At the start of spring practice head coach Brian Kelly said he wanted to hide sophomore linebacker Jaylon Smith in different positions and make offenses search for him. The new plan turns that strategy upside down. Smith’s new position makes it difficult for opponents to hide from him.
Irish linebacker Jaylon Smith, top, will be playing inside as a sophomore for the first time in his football career.
Smith moved about a third of the way through spring practice from Sam linebacker, the closest translation to the drop position he played as a freshman, to Will linebacker, where he’ll spend more of his time set up inside than outside. Notre Dame’s coaches made the change for several reasons. It simplifies what Smith needs to learn, it puts him in a good spot to make plays and it fills a big need in the middle of the Irish defense.
“Need was another huge factor in that. [We] need to move him in a position where he could impact that defense, and we felt that that was more of an impactful position,” Kelly said.
It wouldn’t be difficult for opponents to create game plans that isolated Smith with certain formations at the Sam position. For example, with three wide receivers split to one side of the field, it’s the Sam’s responsibility to bounce outside and help in coverage. That formation would take Smith away from the pass rush or from stopping the run. It’s much harder for opposing teams to isolate the Will position in a similar way, Kelly said.
The move also makes life more simple for Smith, who was trying to learn multiple positions in a complex and brand new defensive scheme. At the start of spring, he played on one side of the defense in its base and moved to the weak side when Notre Dame pulled one of its linebackers off the field in favor of a nickel back, a personnel group that the Irish plan to use frequently. Switching to the Will keeps him in the same place no matter who the other 10 players on the field are.
“We’re not going to Jaylon off the field under any circumstances,” said linebackers coach Bob Elliott. “He wasn’t a nickel, and we’re going to be in nickel some so he had to learn how to play somewhere else. He kind of learned that and he started showing some stuff, and now we’re thinking maybe he can do that all the time.”
Smith said the deluge of information thrown at him during the first weeks of March is slowly starting to make sense. He said he thinks he has a handle on “a great chunk” of new coordinator Brian VanGorder is trying to accomplish with the new scheme.
Elliott agreed that Smith made progress during the second half of spring ball. He praised the freshman All-American for his sponge-like willingness to learn and take coaching despite his early success. The biggest challenge for Smith will be getting used to seeing the game from a different angle.
“It’s really just every play starts with sight,” Smith said after the team’s spring game Saturday. “All my life I’ve seen the game from an outside perspective, so it’s really just getting used to reading offensive linemen from inside out.”
Smith said he played inside linebacker during one playoff game in his high school career. Other than that, he’s only had to worry about reading offensive players coming in one direction. Lining up as an inside linebacker will require him to expand his peripheral vision to see tight ends, backs and oncoming linemen at different times.
Once he sees the linemen, stopping could be an issue too. Notre Dame’s current linebacker corps as a group is considerably smaller than in years past. Smith is the heaviest of the three projected starters at 235 pounds. Mike linebacker Joe Schmidt weighs 230 pounds and converted safety John Turner, who took over Smith’s spot at the Sam position, was only 217 pounds at the start of spring.
Smith said he has added weight since he started his career last fall, but doesn’t plan to continue getting larger.
“I’m where I need to be,” he said. “I’m 235 and that’s where I want to be. I won’t be getting any bigger. I want to keep my speed.”
That speed was on display during Saturday’s Blue-Gold game when Smith chased down sophomore running back Tarean Folston from the backside of the defense when it looked like Folston has a lot of room to run. He finished the game with six tackles in limiting playing time. Notre Dame is hoping those numbers grow as Smith settles into his new role as one of the team’s top playmakers.
Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith moves to the middle
), and I don't know the rushing numbers for the game, but I thought the offense ran really well for the most part. I know it was a passing frenzy for the most part, but outside of 2 tackles for no gain, I thought the offense moved the ball really well on the ground.
