If I say Future HOF, perhaps it will be so. If he'd played for a bigger market team, this wouldn't be a question.
Link: ESPN article
Even in 2024, he had 10 PBU's and 3 INT's. This was despite teams avoiding throwing his way.
The last time I recall seeing this kind of performance out an "old man" defensive back in the NFL, was when watching Ronnie Lott play for the 49'ers and later, the Raiders. I still remember getting pissed at the 49'ers for putting him on Plan B free agency after that 1990 season, at which point he had one of his finest seasons for the Raiders in 1991, and some pretty good seasons for the Jets later.
Still, Harrison Smith is in much better physical health than Lott was in his last 3 years of playing. I'm sure there were others who had good seasons in their twilight, but I don't recall anyone being nearly as good as Harrison Smith has been.
The only thing missing from his trophy case would be a Super Bowl ring. I'd guess that in that keeping Adrian Peterson might have swung it their way in that 2017 season. They were basically spooked by his 2016 injury, and cut him loose afterwards.
he missed a ton of tackles in the game; in particular, true frosh QB Tate Forcier, scrambling on a go ahead drive, faked Harrison out so bad, he fell on his a$$. But good for him, he obviously got some good coaching in the NFL.
He redshirted that year.
You're referring to the 2009 Michigan game. It wasn't Harrison Smith who missed the tackle.
It was Brian Smith who missed an easy tackle after Darius Fleming had flushed Forcier out.
If anything, Harrison Smith had a very good game in 2009, with 11 tackles, 1.5 TFL, despite being forced to jailbreak blitz on almost every down.
Link: https://mgoblue.com/sports/football/stats/2009/notre-dame/boxscore/2804
at is the criticism I remember. He went from safety, to LB, to LB/S, and back to safety over his years at ND. Coaches couldn't even figure out what he was and that's on them. I thought he'd make it in the NFL but he has far exceeded expectations. Great football player.
that he had. I cannot remember the players around him but our defenses were not good those years.
Smith actually played decently at strong side LB in 2009, when given a chance to play coverage or read and react. He saved the Washington game for us with that last second jarring hit that stopped the drive cold.
Unfortunately, Jon Tenuta insisted on sending every linebacker on a jailbreak blitz almost every down. It was no surprised that by the 4th quarter, he was usually gassed, since he was playing SLB at 205 lbs.
Tenuta was Charlie Weis' biggest mistake. Had he simply kept Rick Minter or let Corwin Brown be the main DC, that would have easily been a BCS Bowl team.
penalty against Pitt after we stopped them that cost us a game, but that happens to everyone.
Which is too bad, because he probably deserved more.
His PFF rush-defense rating was 99.7, almost perfect. Such stats aren't flawless, but still . . .
Adon Shuler was a true sophomore in 2024, and was already playing like a polished veteran.
If anything, his presence turned the Peyton Bowen (5 star former commit) drama into little more than a distant memory.
Several of the freshmen defensive backs got significant playing time last year as well (Moore of course, along with Talich, Urlacher, and Minich). Several of the incoming freshmen will be pushing for playing time as well.
This is as deep and talented of a secondary I've seen at ND since the 1992 team.
