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Jaylon Smith unlikely to play in 2016 due to nerve issues in knee

Joe Robbins / Getty Images Sport / Getty

It appears increasingly unlikely that Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith will play in the NFL during the 2016 season.

Smith was projected as a potential first-round selection prior to tearing his ACL and LCL during the Fiesta Bowl in January. The 20-year-old underwent surgery to correct his ACL injury, but is still battling through nerve issues, his surgeon told USA TODAY's Tom Pelissero.

"He's had time for his nerve to regrow two inches, and the area of where his nerve was injured is six inches above the muscle that it innervates," said Dr. Dan Cooper, who's also the Dallas Cowboys' head physician. "I wouldn't really expect him to get much innervation back into that muscle for two or three more months. Then once it does - I've seen kids who are completely paralyzed like him on the lateral side and not able to pick their foot up at all (that) wind up being totally normal."

Due to the damage to his knee, Smith will almost certainly fall out of the first round. The linebacker remains intent on playing in the NFL, but won't rush back into action.

"I want to play. Absolutely, I want to play. I'm a competitor. (But) if I'm not 100 percent, I won't be playing. That does my career no justice," Smith said.

Cooper remains optimistic about Smith's prognosis.

"Worst-case scenario, there are surgeries, there are tendon transfers you can do to hold the foot up," Cooper said. "Best-case scenario is he gets all his strength back. And then in between would be that he gets a lot of it back or some of it back."

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