Geno Smith: I’m just learning as much as I can

New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith is looking to learn the ropes of the NFL and he is learning quickly that success in the league will rely on the amount of work and effort that you put in to training and practices day in and day out.

When it comes to making sure that he and his teammates are putting in the necessary work, Smith draws inspiration from one of the best athletes to ever walk the Earth.

“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 said, via the team’s official website. “That’s something I try and do. I try to hold myself to the highest standard possible.”

Sure, Jordan may not have anything to do with success on the football field, but his work ethic is something that Smith could certainly learn from and he seems to be taking that to heart.

“Man, I try to have a perfect practice,” Smith said. “I haven’t had one yet, but I try to go out there and I try to be perfect in practice…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.”

The Jets quarterback job seems to be Mark Sanchez’s to lose, but if Smith can live up to his comments and put in the work that he is saying he knows is necessary, the Jets quarterback competition could be very tough throughout the preseason.

If he is just talking and not demanding perfection of himself, then he could spend his rookie year on the sidelines holding a clipboard.