Geno Smith has a big transition to make from running West Virginia’s spread offense at the college level to quarterbacking the West Coast-style scheme offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg is installing in his first season with the Jets.
According to Smith, the transition is going very well. Smith spoke to Andrew Siciliano of the NFL Network at the rookie symposium in Ohio on Monday and said that he’s made big strides in his short time with the Jets since they drafted him in the second round in April.
“I’ve already made a giant leap,” Smith said. “Coming from a spread system where the biggest transition for me is going to be the footwork. It’s not as if I can’t do it, it’s the fact that I haven’t done it enough. The good amount of reps that I got in rookie camp, minicamp, OTAs has helped me make that leap and transition, and make giant strides. I was able get in with the first team and do some really good things.”
Center Nick Mangold said recently that he thought Smith was going to have to “work his butt off” in order to beat out Mark Sanchez as the starting quarterback, so it would seem there’s still plenty for Smith to do when the team gets to training camp. Under most circumstances, you’d say that the Jets would be looking for a reason to go with Smith over a guy with 52 turnovers in his last 31 starts but the handling of Sanchez’s career to this point makes it clear that the Jets don’t do things the same way as everyone else at quarterback.