Louisville DL Thor Griffith Named to The Athletic's 2024 'Freaks List'

The annual preseason list ranks the most athletic players in college football.

Louisville defensive tackle Thor Griffith / University of Louisville Athletics

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There's no doubt that college football is full of insanely athletic players across all levels. But sometimes, it's hard to gauge who are truly the most athletic.

Well, every preseason The Athletic attempts this venture with their annual "Freaks List," which ranks the top 100 most athletic players in college football. As part of their 2024 list, which was published Tuesday, Louisville defensive tackle Thor Griffith cracked the list at No. 16.

Griffith's ranking is based off of his testing numbers last season during his final year at Harvard. At the time, he bench pressed 225 pounds 45 times, ran a 4.95 40-yard dash with a 1.65 10-yard split, and clocked 4.57 pro shuttle time.

For context, the most reps in the bench press from March's NFL Combine by any position was 39, and the six defensive tackles who ran faster 40 times than Griffith were all under 300 pounds.

The 6-foot-2, 320-pound lineman has been one of the best defensive tackles in the Ivy League for the past two seasons. He earned All-Ivy League First-Team honors as both a senior and junior for the Crimson, as well as Third-Team FCS All-American honors as a junior.

This past season, Griffith was one of the best defensive tackles in all of the FCS. Starting all 10 games, he collected a team-best 11.0 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, while also collecting 55 tackles overall, eight quarterback hurries and a forced fumble. According to Pro Football Focus, with a defensive grade of 89.3, Griffith was the second-highest rated defensive tackle in the FCS, behind only Penn's Joey Slackman (90.1).

The Portsmouth, N.H. native was just as disruptive for Harvard as junior the season before. That year in 10 games and eight starts, he collected 46 tackles, 12.0 for loss, 5.0 sacks, and three quarterback hurries. In three on-field seasons with the Crimson following the cancellation of his freshman campaign in 2020 due to COVID, Griffith has amassed 132 total tackles, 33.5 for loss, 13.5 sacks and two forced fumbles over 30 games.

(Photo of Thor Griffith via University of Louisville Athletics)

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