How Notre Dame football products fared at East-West Shrine Bowl
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SOUTH BEND — DeVonta Smith wasn’t asked to play a single snap on special teams in his lone season with Notre Dame football.
The former Alabama graduate transfer made up for that in the East-West Shrine Bowl Tuesday, Jan. 27 in Frisco, Texas.
In addition to his steady work at nickelback for the East squad, Smith made a pair of stops on kickoff coverage. Officially measured at 5-foot-11 and 191 pounds, Smith finished with eight total tackles and no receptions allowed in a 21-17 loss to the West.
Limited to five starts in 2025 due to nagging leg injuries, Smith was credited with just 20 total tackles in eight games with the Irish.
In Tuesday’s loss, Smith also was flagged for a pair of costly penalties on special teams.
A 15-yard facemask penalty while chasing down Iowa kickoff returner Kaden Wetjen came with 18 seconds left in the first half. That moved the ball out to the West’s 45 and set up a 57-yard field goal by Florida’s Trey Smack.
In the third quarter, Smith was called for a holding penalty that wiped out a 42-yard kickoff return.
Smith incurred just four penalties across five college seasons, including 762 defensive snaps and another 170 on special teams before transferring.
The former Cincinnati La Salle High School product missed just one tackle, unofficially, that coming on a run up the middle by Ohio State running back CJ Donaldson.
Former Irish tight end Eli Raridon and right tackle Aamil Wagner joined a long list of players who opted out of Tuesday’s showcase. Both former Notre Dame standouts reportedly impressed observers during several days of Shrine Bowl practice.
Raridon, in fact, was among 12 players named to the East squad’s All-Practice team.
Raridon officially measured at 6-5 ¾ and 244 pounds. As a senior at Notre Dame, he was listed at 6-7 and 252 pounds.
The tight end’s wingspan was 79 ¼ inches, his arm length was 32 inches and his hand size measured at 10 5/8 inches.
Wagner was measured at 6-5 1/8 and 302 pounds. At Notre Dame he was 6-6 and 300 as a fourth-year junior.
Wagner’s other measurements were 10 ¼ hand, 34 5/8 arm length and 83 5/8 wingspan.
Two other NFL Draft hopefuls from Notre Dame are in Mobile, Ala., for Senior Bowl preparations. Wide receiver Malachi Fields and safety Jalen Stroman were selected after spending the bulk of their college careers at Virginia and Virginia Tech, respectively.
The Senior Bowl kicks off Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2:30 p.m. EST. The NFL Network will carry the telecast.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame defensive back DeVonta Smith has active Shrine Bowl showing
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