Linebacker Jaylen Sneed Is A Fierce Competitor With A Passion To Be The Best
Notre Dame is looking to land the nation's best group of linebackers in the 2022 class, and the Irish staff is on the verge of making that happen. The key to meeting that goal is finishing the linebacker haul off with Hilton Head (S.C.) High School star Jaylen Sneed.
Sneed is a consensus Top 100 recruit, ranking as the No. 46 overall player in the country according to Rivals. If you want to know just how good Sneed is and how he can impact the game, just ask Hilton Head head coach BJ Payne.
“The first thing that pops out is the level of violence he plays with on the field," Payne said of his star defender. "In 16 years of being the head coach, I haven’t come across anyone who plays the game as violent as he does. He’s killed it at these combines and camps, which isn’t a surprise at all, but the thing that’s kind of crazy, what he does best doesn’t even show up in that setting, with how physical he is."
Notre Dame is recruiting Sneed to play linebacker, and he'll likely begin his career as a rover, but Payne had to use him differently in 2020. That didn't stop Sneed from being a major impact player.
“We put him at defensive end, which is what was best for us as a team and it was going to make him a better football player," explained Payne. "We really took what he did great at an early age, which is play downhill and get after the quarterback, and put him that much closer to the line. It paid off, he played great. This year we’re going to stand him back up, and people are going to see him more as a middle type backer.”
Sneed has been attending several camps this summer, and his performances at those camps got him some hardware, taking home multiple MVP awards and high recognition. He showed off his athleticism and coverage potential, but those non-padded camps don't show what makes Sneed special as a player.
“He just finishes; those are things that the people who do the camp settings don’t see,” stated Payne. “‘He’s so athletic and he can cover, do all this. Yeah he can, but wait until you see him come downhill too. He’s a very special talent and elite kid. He is the ultimate, ultimate competitor.
Sneed has been attending these camps due to his desire to compete, and compete against the best. He's a young student-athlete that has a passion for challenging himself.
“No matter what it is, anything competition based, he’s in it to win it,” praised Payne. “Because of his drive and competitive nature, he wants his fifth star and he’s dead set on it. He’s out to prove that he’s the best linebacker in the country.”
A backstory that makes this recruitment so special is the relationship between Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and Sneed. When Freeman was hired back in January, one of the first offers he gave out was to Sneed, but it certainly wasn't a new relationship.
“With Freeman, some things are going to come out of the woodwork, everyone’s going to be like ‘how could this happen?’,” Payne said of how well Notre Dame has done with its recruitment of Sneed. “Well, Marcus has been recruiting him for three years. Freeman was the first one to offer him at Cincinnati when (Sneed) was a freshman.
“They’ve known each other for three years, so it wasn’t as crazy as everybody thought,” continued Payne. “I’ve known Marcus very well for a long time, 15 years. He and I are close. It’s funny because when he took the Notre Dame job, three days later he called me and I said ‘What do you want to know about Sneed?’ He just started laughing.”
Sneed is already a highly ranked recruit, one that possesses outstanding skills. During his time at Hilton Head he's played cornerback, safety, linebacker and defensive end, but even at that, Sneed still is working to continuously elevate what he can do. Working on parts of his game that are needed to thrive at linebacker are also reasons Sneed has spent time pushing himself at the summer camps.
“He’s still working on his hips," remarked his head coach. "What you're seeing at camps is something that’s really developed over the last year. He knew that is what would really spring him and make him elite. He worked on it at school and at home on his own. That was something he wanted to do to make himself a complete player.”
Sneed brings a unique skillset to the game, and his high school coach sees him as similar to a recent All-American and a first round NFL Draft pick that played his college ball in Sneed's home state of South Carolina.
“I think he’s very Isaiah Simmons-like in regards to he can potentially play five different positions,” said Payne, referring to the Clemson All-American linebacker. “He (Simmons) would line up at different spots on the field during games. I think Sneed has the skill set to be able to do that as well.
“He’s a Mike, he’s a Rover, he’s a Will, he can do a multitude of things,” continued Payne. “When he gets there we will see what he does best.”
We don't know where Sneed will play in college, but it's clear to see why he's a must-get for Notre Dame and why the Irish staff is pushing so hard to get him into the class. Sneed, when it comes down to it, is without question a gap closer.
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