Irish LB Smith could miss 2016 season; maybe more … NFL Network sources are reporting that medical tests done on injured Notre Dame LB Jaylon Smith revealed that in fact he suffered nerve damage to both the knee and ankle when he tore his ACL and MCL in the Irish’s Fiesta Bowl loss to ohio State in early January. After the initial surgery after the injury, there were reports that there was no nerve damage leading to hopes that Smith wou;ld be ready to play sometime early in the upcoming season. However, those hopes appear to have been dashed by today’s reports which suggest that more than a few teams now doubt whether he will be able to play at all in 2016 and that there are in fact no guarantees for 2017. All of this, if true, will no doubt have a major impact on where Smith is ultimately selected in this April’s draft. He’d be a top 5-10 talent if healthy and would probably still be a first-round candidate if he had only suffered the torn ligaments, but with these additional issues all bets are off. Stay tuned
