Jaylon Smith

Jaylon Smith

Smith at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, 2013
Notre Dame Fighting Irish No. 9
Position Outside linebacker
Class Sophomore
Career history
College
High school Fort Wayne (IN) Bishop Luers
Personal information
Date of birth June 14, 1995
Place of birth Fort Wayne, Indiana
Height 6 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1.892 m)
Weight 235 lb (107 kg)
Career highlights and awards
Stats at ESPN.com

Jaylon Smith (born June 14, 1995) is an American football outside linebacker for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

High school career

Smith attended Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was a letterman in football, basketball and track. In football, he won the Butkus Award as a senior, given to the best high school linebacker in the country,[1][2] and was named the Mr.Football award winner for the state of Indiana. He helped Bishop Luers to 40-28 win over Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter in 2012 Indiana 2A title game while rushing for 150 yards and scoring three touchdowns, as Bishop Luers became first Indiana 2A school to win four straight state titles. He finished with 1,265 rushing yards and 18 TDs on 176 attempts as senior in 2012 to go with 10 receptions for 66 yards and two more TDs. Defensively, he recorded 72 tackles (43 solo), 19.5 tackles for loss, eight sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and seven pass deflections. In basketball, he played as a freshman, sophomore and junior, and was teammates with former Ohio State star Deshaun Thomas.

In track & field, Smith competed in events ranging from the relays to the shot put as a senior. At the 2013 IHSAA T&F Sectional, he took fourth in the shot put, with a PR of 14.81 meters (48 ft 6 in), and ran the lead leg on first-place 4x100m (43.43) and fourth leg on second-place 4x400m (3:27.08).[3] At the 2013 SAC T&F Meet, he anchored the Bishop Luers' 4x100m relay team, winning the event with a time of 42.91 seconds, and the 4x400m, which finished in third place, while also placing third in the shot put (47 ft 5 in) and eight in the 400-meter dash (53.46 s).[4]

Recruiting

Smith signed his letter of intent on February 6, 2013 and committed to attend and play football at the University of Notre Dame.[5] He is considered the best outside linebacker recruit of his class by Rivals.com and Scout.com.[6][7] He played in the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight 40‡ Commit date
Jaylon Smith
LB		 Fort Wayne, Indiana Bishop Luers High School 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 219 lb (99 kg) 4.59 Jun 2, 2012 
Scout:5/5 stars   Rivals:5/5 stars   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 90
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 1 (OLB), 2 (school)   Rivals: 1 (LB), 1 (IN), 3 (national), 5 (school)  ESPN: 2 (LB), 1 (IN), 1 (regional)
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

College career

Freshman

In 2013, Smith won the starting DOG linebacker position beating out Ben Councell, after incumbent starter Danny Spond had to retire due to migraine issues.[8][9] Starting all 13 games, he recorded 67 tackles, including 6.5 for loss, one forced fumble, three pass break ups and one interception. His best game came in a 34-30 victory against Arizona State, where he recorded nine tackles, including 1.5 for loss. He notched his first career interception against USC on a pass thrown by Cody Kessler.

Sophomore

With the arrival of new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, he was moved to an inside linebacker position.[10] He was one of three players to start all 13 games on defense, recording 112 tackles, including nine for loss, and 3.5 sacks, adding two pass breakups and one forced fumble. He was named the FBS Independent Co-Defensive Player of the Year, along with teammate Joe Schmidt IV and was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press.[11][12]

References

External links