MOBILE, Ala. — Clay Webb has a Georgia national championship ring. It’s stuffed in a safety deposit box, where he can’t show it off. He has no desire to do so.

It’s a reminder of lost playing time, a lawsuit and giving up on a career that analysts had thought of as a sure thing.

“Three and a half years ago, I never imagined playing football again,” Webb said. “I kind of thought my dream was over.”

And yet Webb is at the Senior Bowl, a guard outdueling Kentucky’s Deone Walker, a possible first-round NFL draft pick, because of a short drive he made to see if Jacksonville State, the FCS school near his home, had any interest in a former five-star offensive lineman.

Webb was a consensus five-star, rated No. 26 nationally by the 247Sports Composite in the 2019 class, seven spots ahead of Bo Nix and nine spots ahead of Jayden Daniels, both now thriving NFL quarterbacks.

Webb enrolled early at Georgia and played in four games as a true freshman. Then, in early in 2020, Webb was sued as one of three defendants accused of a bullying incident in 2018 at Oxford (Ala.) High School. Another then-student at the high school accused Webb of making him drink a cup with semen in it. The federal lawsuit has still not been resolved, and Webb said Wednesday his lawyers have told him not to comment on it. (The University of Georgia released a statement in 2020 that read: “While we cannot comment on this individual student matter, we review allegations of misconduct by our student-athletes and hold accountable those that do not meet our expectations.” UGA did not respond to messages this week when reached by The Athletic.)

Webb had trouble cracking the Georgia lineup and appeared in just three games the next season. The following season he didn’t play at all, sometimes not even suiting up as Georgia won the national championship.

“I just felt like I wasn’t needed at Georgia,” Webb said.

So he entered the transfer portal after spring practice, but without any real plans. He said he wanted to be with his family, as his grandfather was battling health problems, having his leg amputated. Webb supported his grandfather and mother and mulled his own future.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” he said. “At that point in my life there was a lot of stuff going on. I was trying to figure things out as a man, what my dreams were.”

Webb decided football wasn’t completely off his mind. He doesn’t remember how long he considered himself retired — “it was awhile” — but at some point the summer of 2022 he made the 25-minute drive to Jacksonville State, just showing up and asking if the Gamecocks had any interest. The offensive line coach was, and still is, Rick Trickett, who has coached nearly 40 future pros in his long career, including the 2013 Florida State national champions. Trickett gave Webb an on-the-spot tryout — in the hallway of the Jacksonville State offices.

“I wanna see you do some snaps first,” Trickett said, according to Webb.

So Webb, wearing blue jeans and whatever shirt he picked that day, made a good impression.

Webb didn’t start until the fifth game of his first season. But once he did, he stuck in the lineup, starting the next two seasons, making Conference USA first team in 2024, and getting another ring — when Jacksonville State won the conference championship. That ring, Webb said, means more to him than the Georgia national one.

“Football means a whole lot to me, and it’s been something special in my life for a whole long time,” he said. “But at that point (after leaving Georgia) I was thinking maybe I’m not good enough, or maybe wasn’t able to do this for a living.”

Rich Rodriguez was Jacksonville State’s head coach until returning to West Virginia after this last season.

“I loved coaching Clay,” Rodriguez said through a university spokesman. “He works really hard, has a hard edge and was one of our most consistent players at Jacksonville State. He has a humble personality, is an outstanding player and will be a real asset to any team in the NFL.”

To that end, Webb got the Senior Bowl invite. An AFC scout attending the Senior Bowl, given anonymity in order to be candid, offered this up to The Athletic’s Dane Brugler on Webb: “He was fine when I saw him in September. But his name kept popping up midseason so I revisited him and thought he was getting better and better. And I think that’s continued here. Good to see him at center during practice. Strong dude.”

Webb was asked if he feels again like the guy who was a five-star.

“No. I believe I’ve learned from that point,” he said. “Not to care about rankings, but who I am as a person, and how better I can get every day.”

(Photo of Webb (left) at the Senior Bowl: Vasha Hunt / Imagn Images)