Cornelius Washington: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Georgia DE

While Cornelius Washington never matched the hype surrounding him when he first joined the Georgia Bulldogs, he still has the skill and look of an NFL player.

With Washington, it is all about potential. He never really reached his ceiling on a consistent basis during college, but it's still an extremely high ceiling.

Let's take a look at five things you need to know about the former Georgia defensive end. 

Background

Full Name: Cornelius Washington

Birthday: September 10, 1989

Hometown: Hephzibah, Ga.

High School: Burke County High School

Major: Sports management

Year: Senior

Washington was a highly regarded recruit coming out of high school. He simply dominated lesser opponents on his way to earning the No. 3 ranking at defensive end in the country from Rivals.com.

Statistics

There isn't too much that is impressive in terms of statistics from Cornelius Washington during his collegiate career. He redshirted as a freshman, despite being a coveted high school prospect, but that never seemed to help him fully develop.

Washington only managed 10.5 career sacks and 17 career tackles for loss over the course of his four-year career.

Year	Solo Tackles	Total Tackles	Tackles for Loss	Sacks
2009	9	13	5.0	4.0
2010	18	24	3.0	1.0
2011	11	17	6.0	5.0
2012	8	22	3.0	0.5

All statistics courtesy of sports-reference.com.

Draft Process

Measurables

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 265 lbs.

Arm Length: 34"

Hand Size: 9.5"

Combine Results

40-yard dash: 4.55 seconds (top performer)

Bench press: 36 reps (top performer)

Vertical jump: 39" (top performer)

Broad jump: 128" (top performer)

Cornelius Washington had one of the most dominant combine performances this year. He displayed incredible strength and athleticism throughout the drills.

All combine results courtesy of NFL.com.

Interesting Facts

There was a lot of hype surrounding Cornelius Washington heading into his final season for the Georgia Bulldogs. In fact, the hype was so high that he was on the preseason watch list for the 2012 Butkus Award, which is given to the top linebacker in the country.

Unfortunately, Washington didn't even come close to living up to that hype, as he had one of his worst statistical seasons during his senior year. He only managed 0.5 sacks, 22 tackles and three tackles for loss.

Observations

There are some questions as to what position Cornelius Washington would be most effective in for an NFL team. Brendan Leister of DraftBrowns.com thinks Washington would look better as a 3-4 outside linebacker:

"

I want to see Cornelius Washington play as a 3-4 OLB in the NFL. He could end up being one of the top edge rushers from this class.

— Brendan Leister (@BrendanLeister) April 22, 2013"

The official Twitter page of the Senior Bowl has a different feeling as to where Washington would fit best in an NFL defense:

"

No question in my @seniorbowl mind that the Wide-9 DE is the absolute best spot for Cornelius Washington. Jumped out in Mobile and Indy.

— Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) March 12, 2013"

Kimberly Jones of the NFL Network only had one word to describe Washington after his impressive performance at the combine:

"

OLB Cornelius Washington of Georgia is a freak. Bench press 36x. Just broad jumped 10'8".

— Kimberly Jones (@KimJonesSports) February 25, 2013"