Notre Dame Coaches Continue To Impress 2024 Pass Rusher Jacob Smith

For the third time, and first since Junior Day in January, Cheshire (Conn.) Academy defensive linemen Jacob and Jerod Smith made the return to Notre Dame\. The twitchier member of the twin brothers, Jacob, checked in with Irish Breakdown about the recent trip.

For the Smith twins, it was about being able to see a practice, understand the finer details of the program and get closer and closer to making a decision.

"Getting to watch the practice was an incredible experience,” Smith said. "We got to see how intense they played and really visualize how I could see myself in their system. I do think I could make a tremendous impact.”

From the very beginning, the Smiths have been adamant about how important relationships are for their family. Leaving this visit, it was the coaches that once again really stood out. They have continued to really sell the values that the Irish program stands by.

“Coach (Marcus) Freeman was in every part of the practice,” Smith explained. “That is really good to see from a head coach. Sometimes head coaches more oversee things and don’t really have a hand in everything like Coach Free does.

“We had a lot of great conversations during the visit. None of them were ever dry,” Smith added. “All the conversations were super relevant to the school and easy. All the way from the training staff to Coach (Al) Golden, they are real and authentic conversations.”

Coming into the visit, there was a rough timeline for making a decision, but leaving, there seems to be a little bit of a clearer picture. There are plans to drop a top five schools list soon and commit sometime soon after. It appears that Notre Dame will be in the top group when that decision is made.

Some of the premier programs in all of college football have been targeting the Smith twins for some time now. Jerod currently holds a bevy of impressive offers. Some of the more notable programs who have offered include the Irish, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Texas, Penn State, Tennessee, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Kentucky, North Carolina, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Arizona, Wake Forest, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Boston College, Syracuse and Rutgers among others.

The 6-4, 225-pound defensive end is a consensus four-star recruit by every major recruiting platform. The Connecticut native ranks as high as the No. 36 overall player and No. 9 Edge in the 2024 recruiting class according to ESPN.

Both 247Sports and Rivals see Smith very similarly. He ranks as the No. 212 and No. 219 overall player respectively in each of those recruiting rankings. Smith is ranked as the No. 1 player in the state of Connecticut by ESPN and is also the second ranked player on the Rivals ranking.

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