Smith won the 2015 Butkus Award as the nation’s best linebacker and might have gone in the top five if not for his injury. “I just want to encourage him”. “I mean, he is really good”, said Marinelli. The one time it was most feasible, Jaylon enrolled at Catholic school Bishop Luers as a freshman while Rod was finishing up as a senior at public school Harding.
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Watching from his hometown of Fort Wayne, the former Irish linebacker and captain went with the 3rd pick of the 2nd round and 34th overall selection to the Dallas Cowboys.
On Day 2 of the draft Friday, the Cowboys wanted to use their early pick in the second round on Oklahoma State defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and then trade back into the middle of the round to select injured Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith. There is “foot-drop”. Following the injury, Smith’s draft stock fell and most analysts projected him to be a fourth or fifth round pick.
Cooper is also the Cowboys’ head team physician.
Smith is 54th linebacker from Notre Dame to be drafted and is the first since Prince Shembo in 2014. “I’m just ready to get that rookie minicamp in and get that started”.
“He said I am going to have a great team playing for coach [Jason] Garrett and [running backs coach Gary] Brown”. Smith is every bit as fast and fluid as he is powerful, however, slipping by (or leaping over) would-be blockers in the running game and dropping effectively in coverage.
“You know, 99 percent of guys, including me, would be bawling”, Notre Dame strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo said at pro day. “Everything is just progressing”.
It has been an unbelievable two days for the Ohio State program and the players that have been selected. Now, looking at what we got and looking at what we’ve got with Smith and relative to the team, we won’t know how meaningful this is for a long time. Smith is an instinctive, heady player who puts himself in the right place at the right time and is rarely out of position. That opens up plenty of speculation about what they might do with any of their remaining picks, even the second-rounder, in terms of finding a young quarterback.
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Now with a future hall of famer throwing to him on Sundays, you can bet that Thomas will have plenty more highlight reel catches to add in the years to come.
