Notre Dame LB Jaylen Sneed Keeping Focus Small to Make Big Plays
The year three jump has always been relevant at Notre Dame.
It makes sense as student-athletes understand what it takes to succeed on the field or court at this level while also having experience in how to balance their academic and social life.
Linebacker Jaylen Sneed is an interesting study when it comes to the year three jump. The South Carolina native has continued to flash, but Sneed also hasn’t found the consistency Al Golden and Max Bullough desperately need from him.
That said, Sneed sits No. 5 on the team in tackles with 29 and tied for No. 3 in tackles for loss.
The 6-foot-1, 224-pounder is fresh off a career-high nine tackles against Navy, so Saturday’s game against Florida State will be a significant one for Sneed as he hopes to show he can produce every week.
How does Sneed do that? It starts with keeping everything small.
“It just means being really good at my preparation,” Sneed said. “Honestly, you just have to be able to study one thing at a time. Pin it in a box with something else. That’s what’s been the best for me. Just being able to pin things in boxes that go together and makes sense to me.”
Golden would love to have Sneed in the front seven box more as he knows the junior linebacker has the ability to be a dynamic player as long as he’s focused on the right details.
“What matters is your growth, your development, your maturity, your ability to execute the defense and then occasionally take it beyond the design that’s on the paper,” stated Golden. “There’s very few people in the program that can do that.”
And yes, Golden’s defense is built on structure and being assignment-sound, but he also knows his players need to have conviction in being playmakers outside the scheme. To this point, Sneed has made big-time plays for Notre Dame, but also missed a few simple ones. Yet, Golden still believes in Sneed and his ability to make game-changing plays.
“He’s one of those guys that can impact a game,” explained Golden. “Whether it’s the violent hit against Stanford a year ago, his violent hit against Purdue, causing a fumble; the tackle last week against Navy. Those are big-time plays that, if on all the other ones that maybe he doesn’t have the opportunity to show that he just does his job, then those plays will avail themselves to him. That’s where he’s cashing in on those right now.”
Sneed will be the first to admit that playing in Golden’s defense has been an adjustment as it’s so assignment-driven. Like most top high school linebackers, Sneed didn’t have many responsibilities other than finding the football.
“Yeah, in high school it was see-ball get-ball, but now it’s more assignment football and that’s why it took me so long to get on the field because I really wanted to get my assignments down,” said Sneed.
“If you’re taught to go to the A-gap, you have to go to the A-gap every time because if you’re not in the A-gap, that’s where they’re going to run it.”
Notre Dame’s linebackers have also been helping each other out with preparation, so the assignments are clear for everyone on Saturday.
“Me, Jack (Kiser), Drayk (Bowen), Jaiden (Ausberry), and Kyngstonn (Viliamu-Asa) always get together,” Sneed explained. “We have a group chat, so when we’re watching film, everybody is always sending videos and texting in it, so I think that’s always a great thing that also helps me out.”
As Notre Dame enters the stretch run with a Saturday night clash with 1-8 Florida State, Sneed and his teammates are constantly reminded of what happened in game two, so there isn’t a letdown, as the program has a great deal on the line.
“Freeman has been reminding us of the loss every week, and we’re just taking it because it was embarrassing, honestly,” said Sneed. “We’re ready to play and go out there because we don’t want that to ever happen again.”
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