INDIANAPOLIS — Jaylon Smith had his future planned.
Survive one more college game, declare for the NFL draft and live his lifelong dream.
Then the Notre Dame linebacker's left knee buckled following a late shove from Ohio State's Taylor Decker on New Year's Day. Smith was looking at two torn ligaments, months of rehab and the possibility of temporarily putting his pro career on hold.
Smith refused, and now is trying to resell himself to NFL scouts.
"It tests your patience, but it has made a man out of me," he said at the NFL scouting combine, which ended Monday.