Despite suffering a serious knee injury on Jan. 1 in the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith has decided to move on to the NFL.
Smith recently underwent surgery to repair the torn ACL and LCL in his left knee and is expected to make a full recovery. As a junior this season, Smith won the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker. He finished with 115 tackles and nine tackles for loss. He also had 111 tackles in 2014 and 58 tackles in 2013 as a freshman.
Smith was projected as a high first round pick before the injury. His stock will undoubtedly slide a bit, but as we saw with Georgia’s Todd Gurley, he could still be picked in the first round. Gurley tore his ACL during his final season with the Bulldogs, but was still picked tenth overall by the St. Louis Rams. He sat out the beginning of the NFL season, but finished third in the league with 1,106 rushing yards.
Smith is now the fifth Notre Dame underclassman to declare for the draft. Running back C.J. Prosise, wideout Will Fuller, offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley and cornerback KeiVarae Russell also decided to leave school early for the NFL.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
