Louisville football: Despite poor season, Jaylen Smith still has bright NFL future

Despite a poor showing in his senior season for Louisville football, Jaylen Smith could be the biggest steal of the 2019 NFL Draft.

In January, Louisville football star wide receiver Jaylen Smith had a tough decision to make that would impact his future as a football player for years to come. Declare for the NFL draft as a junior after a record season or return to Louisville for one final season and try and climb into the top two rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Though he finished the 2017-18 season with 53 receptions for 980 yards and 7 touchdowns, Smith missed three games with a significant wrist injury, one that would linger into the offseason and require surgery to get back to 100% before the new season.

At the time Smith was being talked about as a possible third or fourth round pick, but with a healthy and strong senior season, the 6’1, 220 pound wide receiver could potentially jump into the top round or few first few picks of round #2.

That’s exactly what Smith elected to do to the delight of Louisville fans.

With a new QB in Puma Pass, who was at the time expected to step right into the shoes of Lamar Jackson and keep the Louisville program moving forward, Smith had every intention and possibility of surpassing his junior season statistics.

But then.. Louisville football as we knew it came crashing down and for Smith, the decision to return back to the Ville was proved to be rather costly.

First an emergency appendectomy during the heat of game preparation leading up to Alabama set Smith back, keeping him out of practice for several weeks and limiting his play once he hit the field with the Cardinals in week 1.

After he was finally healthy, poor QB play from Jawon Pass and Malik Cunningham kept Smith from getting the quality targets that he needed to get going and show the nation that he was still a hot commodity at the next level. With head coach Bobby Petrino changing QB’s nearly every game, Smith never was able to build rapport with his guys and the numbers showed it.

Smith finished the season with 36 receptions, 550 yards, and just one touchdown, regressing back to similar production from his sophomore season. After having 4 games with 90+ yards, and 3 with 100+ in 2017-18, Smith had just 2 games with 100+ yards and only one touchdown, which came from Jordan Travis against Indiana State.

After the completion of his senior season, Smith wasn’t showing on some NFL draft boards, even as a late round pick. But now with an opportunity to showcase his talents in front of NFL scouts and management at the Senior Bowl, Smith is a name that more people need to be reminded of.

The talent that I saw on the field in 2017-18 from Jaylen Smith was such of that of a high caliber NFL receiver. Smith’s performances  against Purdue, North Carolina, and Virginia, just to name a few, led me to believe that the then junior wide receiver could be a first round caliber prospect in 2018.

I watched him disappear in games during the 2019 season, and look like a completely player than what I saw the year previous. But with everything that happened this season, not having a QB who could get him the ball proved costly. Yet, I still believe that guy I saw tear up several ACC defenses for three seasons at Louisville is a first rounder caliber prospect.

His size (6’1, 227 pounds) gives him a huge advantage over most cornerbacks and safeties. His speed is good enough to break free from some of the fastest cover guys. But most importantly his route running is polished, and the more he gets to showcase that for NFL teams the faster his name is going to rise. The Draft Network wrote about Smith’s talent at wide receiver, saying:

"“Smith is a smooth mover for his size with good quickness in and out of his breaks. It’s apparent that he knows how to attack coverage and find space to get open. He accelerates quickly out of his stance and generates strong vertical push in his stem. He attack”s leverage advantages and spacing which leads to him getting loose in the secondary.”"

Jaylen Smith will no doubt have to face some tough questions at both the Senior Bowl and the NFL Draft Combine about why he took such a big step back from his junior to senior season. Other star wide receivers have had big seasons with new QB’s under center, and with the way Louisville looked offensively and as an entire team, Smith deserves to have to face some heat.

Regardless of what happened his senior season, Smith is one of the most talented receivers at the collegiate level and is going to make some team in the NFL very happy.

With a strong showing in Mobile against some of the Nation’s top draft prospects, Jaylen Smith is a name that will be on the rise. Come May, we could easily be talking about the former Louisville wide receiver as one of the best receivers in the draft.