Running Back Jahmir Smith No Longer With Notre Dame Football Team
Notre Dame’s running back room lost a member Monday.
Head coach Brian Kelly announced junior Jahmir Smith is no longer with the program. Smith had five carries for 15 yards this season, all in the season opener against Duke Sept. 12. He had not taken an offensive snap in the three games since. For the first time this year, he was not listed on the weekly depth chart.
“He has decided he’s not going to play football,” Kelly said. “We’ll have some further conversations about what his plans are moving forward.”
Smith saw his 2019 backup role largely evaporate with sophomore Kyren Williams’ and freshman Chris Tyree’s rise to their current roles as Notre Dame’s top two running backs. Junior C’Bo Flemister appears to be the No. 3 back. Four of Smith’s five carries in the opener came on Notre Dame’s final drive as it ran out the clock.
The 5-11, 205-pound Smith had 42 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns last season, with both scores coming in the opening game at Louisville along with a season-high eight rushing attempts. He suffered a toe sprain in practice afterward, which limited him for a few weeks. He had eight carries for a career-high 58 yards in a win at Duke Nov. 9, but seven more the rest of the year.
Smith took a redshirt in 2018. Before the NCAA granted every fall athlete an extra year, he had two seasons of eligibility left after the 2020 season.
Williams, Tyree, Flemister and senior Jafar Armstrong are Notre Dame’s remaining scholarship running backs. Notre Dame holds a commitment in the 2021 class from three-star running back Logan Diggs.
Smith was a three-star recruit out of Sanford (N.C.) Lee County High School in the 2018 class. Rivals ranked him as the nation's No. 20 running back, and he chose the Irish in July 2017 from an offer list that included 15 other Power Five programs, including in-state ACC teams North Carolina, Duke and North Carolina State. He enrolled at Notre Dame in January 2018.
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