Heading into the 2015 college football season, linebacker looks as though it could be one of the 2016 NFL draft’s strongest positions. Even so, there is one linebacker whose game appears to stand out above the rest of the class, and that linebacker is Notre Dame junior Jaylon Smith.
Ranked one of the top three recruits in the high school class of 2013 by 247Sports, Rivals and Scout, Smith has legitimized the hype in his first two seasons with the Fighting Irish. Named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press in 2014, Smith has started all 26 games in his Notre Dame career and has already accumulated 179 total tackles, including 15.