The Notre Dame coaching staff spent the last two years trying to find the best way to utilize linebacker Jaylon Smith’s skill set.
Jaylon Smith spent Wednesday's practice at Sam linebacker. He will cross-train between Sam and Will linebacker for the rest of spring practice.
Smith played on the outside as a Sam (strongside) linebacker his freshman season before being moved to Will (weakside) linebacker for his sophomore campaign.
The rising junior spent the first nine practices this spring in the same role he played last fall at Will linebacker. But Wednesday marked Smith’s first day in a similar role to the one he played as a freshman.
Smith, who led the team with 112 tackles in 2014, will cross-train between Sam and Will linebacker for the remainder of spring practice. The move allows the coaching staff to reconfigure the linebackers as they search for a way to play their three best linebackers simultaneously.
Prior to Wednesday, junior James Onwualu spent the spring working exclusively at Sam linebacker. He started and made 24 tackles in the outside position last fall. The converted safety's skill set suits him better in pass coverage in the outside position than Smith, and any decision to swap personnel would be dependent on the situation. Onwualu would be favored more in passing situations.
“(…) When he’s asked to play out in space, his ability to play in coverage, if the ball gets thrown out on the perimeter he can handle that slot receiver,” said Irish head coach Brian Kelly. “Protect the ball being thrown out there and do a very good job of coverage out there.”
On the contrary, a two-tight end package means Smith—a 6-foot-3, 235-pound linebacker—would fill in for the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Onwualu.
“Now if you put a tight end on the field and you want to play physical football, that’s not what (Onwualu’s) role is,” Kelly said. “We would make a situational substitution. We can now look to a bigger, physical presence on the perimeter with James Onwualu.
‘So if you want to put a tight end there, if you want to play more physical, we’ve got a guy like Jaylon who could step up and play there.”
The ability to play Smith in two areas allows Notre Dame’s defense to be more versatile, but perhaps more importantly, it opens up space for fifth-year seniors Joe Schmidt and Jarrett Grace to side-by-side.
Grace made three starts at Mike (middle) linebacker in 2013 before a fractured fibula kept him sidelined for nearly 17 months. Meanwhile, Schmidt—a former walk-on—emerged as a captain and one of Notre Dame’s most important players on defense. The defense’s structure crumbled after Schmidt was lost for the season after suffering an ankle injury as the Irish dropped four games in a row.
Kelly’s said Schmidt can play Will linebacker in addition to his position at Mike linebacker last fall. This opens the door for the possibility of Smith (Sam), Schmidt (Will) and Grace (Mike) playing together.
“I think we’ve all talked about with Joe Schmidt now and Jarrett Grace and Nyles Morgan, we’ve got to find a place for all these guys,” Kelly said. “Those are inside guys. And so we’ve got to be able to get all these guys on the field.
“Jaylon now allows us in certain situations to move him out on the perimeter if we want to get, let’s say we wanted to get Joe Schmidt and Jarrett Grace on the field with Jaylon, we can now do that. So we have to be able to look at that to get the right set of linebackers on the field at the same time.”
Smith’s Versatility Offers Irish Options At Linebacker
