Heading into the 2016 college football bowl season, then-Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith was considered arguably the top prospect in his class. Quick and powerful with seemingly unlimited range, Smith was the prototype of the modern middle linebacker. He suffered a traumatic knee injury during his team's Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State, though, tearing his ACL and LCL and ultimately suffering nerve damage as well. 

When it was discovered that the nerve in his leg had not properly regenerated, Smith was expected to fall into the mid-to-late rounds of the draft. Instead, the Cowboys surprised everyone by taking him near the top of the second round, despite the fact that they knew he was going to sit out for at least one season. 

Smith indeed sat out the entire 2016 season while gaining only minimal regeneration of the nerve in his leg, but he's apparently been making rapid progress this offseason. Cowboys coaches and non-Jerry Jones executives have been reserved in their praise of Smith, but the same has not been true of Cowboys players, who can't stop raving about him. 

The most recent Cowboy to heap praise on Smith is safety Byron Jones. "He's healthy, he's 100 percent," Jones said on NFL Total Access. "His mind -- he doesn't worry about what happened two years ago. He doesn't care about that. What he's trying to do, I think his motto is clear-eyed vision. He's doing well at that. He's balling out for us so far. He's learning the playbook and he looks healthy running around."

This comes just a few weeks after fellow linebacker Sean Lee declared it wouldn't be long before Smith's talent level shows through on the field in a big way. "He's the total package," Lee said. "Physically, mentally, I mean it's a matter of time before he's a dominant player. He's put the work in, so it's fun for me to be able to work with him."

Smith has been moving extremely well during offseason activities, but he's still on a one day on/one day off schedule and has yet to practice in full pads. The Cowboys seem to feel confident that they got themselves a steal here, but we'll have to see him strap up for real -- and stay healthy -- before declaring that they're right.