Notre Dame Football: How Jahmir Smith’s departure impacts the team

Losing running back Jahmir Smith dings the depth chart a little, but won’t have a huge effect on Notre Dame football.

In his press conference on Monday, head coach Brian Kelly announced that running back Jahmir Smith has left the Notre Dame football team. Here is how his departure impacts the Irish roster.

When Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly spoke with the media on Monday, he shared some surprising news. Junior running back Jahmir Smith has left the team and will now enter the transfer portal.

Smith was a three-star prospect out of Sanford, North Carolina. He was one of two running backs in Notre Dame’s 2018 recruiting class.

Smith played a significant role in Notre Dame’s offense during the 2019 season. He appeared in ten games and finished the year with 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 42 carries.

Most Irish fans thought Smith would play a similar role in 2020, but that has not been the case. After running the ball five times in the season opener against Duke, Smith has not recorded a carry or a catch in Notre Dame’s last three games.

Through four games this season, Smith has the fewest number of carries of the five scholarship running backs on Notre Dame’s roster. He even has fewer total rushing yards than punter Jay Bramblett.

So far the vast majority of the workload in the run game has gone to sophomore Kyren Williams and true freshman Chris Tyree. The rest of the running backs on the roster have struggled to earn playing time. Junior C’Bo Flemister appears to be third in line for carries, but he only has 14 rushing attempts in four games.

The news of Smith leaving the team does not impact the running back depth chart all that much. Behind Williams and Tyree, the Irish still have C’Bo Flemister and Jafar Armstrong. In an emergency scenario, the Irish could also move Avery Davis back to running back.

Whenever you have a crowded position group on your roster, you can expect players to explore the possibility of transferring. That is exactly what Smith has decided to do.

Since the 2020 season is already underway, I do not think we will learn where Smith is heading until the spring. He will have two years of eligibility remaining, and will likely have to sit out a year. Although, he could petition for immediate eligibility.