Geno Smith is not concerned about what the media is saying about him. He is not listening to the criticism being tossed around about the roller coaster offseason he had or how he reported to training camp. He focused on one thing and that is being named the starting quarterback for the New York Jets. Smith has set some big expectations for himself this upcoming season, but that is not a surprise considering who he is looking towards as inspiration.
Smith said the one person he is trying to emulate is the NBA legend, Michael Jordan.
"I was a big Michael Jordan fan, just from the things that I read and heard about him is he always held his teammates to the utmost accountability," Smith told the Jets' official website. "That's something I try and do. I try to hold myself to the highest standard possible."
Jordan is certainly not a bad person for Smith to look up to. He did win six NBA titles and is known as possibly the greatest basketball player to ever be in the game. Smith wants to become known as a great competitor like Jordan and that all starts with the competition at quarterback with Mark Sanchez.
"Man, I try to have a perfect practice. I haven't had one yet, but I try to go out there and I try to be perfect in practice," Smith said. "That's kind of what I've always done. I started doing that in high school and I just think that helped me develop into the player I was. I try to go out there and be perfect, and try to do everything the right way, the proper way so the coach doesn't really have to coach me much. But I'm still in the learning phase, making mistakes every day and you get into the film room and you go watch it. But the benchmark so far is to try and be mistake-free and (I'm) just learning as much as I can."
Early reports are Smith has not made too many mistakes. Rex Ryan has been critical of small things like getting the ball out of his hands faster, but also praised the rookie's throwing ability, noting he is incredibly accurate with the ball and is able to avoid sacks well. When it comes to turnovers, Smith has yet to create one while Sanchez has already thrown three.
Jets' beat writers are giving the competition edge to Smith due to his versatility on the field. In 11-on-11 drills, Smith went 5-for-10 with a touchdown while Sanchez went 3-for-6 with a sack and interception. The Week 1 winner of training camp appears to be Smith.
