projected pick for the first three rounds this year is outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, who Kiper projects going 11th overall to Chicago. The 6-6, 244-pound Floyd is not without concerns, Kiper said, which is an opinion echoed by fellow ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay.
"Floyd is supremely talented, but he has never quite found his niche," McShay said last month. "Maybe it's because of how they used him and that they backed him off the line of scrimmage, but he's never grown into the player you would expect when you start to look at those measurables."
Floyd did not go through most of the drills Wednesday due to an upset stomach.
Turman transferring
Georgia redshirt junior running back A.J. Turman has been granted a release and will transfer, the university announced Wednesday. Turman was a four-star prospect out of Orlando in 2013 who never received a carry in an actual game. His most notable showing occurred in last year's G-Day spring game, when he had 26 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
Jacksonville set
Florida and Georgia will continue to hold their annual rivalry game at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. The matchup has been held there annually since 1933 with the exception of the 1994 and '95 games, which took place on the two campuses due to renovations to the home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. Last year's meeting, which Florida won 27-3, had a reported economic impact of $35 million for the city.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.