Notre Dame Football Recruiting: Smythe Signs Letter of Intent
By Andrew Hall
Tight End
3-Star
Belton, Texas
Commitment Date: 1/25/13
Smythe committed to Notre Dame late in the process after de-committing from Texas. His final schools were Notre Dame, Stanford and Michigan. An official visit on January 25, 2013 sealed the deal for a longtime Notre Dame fan. Brian Kelly and his staff landed a quality Tight End that could develop into an excellent pass catching Tight End down the road. He is not Tyler Eifert but any stretch of the imagination. But he will be excellent catching the ball for the Irish by his Junior year.
From the Slap the Sign Evaluation:
"The 6’6’’ 230 pound Tight End from Belton, Texas brings both blocking skills and receiving skills to the table. Smythe can be thought of more as a blocker by many evaluators. Even though he does not “wow” you with his catches he has great hands.Route running is a different story. He makes some good breaks on slant and post routes. But it is the quickness of those breaks that he lacks. Smythe runs a 4.75 40 yard dash, which is decent for a Tight End of his. Kyle Rudolph turned into a great player at Notre Dame and is now very successful in the NFL. Smythe can be compared to him in size. But strength, ball skills and speed are areas where he has a long way to go.Smythe is the second Tight End to commit in 2013 class along with 4-star player Mike Heuerman. They will have to compete with Troy Niklas, Ben Koyack and Alex Welch for playing time next season. Ben Koyack has not lived up to his 5 star rating as a high school player, but he still has time. Welch was hurt last season and that opened the gate for Troy Niklas who will probably get the most playing time out of the three. Smythe will more than likely not play until his Sophomore or Junior years, but if injuries occur or guys fail to perform he could come onto the scene early and often."