Like the old Notorious BIG song goes: “If ya don’t know, now ya knoooow.”

Entering the 2012 NFL Combine, massive defensive tackle Dontari Poe was a guy that didn’t get much hype throughout his three-year collegiate career.

For one, he went to the University of Memphis, not exactly the biggest football powerhouse, and two, he plays the most anonymous position there is on defense. He is just that large guy in the pile on a Conference USA team.

Not anymore.

Poe can make the claim that he is the strongest player in the 2012 NFL Draft after putting up 44 reps in the 225-pound bench press (via LA Times). He was only five away from tying Stephen Paea’s record set last year.

And that’s not even his most impressive accomplishment of the weekend. When it came to the 40-yard dash, most defensive tackles are expected to register a time of at least six seconds.

Not Poe.

The 6’5’’, 350-pound behemoth of a man clocked an unofficial 4.87 seconds on his first attempt and 4.94 seconds in his second attempt (via CBS Sports). That is nothing short of incredible for a man of his size.

After the incredible weekend, Poe talked about how speed is such a big part of his game (via LA Times):

"I think I'm explosive, very explosive. That's probably my biggest strength. Most people think just because I'm big I do nothing but power... I try to use my quickness to my advantage."

Poe models his game after Casey Hampton of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I think he’s even quicker. It’s tough to judge Poe by just looking at his stats, because tackles and sacks are not true measurements of a strong defensive tackle. That’s why an event with tangible results like the combine is so big for a player at his position.

He is the strongest in the entire class and by far the fastest at his position.

Entering the combine, he was a fringe first-round pick that was as high as the early 20s on most experts’ mock drafts. Now? It’s hard to see him getting past the Cincinnati Bengals at pick No. 17, especially with teams like the Cardinals (No. 13), Eagles (No. 15) and Jets (No. 16) all in need of line help as well.

It was one heck of a weekend for Poe and if you didn’t know who he was before this past weekend…now ya know.