Q&A With Notre Dame Commit Jaylen Sneed
Notre Dame linebacker commitment Jaylen Sneed will bring more than just talent to South Bend.
Some players are blessed with incredible natural skills, and some players are just as humble as they can be. Sneed possessed both of those traits as he grew up in South Carolina. He’s continued on that path through high school.
Sneed has been blessed to be around good people like Hilton Head High School Head Coach BJ Payne and all the coaches and administrators that he helped place into the program.
Sneed took the time to talk football, his upbringing, recruiting, and heading off to Notre Dame with Irish Breakdown.
Jaylen Sneed
Size: 6’2”, 210 pounds
Position: Linebacker
High School: Hilton Head (S.C.) High School
Class: 2022
Recruitment: Committed to Notre Dame over Oregon, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Duke, UCF, Southern California, Virginia, North Carolina State, South Carolina and North Carolina among others.
Has Notre Dame provided you with any parameters with what they would like you to enroll at in terms of weight?
Sneed: “Gain weight."
How much weight do you want to gain before you enroll at Notre Dame in a couple of months?
Sneed: “Uh, 220.”
You are enrolling in January?
Sneed: “Yes sir.”
What specific position does Notre Dame want you to play?
Sneed: “I’ve talked a little bit about Will (weak side linebacker), and maybe inside linebacker (Mike).”
Are you concerned about which position, or does it matter?
Sneed: “Doesn’t really matter to me.”
Which Irish coaches were most involved with your recruitment?
Sneed: “Marcus Freeman, Coach Chad (Bowden), Coach Nick (Lezynski), and I just just chose it (Notre Dame) because I felt like those were the guys that were going to help me get to where I want to be.”
And where would that be?
Sneed: “Hopefully to the NFL someday.”
What did playing in a state full of high school football talent like South Carolina do to help you get better and reach your goals?
Sneed: “Just always having good competition around here. It’s never like, we’ve never played a team that’s a lot worse than us. We’ve always played good competition. The guys are always big, well fed, and just being able to play against guys that I know like Bluffton. Just playing against them, just having fun.”
As far as your upbringing, which people helped to influence you?
Sneed: “Definitely, I’d like to thank my mom first. She’s always been there for me. Always made me take the extra step, go the extra mile to be better.
“I’d like to thank (Hilton Head High School Head) Coach Payne. He’s always said that I was going to be special since day one. I just took it and believed in it.
“I’d like to thank Coach Beach (Sarah Beachkofsky). She’s like a mother to me. She’s a great human being. Just always happy, always got a smile on her face. Just a great person to be around.”
“I’d also like to thank my dad and my God dad because they’ve always been there for me. They’ve always just helped me out.”
You obviously selected Notre Dame, but which other schools were closest in your recruitment?
Sneed: “Oregon was definitely No. 2. Then, either Tennessee or Texas A&M was No. 3.”
Oregon is really random for a kid from Hilton Head, S.C. What was it about Oregon that you liked?
Sneed: “I took the official (visit) up there (to Oregon) because I really liked (Oregon Defensive Coordinator and Outside Linebackers) Coach (Tim) DeRuyter. I went up there, and I just really liked it up there. The facilities were amazing. Just a great place to be, like I thought. Great family atmosphere up there. Great coaching staff.”
Do you have any goals for when you will start, like your sophomore year or anything like that?
Sneed: “Nothing like exact, but I want to be able to play as soon as I can, as soon as possible.”
Do you have anything that you’re going to miss about being in South Carolina?
Sneed: “Probably just it not snowing here (laughing)….My mom.”
You knew before you got there to Notre Dame or before?
Sneed: “Towards the end (of the visit).”
What was the final clincher for you to go to Notre Dame?
Sneed: “It was a lot of things. It was just a thing like, ‘Mom, this is the place I want to be.’”
Final Thoughts
Sneed was one of the most genuine and well mannered young men one could hope to interview. He’s the type of person that it’s easy to root for. Here’s to hoping he has a fantastic career for the Irish and continues on to great things after leaving South Bend.
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