Hilton Head’s Sneed Adding To The Luck Of The Irish

Ian Guerin July 13, 2021 @ 11:50 AM

When we spoke with [player_tooltip player_id="59462" first="Jaylen" last="Sneed"] last fall, the <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2020/10/hilton-heads-sneed-dominating-in-new-ways/">highly touted Hilton Head linebacker</a> was excited about the likes of Alabama throwing an offer his way. It was an indication of how far he’d come, and how much he’d overcome during a relatively disastrous 2020 season that was side-tracked time and again by the pandemic. Then, on January 18, things <em>really</em> started to move in a different direction. That’s the date Notre Dame offered and began what ultimately turned out to be one heck of a sales pitch. Sneed, a 6-foot-2, 220 pounder with capabilities of playing the edge, dropping into coverage or putting someone in the dirt, verbally committed to the Irish Monday during a ceremony at the school. It took one of the state’s biggest names - and one of the country’s best linebackers - off the board. He went with Notre Dame over Oregon (his other finalist), but also the Crimson Tide, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Southern Cal and a couple dozen other Power 5 programs who first came calling during his sophomore season. And if there is an insane part to all this, we believe we’ve only seen a fraction of what Sneed can do at the high school level.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> That journey started as a freshman, when he put up 32 tackles, four for loss and a pair of sacks in just five games. His 10-game sophomore season was the best overall body of work, as he went off for 76 tackles (18 for loss) and recorded 14 quarterback hits, four sacks, four pass break-ups, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a pick. Last fall, he was limited to just three games, as Hilton Head was derailed by exposures. Still, he added mightily to his career tallies. Over the course of 18 high school games, he’s piled up 136 tackles and had a hand in nine turnovers. Those are pretty good averages. Sneed has hit another level this spring, though, earning recognition at camps that are featuring other top talents and then putting up some insane figures during coach B.J. Payne’s “lift-a-thon” a fundraising effort wrapped around weight room gains. It led to his official visit in South Bend June 14-16. And that was all she wrote. At least, in terms of recruiting. He’s got a senior season still ahead of him, and it could be one we’ll all remember for a long, long time.