Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/109499
Smith was "a lanky pup" when he tried out for Ledo's regional seven-on-seven team as a sophomore. In a version of the sport typically dominated by wide receivers and cornerbacks, Smith changed games by eliminating the middle of the field as a linebacker. When asked to line up against smaller slot receivers in press coverage, he made a habit of lifting them clean off the turf. The Midwest's best players couldn't challenge Smith, so Ledo did. He told the pup that success in his junior year would be measured not by how many scholarship offers he stacked up, but how many he could help his teammates procure. Six members of the 15-man roster faxed national letter of intents to their future schools on the first Wednesday of February. Several more are expected to sign offers next year when they are eligible. Jared Murphy is a 5-9, 165-pound speedy slot receiver who will play at Miami (Ohio) next fall. He is the Robby Toma to Smith's Te'o, and he gives the big defender credit for getting him looks that his own size would have otherwise kept him from getting. "There's no doubt about it. Every guy on our team that has a scholarship, Jaylon was a big part of it," Murphy said. "He just loves to compete. Some of the other big-name guys wouldn't show up [to regional events in the summer] because they knew they already had their scholarships, but Jaylon's mentality was he knew that he was helping us every-