Harrison Smith Scouting Report S Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Harrison Smith is a rarity in the modern day football landscape. A player who is looking to make the smart football play, and not the highlight reel play. He’s tall for a safety and lacks elite athletic ability,but he’s a very good solid football player.

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Measurables

6’3″ 213 pounds

4.57 40 yard dash, 32 5/8″ arms, 10 1/4″ hands, 19 bench press reps

Stats:

2011:

2010:

Pros:

Really instinctive player who knows his assignments well and isn’t going to get beat over the top because he gets fooled or because he takes unnecessary chances..Good, sure tackler in the open field…the size  to cover tight ends in the N.F.L…Takes good angles in run pursuit

Cons:

A little stiff in coverage, a Strong Safety only in the N.F.L…Doesn’t have blazing speed…doesn’t make a ton of plays on the football in the air, more takes advantage of mistake passes..Doesn’t have great recovery speed..

Round Projection: 4th round

Thoughts:

There’s a lot to like about Harrison Smith, who is just a very smart football player. He’s not without athletic ability, because he clearly has that and he also has good size, but the strength of the game is how fundamentally sound he is in all aspects of his game. He is as good of an open field-wrap up tackler as there is, he doesn’t get fooled often by play action or misdirection plays, and he doesn’t try to make a highlight reel interception in the wrong situation. He looks a little stiff in coverage and gets more of his interceptions on bad quarterback passes then he does on making plays on the football (last year three of his 7 interceptions came against Miami, this year five of his 9 pass deflections have come against Michigan State), but he’s not going to cost a team touchdowns either. He just does everything pretty well and everything right.

Norte Dame bio:

CAREER: One of six fifth-year seniors on scholarship on 2011 Irish roster (David Ruffer, Mike Ragone, Andrew Nuss, Gary Gray and Taylor Dever are the others) … athletic and versatile player has experience playing safety and linebacker in his Notre Dame career … serves as the Irish captain in 2011… the only player in Irish football history to register more than 200 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and 15 pass breakups in a career … leads or tied for lead among active Irish players in just about every defensive category, including games (38, tied), games started (34), total tackles (214), solo tackles (134), pass breakups (18), passes defended (25) and interceptions (seven) … his 15.5 tackles for loss are third most on team … has recorded three and a half career sacks and forced one fumble … did not play as freshman but practiced that season at safety … moved to linebacker as sophomore and started nine games for Irish at strong-side linebacker … started at both safety and linebacker in 2009.

NFLmocks preseason bio:

Not going to blow anybody away athletically, but he is the type of player that EVERY NFL team will want to have on their side. Team captain who has played both linebacker and safety for the Irish, but a guy who really broke out in 2010 as a starting safety. Started for the Irish as a linebacker as a sophomore, and played both linebacker and safety in his junior season before becoming a full time safety in 2010. Smith has started 34 of his career 38 games, and has 219 total career tackles to go along with 15.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, a forced fumble, 18 passes broken up, and seven interceptions, all of which came when he moved to safety. If Smith can continue to show improvement as the leader of the defensive backfield, he should be a fourth round pick or better because of his versatility, durability, and toughness. In his first year as a full time safety, he had 93 tackles and seven interceptions–the complete package. These are the kind of players you love to add to your team. He is the heart and soul of the Notre Dame team, and is the team captain for 2011. He is the type of player that you just hate to play against and love to root for.

Video:

JoshMTD on youtube…visit mockingthedraft.com

2011 vs South Florida

Jmpasq (visitdraftbreakdown.com)

vs Stanford and Miami