Jaylon Smith Riding the Road to Recovery
By Chase Eyrich
Jaylon Smith is walking without a knee brace
According to Mike Mayock, if it were not for Jaylon Smith’s injury, he might have been the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft. Smith suffered a torn ACL and MCL during the Fiesta Bowl.
Anyone who watched Smith during his time at ND knows just how hard of a worker he is and how hard he would work at his rehab. Its paying off as he tweeted a video today of him walking without a knee brace.
Amazing walking without the knee brace six days after being restricted for six weeks and feels fantastic! pic.twitter.com/dAW8OW09Ke
— Jaylon Smith (@thejaylonsmith) February 24, 2016
You can tell that he is still gingerly walking on it but this gives hopes to all Smiths fans and could be an important moment to NFL teams looking at him.
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After three phenomenal seasons with Notre Dame, even after his injury, Smith is still likely to be a first round pick. Smith is recovering about as well as he could if not better. Its been known that a full recovery is expected to happen but there is a chance that Smith would be sitting out his entire rookie season.
Everyone is hesitant on taking Smith, which is very reasonable if you saw one of the multiple replays of the gruesome injury. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, lets just say knees are not meant to bend that way.
The former Butkus Award recipient racked up 284 tackles in his three seasons with the Irish, per Sports-reference.com.
Next: Golson At Notre Dame's Pro Day?
It’s a long road of recovery ahead for Smith and he should definitely sit out part of his rookie season until he is cleared and 100 percent. The only question is where will he land come April 28th in the NFL Draft?