Some footage sent out by former Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith on Monday showed him performing football drills without much of an issue.
Unfortunately for the talented draft prospect, medical rechecks of his injured knee reportedly revealed that he will miss the entire 2016 season, and quite possibly beyond that:
After medical rechecks, Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith is not expected to play in 2016 and teams are unsure when he will play again, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 18, 2016
Smith suffered a torn ACL and LCL in the first quarter of Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State back in January. Despite this injury, Smith still declared for the draft.
Prior to his injury, Smith was projected as a high first-round pick. And even with the aforementioned injury, him going somewhere in the first round was somewhat likely.
This all changes now.
Smart money would still say that Smith will be drafted at some point, but it’s now more likely going to be as a mid-to-late round project pick, as opposed to an early-round selection.
Smith racked up 115 tackles for the Fighting Irish this past season. He also recorded one sack, nine tackles for loss, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries en route to an All-American performance.