Notre Dame LB Smith to skip senior season, enter NFL draft

“Really just looking forward to the future, with my decision and moving forward”, Smith said.

Smith underwent surgery last week and Sports Illustrated reported Smith’s nerve in the knee “was healthy and in great condition”, also reporting the surgery “went about as well as it possibly could have”. Smith would likely have been a first round pick, but that is now up in the air.

Consensus All-American Jaylon Smith is National Football League bound, the fifth Irish player to declare for the draft.

NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah polled some NFL personal executives on who they thought the safest potential prospects out there were, and Smith was the only player who was named a few times.

Notre Dame junior linebacker and 2015 Butkus Award victor Jaylon Smith officially announced on Monday that he will forego his senior season and enter the 2016 NFL Draft.

Smith started all 39 games in his three-year Irish career, but a serious knee injury in the first quarter of the Fiesta Bowl puts his draft projection in limbo. With the adversity I’m going through right now, dealing with the knee injury, I have the same vision.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell tweeted that Smith has a $5 million loss-of-value policy that he would collect if he dropped out of the first round. The Fort Wayne native led Notre Dame in total tackles (113), solo tackles (68), assisted tackles (45), pass breakups (five) and fumble recoveries (two) during the regular season.

Underclassmen have until a January 18 deadline to apply for early draft eligibility.