Notre Dame's Other, Next Pro Football Hall of Famer

We all know Zack Martin will one day end up in Canton, but Harrison Smith deserves to a bust one day, too

Sep 10, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith (22) warms up before the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at U.S. Bank Stadium. / Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame football was well represented in the release of the first 20 players on the NFL 100, the top 100 players in the league voted on by the players.

Julian Love went from being a Seahawk to a Pro Bowler last season.  Love checked in No. 95 Monday night, the first time in his five-year career he made the top 100.

Just ahead of Love at No. 93 is Minnesota Vikings veteran safety Harrison Smith. 

It’s the seventh time Smith has made the top-100 list in his 12-year NFL career, peaking at No. 46 on the list in 2018.

Smith is coming off another productive year in the Vikings secondary.  Despite not recording an interception for just the second time in his career, Smith did record three sacks, force three fumbles, and get credited with 93 tackles. 

Not bad for a veteran playing in his age 34 season.

What’s next for Harrison Smith?

Harrison Smith put up solid numbers last year but by no means the strongest of his career. He's clearly in the twilight of his career as many thought he would call it a career after the Vikings dropped six of their final seven games last season to finish 7-10 and miss the playoffs.

Despite the lesser numbers, teammate and Vikings defensive tackle Harrison Phillips loves the team element Smith continues to bring to his game.

"He probably could have made another Pro Bowl, probably could have been another All-Pro player this past season, but he deferred to what's best for this defense and [asked], 'How can I help this defense the best?' " Phillips said. "There was a 10-week stretch where we were the No. 1 defense in the NFL, and that was largely due to how he saw the game and his conversations with [Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores] on how we want to play some things."

Dec 4, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith (22) returns an interception off New York Jets quarterback Mike White (not pictured) as cornerback Patrick Peterson (7) and wide receiver Elijah Moore (8) look on during the first quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports / Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Harrison Smith Deserves to End Up in Hall of Fame

Harrison Smith doesn’t have the flash of Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu, but he deserves to end up in the same place as both of them: Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

He doesn’t have a Super Bowl ring like both Reed and Polamalu, but he’s been the most reliable playmaking safety in the NFL since both of those two were in their primes.

Smith’s 34 career interceptions trail only Patrick Peterson for the most by a current NFL player. 

Smith never won an NFL defensive player of the year award but how is this for a playmaking statistic?

Smith has played in 176 career regular season NFL games.  In 47 of those games he has been credited with a half sack or interception, or both (26.7%).For comparison, Troy Polamalu recorded at least one of those in 39 of his 158 career games (24.6%) and John Lynch, also a relatively recent Hall of Fame enshrinee, pulled off one or the other in 35 of his 224 career games (15.6%).

If you want to know just how great Ed Reed was, he obliterates the field by recording a sack or interception in 33.3% of his career games, despite only recording one in 21.7% of his final 46 games.

Harrison Smith might not have the flash, the championships, or the media love of some of the recent safeties just before him, but he’s undoubtedly in the same ballpark of anyone short of Reed in terms of being a playmaker and difference maker on defense.

At Notre Dame you saw Smith’s athletic ability from his freshman year when he was instantly on the field.  He was still clearly green early on as it took him some getting used to as he was regularly targeted by opposing defenses early on. 

By the time he left Notre Dame after four seasons he was one of the nation’s best safeties, intercepted seven passes as a junior, and turned himself into a first-round talent for the 2012 NFL draft.

Put all of that resume together and if the right thing is done down the road, Harrison Smith, the Knoxville kid who left SEC country for Notre Dame, will end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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