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ND's newest recruit

huff60

Irish Expert
Gold Member
Oct 12, 2005
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What makes him special? I read Bryan's thumbnail analysis and I looked at his offer sheet ( he's obviously a good student) but overall , isn't it average?
Can anyone tell us? Maybe he is but on paper, it seems hard to justify.
No?
 
What makes him special? I read Bryan's thumbnail analysis and I looked at his offer sheet ( he's obviously a good student) but overall , isn't it average?
Can anyone tell us? Maybe he is but on paper, it seems hard to justify.
No?
You either trust the coaching staff or you don't t. I ll take their opinions over the star awarders all day long everyday.
 
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2000 yards and 40 TDs last year. Incredible instincts running between the tackles. Can't tell about his 40 time or hands. His film as a downhill runner is really good.
 
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He is a 3 star. Wasn't Josh Adams a 3 star too. I would a Josh Adams all day long. Welcome to the Irish family!!
 
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received offers from all 8 Ivy league schools, 4.43 GPA, wants to be a doctor, have seen him play in person..worthy of the offer, reminded me of Wayne Bullock
 
ND's coaching staff had him higher than what Stars he is currently rated.
Long was looking for RBs like him to fit his scheme, so he got what he wanted.
Stepp is top 10 & Smith is top 25, so that is two power RBs in the top 25 for this class.
And don't be surprised if Smith's Stars go up.
Either way he is what they wanted.
 
Ok. I guess. Still, it seems to be a question whether he is filling a need for ND or is ND simply filling a need .
 
Running back and Wide Receiver are the two positions that "star ranking" matters the least at. At the high school level nearly every team's best athlete is at one of those two offensive positions so there is just an abundance of talent. Every year there are probably 20+ former 2-3 (even no star) WR's and RB's that get picked in the NFL Draft. It's so incredibly hard to rank all the good ones. You could literally have a top 150 for just WR's and RB's and all of them would be very good players.

Take, for example, the Scout rankings this year. I believe they have 28 WR's ranked in their top 140 recruits, 27 or so ranked ahead of Kevin Austin Jr. First of all, there ARE NOT 27 receivers in this class better than Kevin. That is a complete joke. That said, the subjective ranking difference between maybe 10 and 28 is so marginal that you have no idea who is going to work hard, develop better or who has intangibles that weren't included in the rankings... Look around college football, nowhere will you find more former 2-3 star players making huge impacts than at WR and RB.

So what do I think of Jahmir Smith? I think he's solid. To me he is a mixture of Tarean Folston and Jonas Gray. That could mean Julius Jones if he maximizes his upside, or he could never see meaningful reps. 5'11, 200lbs. Really good size heading into his senior season. Will probably play around 215lbs in college and he'll be a bruiser. Decisive back. One cut runner. Lacks top end speed and doesn't have much in the way of wiggle or lateral quickness. Punishes tacklers, however, and like Josh Adams, finishes runs and has that seemingly rare knack for falling forward after contact and always getting a couple extra yards.

Solid overall addition. Keeps the RB group strong. Doesn't upgrade the position at all, but adds quality depth. If you want to see what the ND offense would ideally look like under Long if he had all the pieces he wanted, watch film of 2014-2015 Baylor. Very quick hitting, vertical running game from shotgun and pistol, supported by vertical play action passes and RPO's. Long will pass to the backs more and use more tight ends than Briles did, because he was schooled by Norvell and those are two of his trademarks, but the overall running game would resemble Baylor's. Watch Smith's film and it's evident how his decisive, downhill, style fits that type of attack.

Jahmir Smith's junior film



Baylor rushing attack under Briles



Watch Linwood and the Baylor rushing attack go to work against TCU. Then picture Jahmir Smith in Linwood's role.
 
His running style reminds me of Ricky Williams at Texas. He still has his senior season so his stars may rise. Smart athletic kids will work for ND.
 
Running back and Wide Receiver are the two positions that "star ranking" matters the least at. At the high school level nearly every team's best athlete is at one of those two offensive positions so there is just an abundance of talent. Every year there are probably 20+ former 2-3 (even no star) WR's and RB's that get picked in the NFL Draft. It's so incredibly hard to rank all the good ones. You could literally have a top 150 for just WR's and RB's and all of them would be very good players.

Take, for example, the Scout rankings this year. I believe they have 28 WR's ranked in their top 140 recruits, 27 or so ranked ahead of Kevin Austin Jr. First of all, there ARE NOT 27 receivers in this class better than Kevin. That is a complete joke. That said, the subjective ranking difference between maybe 10 and 28 is so marginal that you have no idea who is going to work hard, develop better or who has intangibles that weren't included in the rankings... Look around college football, nowhere will you find more former 2-3 star players making huge impacts than at WR and RB.

So what do I think of Jahmir Smith? I think he's solid. To me he is a mixture of Tarean Folston and Jonas Gray. That could mean Julius Jones if he maximizes his upside, or he could never see meaningful reps. 5'11, 200lbs. Really good size heading into his senior season. Will probably play around 215lbs in college and he'll be a bruiser. Decisive back. One cut runner. Lacks top end speed and doesn't have much in the way of wiggle or lateral quickness. Punishes tacklers, however, and like Josh Adams, finishes runs and has that seemingly rare knack for falling forward after contact and always getting a couple extra yards.

Solid overall addition. Keeps the RB group strong. Doesn't upgrade the position at all, but adds quality depth. If you want to see what the ND offense would ideally look like under Long if he had all the pieces he wanted, watch film of 2014-2015 Baylor. Very quick hitting, vertical running game from shotgun and pistol, supported by vertical play action passes and RPO's. Long will pass to the backs more and use more tight ends than Briles did, because he was schooled by Norvell and those are two of his trademarks, but the overall running game would resemble Baylor's. Watch Smith's film and it's evident how his decisive, downhill, style fits that type of attack.

Jahmir Smith's junior film



Baylor rushing attack under Briles



Watch Linwood and the Baylor rushing attack go to work against TCU. Then picture Jahmir Smith in Linwood's role.

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more simply and candidly put: the best RB still 'available' to ND.
 
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more simply and candidly put: the best RB still 'available' to ND.

I think that's a gross over simplification. It's not always a matter of "best" when it comes to running backs. Often times it can be "best fit". Obviously the coaches wanted Keaontay Ingram and TJ Pledger and got neither, but Smith was high on their list. Very productive recruit, with a quality offer list and a good film. Not a world beater, but an excellent fit for the offense and a kid that could easily out produce a number of running backs ranked ahead of him, at the college level. See Josh Adams as a perfect example of that.
 
IIO

geez
you know darned well Adams ( a solid composite 4* as it was) was injured and would have been much higher ranked.
"...Josh Adams, who suffered the debilitating injury in his junior season at Central Bucks South (Pa.) High School...."
"...Adams attended Central Bucks High School South in Warrington, Pennsylvania. As a sophomore, he rushed for 2,085 yards and 28 touchdowns. He rushed for 738 yards and 10 touchdowns his junior year in 2013 before suffering a torn ACL..."
Can we stop with the references to Adam's as some sort of discovered diamond in the rough!
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list the all the RB's that have recieved offers this cycle; list their interest in ND (high to low)
There are only 5-7 RB's that look to be above the 'pack'; after that there is a lot of talent that appears to be very close in ability. Who among them will be a star? Who knows.

I do agree that this may be a case of a player best fitting the envisioned team offensive scheme to be installed. (But as yet, no one has seen that actual offensive plan to be installed. This is really Long's first opportunity to be 'the guy'; assuming Kelly is hands off. Any references to a 'Chip Long Offense' are as yet premature to baseless. He has so far run offenses that were previously established by the existing H.C.
 
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IIO

This is really Long's first opportunity to be 'the guy'; assuming Kelly is hands off. Any references to a 'Chip Long Offense' are as yet premature to baseless. He has so far run offenses that were previously established by the existing H.C.
Aren't all pre-season comments or posts baseless??

This is an internet comment board, after all. Nothing posted here is listed as fact and no one claims as much. It's all opinions. Some more valuable than others......
 
re read?

'Chip Long Offense'; it has not existed prior to coming to ND.
There have been references here to 'his offense' as if his prior stops were 'his' offenses.

We will see the unveiling at ND.
 
The picture on the front page of him shows enormous hips, thighs and calves. He is a power runner that breaks tackles and is always going forward, even when being tackled.

I have now read or heard him compared to Elijah Hood 4 times. Power runner who will play at around 215. He also sounds like a guy who won't renege on his commitment.
 
They talked about him on SportsBeat last night. They said four things that stuck with me: he loves running through would be tacklers, arm tackles won't bring him down, he isn't caught by defenders from being, and another recruiting site said he was very close to that fourth star.
 
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