‘Robot’ days behind him, a ‘more explosive’ Jaylen Sneed is ready to detonate for Notre Dame football

SOUTH BEND — The raves keep rolling in for Jaylen Sneed this spring.

Now a fourth-year linebacker for Notre Dame football, he isn’t just the elder statesman in the position room. The erstwhile rover, now packing 235 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame, has practically reinvented himself in the weight room.

“Jaylen Sneed has done an incredible job,” linebackers coach Max Bullough said. “He’s in the best place, physically and mentally — by far — that Jaylen Sneed’s ever been. I’m very proud of Jaylen Sneed and where he’s at.”

Hired away from Alabama in February 2023, Bullough clarified that his assessment only dated back to his arrival. But Irish coach Marcus Freeman corroborated that viewpoint regarding Sneed, a player he started recruiting when he was still running the defense at the University of Cincinnati.

“This is the best spring he’s had,” Freeman said. “He’s got great talent. Now he’s starting to become a great player and put it all together. … He’s practiced at a level in terms of the fundamentals, the details, the energy that it takes to be a great player.”

Newly hired defensive coordinator Chris Ash sees it too. Ash, the former Rutgers coach who spent the past four seasons as an NFL assistant and scout, couldn’t be more pleased with what he’s seen from Sneed, the former five-star signee from Hilton Head Island, S.C.

“I love the kid,” Ash said. “He’s athletic, he’s physical, he’s got position flexibility. He can play inside. He can play outside. We’re going to put him on the field to do a lot of different things.”

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Jaylen Sneed evolves beyond the ‘robot’

Relegated for much of 2024 to a third-down pass-rushing role, Sneed averaged 27 defensive snaps across the 16-game run to a runner-up finish in the College Football Playoff.

After experiencing what felt like a breakthrough performance in the season-opening win at Texas A&M, Sneed gradually lost playing time and confidence through the middle part of the schedule.

“I just felt like a robot,” he said five days before facing Ohio State in the national championship.

A heart-to-heart with Bullough sometime in October got Sneed going again.

“You just have to play free,” Sneed recalled Bullough telling him. “You have all the athleticism, all the tools, everything. You just have to turn yourself into a football player.”

Regular Tuesday meetings commenced. Sometimes they’d sit for a second meeting if the game-week schedule allowed.

All of it proved liberating for Sneed.

“He just taught me some of the little things he used when he played the game that would help him so he wouldn’t have to think so much on the field,” Sneed said. “After that, I just stopped thinking so much and just started playing.”

He finished sixth on the team (fourth among returning players) with 51 tackles, and his six tackles for loss ranked fourth. Sneed had a fumble recovery for a touchdown against Navy and was credited with two forced fumbles, two quarterback hits and 2.5 sacks.

His finest moment, however, isn’t up for debate. That came on a delayed blitz that rocked Penn State quarterback Drew Allar and led directly to Christian Gray’s game-turning interception in the final minute of the Orange Bowl playoff semifinal.

More instinct than scheme, Sneed later confirmed, the moment was hatched out of a pre-snap nod with then-freshman linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.

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“It just happened,” Sneed said in mid-January. “I wasn’t really thinking. Me and Kyngstonn had a game going on, and I just saw a hole open up and I was like, ‘Go! Go take your shot!’ And I did.”

Bigger frame means ‘more explosive’ Jaylen Sneed for Notre Dame

That sense of freedom supplanting hesitation has carried over into the spring for Sneed.

Even carrying an additional 15-20 pounds, he’s still been a nightmare to block from a variety of starting points. That certainly was the case in the April 5 open scrimmage, when Sneed blew up a swing pass to Jadarian Price for a 2-yard loss.

“I feel like it’s impacted my game so much,” Sneed said. “I feel so much more explosive. I feel stronger. I feel like I can actually move guys back now, and it’s been amazing to play linebacker and not feel like you’re a smaller guy out there and be weaker than the (offensive) linemen.”

Sneed’s target weight tops out at 240 pounds, as Bullough was quick to note in a recent interview. But for a quick-twitch body type that traditionally struggled to keep his weight above 220 pounds, this new-look Sneed is turning heads.

“It’s completely transformed what Jaylen Sneed can be,” Bullough said. “It’s transformed his ceiling. It’s made him into really what I think he’s viewed himself as his whole life, and that’s as good as it gets.”

The gratitude runs in both directions.

“I think Max Bullough has been the biggest change for me,” Sneed said. “Just him wanting me to be great and him pushing me to be the best I can be.”

Best of all for those in the football building, Sneed has chosen to roll out this version of himself in the same gold helmet he’s been wearing since the spring of 2022. Even with the transfer portal reopening from April 16-25, the narrative around Sneed is one of loyalty and shared dividends.

“When he decided to come back and say, ‘Hey, I want to have my last year here at Notre Dame,’ he’s been committed to doing the little things that it takes to be a great player,” Freeman said. “That’s what I talked to him about (this offseason). He’s got every option in the world. He can go somewhere else. He can try to go to the NFL.”

Sneed stayed.

“If you’re going to come back here to get your degree and to be the best football player you can be,” Freeman said, “there are things you have to be committed to, and his weight is a part of that. Now he has to do that every day. Nobody cares what you did today (when it’s) tomorrow.”

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.

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