Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/109499
staff of the 600-student school has been here before. Smith's jersey is the second number to hang from the metaphorical rafters inside the school's gym. The first belonged to Deshaun Thomas, a five-star hoops recruit and a McDonald's AllAmerican currently playing at Ohio State. From the athletic office at the center of the one-story building to the principal's office tucked inside its front door, they do their best to keep Smith's feet tethered to the ground. They remind him on OLB Jaylon Smith Friday afternoons that he should be going to the movies and hanging out at the mall during the weekend. They create projects to keep him engaged in school and giving back to the community. They ask him what he thinks of all the awards that have piled up around his feet. He responds with a straight face that he thinks nothing of them; he hasn't accomplished anything yet. So Smith occasionally goes to the mall on weekends. He works his shift at Burger King on Sundays. He smiles at strangers who want his signature and tries not to get jaded by the whole thing before his 18th birthday. Sometimes he slips into the student body to cheer for classmates and disappear. "It's just remembering that I'm just a kid," he said. "A regular kid looking for opportunities to be great." Jaylon Smith is at once a man in a kid's world and a kid in a man's world. He's running at full speed to remain the same in both. Is he fast enough? ✦ 6-3 ✦ 225 ✦ Bishop Luers H.S. ✦ Fort Wayne, Ind. Notable: Born on June 14, 1995 … Runs a 4.50-second 40-yard dash and a 4.15-second 20-yard shuttle … Bench presses 275 pounds and squats 445, has a standing broad jump of nine feet, eight inches and a vertical leap of 32.6 inches … Played basketball for three seasons and averaged 18.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a junior … Plans to major in finance in the Mendoza School of Business … Trained at Athletes With Purpose along with former and current Irish players such as Tony Springmann, Tyler Eifert and John Goodman … Older brother, Rod, plays running back for Ohio State. Rankings: Rated as a five-star recruit, the No. 1 player in Indiana, the No. 1 outside linebacker in the nation and the No. 5 overall prospect in the country by 247Sports … Ranked as a five-star recruit, the No. 1 player in Indiana, the No. 1 linebacker in the country and the No. 3 player in the land by Rivals.com … A five-star prospect and the No. 1 outside linebacker in the country according to Scout.com … A five-star prospect, the second-best outside linebacker in the country, the best player in the Midwest and the seventh-best player in the nation according to ESPNU … Listed as the No. 18 prospect in the country and the No. 1 outside linebacker nationally by Tom