This article was originally published by The Red & Black on March 26, 2016 and can be found here.

Former Georgia linebacker Leonard Floyd made an eyebrow-raising assertion at Pro Day on March 16, and it had nothing to do with his professional prospects.

After participating in a few drills and recording a 35-inch vertical jump, Floyd fielded questions about the future of both his career as well as Georgia football. When asked about the returning pieces of the Bulldogs’ defense, Floyd pointed out one teammate as someone that needed to eyed intently.

“You definitely have to watch out for Davin Bellamy,” Floyd said. “He might be better than me. Don’t tell him that, though.”

Needless to say, Bellamy caught wind of Floyd’s words.

“I think he said that to get me going a little bit,” Bellamy said. “I think it’s some reverse psychology.”

Floyd’s statement on Bellamy’s future is a testament to the companionship the two forged at Georgia. Bellamy said the two were competitive in all aspects of everyday life, whether that involved football practice, a game of “NBA 2K” or a race to see who could get in the passenger seat of the car first.

As much as Floyd served as someone for Bellamy to outperform, he also became a player to imitate.

Floyd was a constant playmaker for the Bulldogs and recorded 182 tackles and 17 sacks in his three seasons with the team. Bellamy found himself doing everything just like Floyd did and copied his moves on the field as closely as he could. Bellamy admitted he is not as athletic as Floyd but made it apparent he wouldn’t let that slow him down.

Bellamy is among the Bulldogs’ crop of outside linebackers that are needed to step up. The exit of Floyd and the graduation of Jordan Jenkins has left a void at a position that Georgia has excelled at for several years. Bellamy as well as junior Lorenzo Carter will be among those tasked with filling these openings.

Bellamy’s leading role among the linebackers is a stark contrast to last season. With the talent Georgia possessed in its first-team defense, Bellamy only started in two games in 2015 while appearing in 10 of the 13 contests. He was hampered with concussion issues in late September that caused him to miss two games and ultimately sat out of the TaxSlayer.com Bowl due to a knee injury.

Bellamy showed no ill will about his limited play last season. In fact, he was more than comfortable admitting the likes of Floyd and Jenkins deserved the starting roles.

“Sometimes you have to humble yourself,” Bellamy said.

This isn’t to say Bellamy didn’t have his moments.

He set up Jordan Jenkins’ biggest play of 2015 when he stripped Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd of the ball on the Georgia four-yard line, which set up a 96-yard touchdown run by Jenkins. Bellamy ended his sophomore season with 33 tackles along with 5.5 tackles for loss. He finished third on the team with three sacks, trailing — you guessed it — Floyd and Jenkins.

This spring sets up a whole new scenario for Bellamy. He is now looked at as one of the players that must turn a corner in Kirby Smart’s first season as head coach. Even if Floyd hadn’t turned the spotlight off himself and onto his younger teammate, many would have anticipated Bellamy to step up.

With outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer back, the amount of change for the outside linebackers is not quite as severe as some of the other positional groups. The unit is working on perfecting their roles during spring practice and being able to adjust to different assignments per each subpackage.

From there, it’s on Bellamy to respond.

“When your time is called, you’ve got to perform,” Bellamy said.

After all, Leonard Floyd taught him that.