Is your last name Smith? Does your first name begin with a J? Do you have four years of college eligibility? Then the University of Michigan would like to speak with you about joining the 2024 football class. Jaden Smith has no relation to fellow commit Jerod Smith, nor Jerod's twin/edge prospect Jacob, nor 5-star receiver Jeremiah Smith who might be decommitting soon from Ohio State, nor, as some have been shouting, John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt, though those names are certainly cognates.

Neither is Jaden a safety. Nor a linebacker, per se. Not a hybrid either. As best as I can tell, Michigan is recruiting him for an edge rushing/OLB position we've named after a player who played for Don Brown, but haven't used the term lately because the edge rush is kind of the important thing. They're not the only ones. Smith has Tennessee, USC, Miami (YTM), Kentucky, and many others interested. The vibe was Michigan was going to get some measurements when Smith visited this weekend, and make room in the class if they liked what they saw. If they saw what I think I see, then we're gonna see these rankings go up.

GURU RATINGS

RATINGS BY SITE
247: 6'3/195	On3: 6'2.5/195	Rivals: 6'3/190	ESPN: n/a
Not rated ATH	3*, 89, NR Ovr #30 LB, #14 NC	3*, 5.7, NR Ovr #51 ATH, #11 NC	No profile
n/a	3.89	3.76	n/a
COMPOSITE RANKINGS
247 Composite	On3 Consensus	MGoBlog
n/a	n/a	3.5*, #516/791 Ovr #48/77 ILBs since 1990
n/a	n/a	3.83

Two sites don't have him rated or ranked yet, and ESPN doesn't even have a profile up. Rivals hasn't ranked him yet but they have a new 5.7 rating for him, so the position and state rankings have him above the first 5.6s in their Athlete and North Carolina rankings. 247 also has him as a safety when you pull him up in a search. In other words, they're all just discovering him, with a couple of sites throwing up a quick "he's a 3.5-star" rating, one still deciding, and the last abiding.

[AFTER THE JUMP: Not a safety, not a hybrid, not a linebacker. Starts with a U.]

SCOUTING

There isn't much. The only national person with a take so far is Adam Friedman from Rivals, who saw Smith at a camp last May.

Smith is a really interesting prospect as a linebacker, but he looks to be more promising as a pass rusher off the edge. Covering in space is not his forte, and he does not have much experience doing so, but playing downhill between the hashes and coming off the edge as a blitzer will be his primary roles at the next level. Smith doesn’t have a huge frame like a prototypical edge rusher, but there is still a lot of room for him to fill out.

The only other scouting report I could track down is from High School OT.com ($), which seems to be a local site we may need to become more familiar with if Michigan is going to keep emptying the Carolinas. HSOT likey:

Jaden Smith has elite upside, period. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound linebacker has incredible burst along the edge and a natural nose for the football. His lateral agility makes him such a tough assignment for offensive linemen as a rusher and gives him the needed flexibility to extend out into coverage. He is only scratching the surface when it comes to his built-in strength and rush moves.

"Michigan loves Smith's game and potential fit in their defense" according to Steve Lorenz. Inside Carolina talked to West's head coach Sam Greiner who described a Hewlett-like athlete.

Jaden's upside is through the roof. I haven't seen a player like him in a long time with his capabilities. He has great size and length. He's probably closer to 6-3 than 6-2. But, you don't see an athlete like that that can bend and can run. He has extremely good hips. He's explosive.

And, we haven't seen his better days yet—the kid could grow into something spectacular. He could be an edge rusher to an inside linebacker. He has the capability to cover. He's what they're looking for in this day and age at linebacker. When he gets on an eating table, you're going to see this 190-pound body become 230 pounds and still be able to bend and run legit 4.5 40s.

Greiner also told him they use Smith as a hybrid, regular linebacker, or edge rusher as the situation calls. UNC told him to gain some weight.

The Inside Carolina article mentions UNC was also waiting for the next semester's grades, and EJ Holland said Smith "had some hurdles to clear" so it looks like that's in the rear view window now. Holland also got to see Smith at the Under Armour camp this summer and confirmed the athlete-iness($):

Smith is right at around 6-foot-3, 195 pounds but can easily add another 20 pounds to his frame. Like Mason Curtis and Cole Sullivan, I would classify Smith as a defensive athlete. Smith showed plus abilities in coverage at the camp and also looked fluid and speedy when going through individual drills. I think he can play a traditional linebacker role, a big safety role and even come off the edge. He’s a project, but there is a lot to like about his ceiling.

There's also some info at the link about how this affects other LB targets this cycle.

Smith told Kentucky Sports Radio that he's developing his pass-rushing and tackling.

“I try to shake them up with a quick move or I try to dip and rip to get past them,” Smith told Jacob Polacheck of KSR. “I’ve got to work more on rushing stuff like that because I know they rush bigger at the college level.”

There's also a workout vid.

FWIW Smith gave a quote to 247 about learning to play middle linebacker.

OFFERS

USC was the other major poking around. UNC and other local schools were the only ones on him early, but Kentucky had Smith a top target at the same time as Michigan, Tennessee was involved, and Virginia Tech was going to get the next visit if things didn't work out at Michigan.

HIGH SCHOOL

West Charlotte has produced one four-star (RB Daylan Smothers is joining Oklahoma this year) and a handful of three-stars, but they only had one 5.7 (high three-star)-plus before 2022—Greiner took over in 2020, and added a defensive coordinator, Anthony Hackett, who's well respected in the area, so this is a program on the up. They also have a recruiting-dedicated Twitter account. The Lions went 7-6 (3-3) last year in NCHSAA 3A, which is the second tier. A guy who ranks North Carolina high schools placed West #61 overall, with the 44th toughest SOS.

Nickel safety DeQuinder "Q" Williams is also an emerging prospect. There's also a cornerback Jamari Smith on the roster, and the QB is a KD Smith. Just saying.

STATS

He had 5 sacks and 53 tackles as a sophomore. Having trouble tracking down junior stats since MaxPreps is incomplete. He also played some receiver.

FAKE 40 TIME

His Hudl reports a 4.54. There's also this from the High School OT.com:

On the track, Smith currently has the fifth best time in the 400 meter, sixth best time in the 200, and seventh best time in the 100 in all of the 3A West.

So I'm only giving that three FAKES out of five.

VIDEO

There's a separate video for the playoffs. His Hudl has individual game tapes and sophomore film.

ETC

Track.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

I'm going out on a ledge here because Partridge recruited him for middle linebacker, but: Josh Uche. Not a linebacker. Not a safety. Not even an "OLB" like Jaylen Harrell or what they want Breeon Ishmail to grow into. The speed and agility and edge rushing, with no coverage ability and questions about his tackling—that was Uche's profile when they found him. Uche also was safety-sized until very late, when Miami (YTM) and Michigan were coming after him like a five-star and the sites were like "uh….for a hybrid?"

Even Uche took years to reach his final form, so don't expect Smith to make it on the field before 2025, and then probably as a pass rush specialist. After that, if they get what I think they see, we'll get to see what Uche might have been in a defense that's tailor made for him. That means the Harrell (OLB) role, and involves a lot of learning to play linebacker so the "true" linebackers can rush, and gaining weight so he can do the things the 6'5"/280 edges do against the run, and then a lot of pass rushing from a wide 9, which is the point. Maybe by 2026? There's a long way between now and then, but oh man if this one hits. Dip is drip.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

This is a shot at the Jaylen Harrell role so I'm going to categorize Smith with the edges. That means he's not really going to stand in the way of Michigan bringing in their top two ILB targets, Belleville's Jeremiah Beasley, and Good Counsel top-125 type Aaron Chiles. I think they plan to make Cole Sullivan more of a hybrid, so the guy Smith would directly compete with is LB/OLB tweener Mason Curtis, who's more on the linebacker than edge rush end of the Harrell position spectrum. Michigan is still after some plain old edges. We're also expecting to keep busy with a bunch more commitments this month after a major recruiting weekend.

THE CLASS AS IT STANDS

OFFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
QB	Jadyn Davis	NC	4.7⬇	Smooth, accurate field general
RB	Jordan Marshall	OH	4.4⬆	Accelerates South-North
WR	Channing Goodwin	NC	3.8	Chain-moving son of Jon
TE	Brady Prieskorn	MI	4.5⬆	Colston Loveland Midwest
TE	Hogan Hansen	WA	4.1	Colston Loveland West
LT	Andrew Sprague	MO	4.3⬆⬆	Basketballin' grow-a-Long
RT	Blake Frazier	TX	4.1⬆	Athletic son of Steve
RG	Luke Hamilton	OH	4.0	Midwestern mauler
LG	Ben Roebuck	OH	3.9⬇⬇	Bigger Midwestern mauler
C	Jake Guarnera	FL	3.8	Mauler but center
DEFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
DT	Manuel Beigel	CT	3.6⬇	Lengthy German via Choate
DT	Owen Wafle	NJ	4.0⬇	Little nose with bite
DT	Ted Hammond	OH	4.0⬆	Cincy build-a-bear
SDE	Jerod Smith	CT	3.9⬇⬇	Low-pads, high-motor big twin
OLB	Mason Curtis	TN	4.2⬆	Long athlete moving up
OLB	Jaden Smith	NC	3.8⬆	Under-scouted Uche
HSP	Cole Sullivan	PA	3.8	Hybrid LB with crazy athleticism
S	Jacob Oden	MI	4.2	Tall son of coach