Yeah, I know, and agree 100%, it was criminal of Van Gorder to not use Jaylon Smith properly. By all rights, Smith would have been an amazing pass rusher, and mowed down just about any QB or RB in the backfield.
However, Smith playing at the MLB position bailed out the weakest parts of our shitty Van Gorder defenses out too many times to count. He was fast enough to cover almost any receiver, and strong enough to fight it out with any tight end, and had some of the best instincts out of any linebacker at ND I've ever seen. The only one who I could arguably say had better instincts was Mike Stonebreaker.
There were many easy completions over the middle, at medium range that were prevented by Smith, whether it be due to great coverage, or his great positioning.
He was also the reason why Joe Schmidt wasn't exposed too badly in 2014, and especially in 2015. Without Jaylon Smith, that very good 2015 team would probably have had 4 or more losses before the bowl game.