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Too Early To Write Off Smith
Authored by Jeff Risdon - 21st May, 2007 - 11:40 am
Instead of analyzing the common storylines of Super Bowl XLIV, let’s use the music of The Who, who (pun intended) will be performing at halftime this year.
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While writing up a draft review for the Baltimore Ravens recently, I ran into a genuine quandary involving their 5th round pick. Most of the time the 5th rounders are guys that most fans haven’t heard of, or care about, unless they are a draft junkie (like me) or have some local ties or allegiance to the college team. The Ravens 5th rounder is a special circumstance, however.
Surely you have heard of him. Starting QB for Brent Musburger’s favorite team. Led his team to the Big Ten title twice. Leader of the #1 ranked team most of 2006 and captain of a team which finished in the top 4 two seasons in a row. Won the Heisman Trophy by a huge margin. He’s Number 10 for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Troy Smith.
He’s now the #3 QB for the Baltimore Ravens, maybe. He’s competing against Drew Olson for that position as well as the #10 jersey which Olson currently wears. The Ravens have a clear-cut #1 QB in Steve McNair, as well as a former 1st rounder with an outstanding arm in Kyle Boller as their #2. The odds he sees the field in 2007 are about as good as Dennis Kucinich winning the Democratic nomination for President.
Smith might have been the best collegiate QB, but he was just the 9th QB drafted. The detractors, and they include almost everyone, point out his distinct lack of height, his spotty accuracy on short throws, and his slow release which got him pummeled in the BCS Title game. Smith didn’t help himself by coming across as an entitled, arrogant man-child in team interviews. He tried reworking his release and throwing style to disastrous results at his pro day, drawing unsympathetic head shakes and not-so-quiet grumblings about time being wasted.
Now Smith finds himself in a new position: underdog. He knows a little something about this. Smith was the last recruit signed to OSU, and was forced to start his career as a kick returner and gadget-play WR. A couple of bad incidents off the field buried Smith not just behind the 8-ball, but in the bottom of the side pocket. He persevered, he grew up, he worked hard. His teammates rallied around him and Smith earned every one of the numerous accolades bestowed upon him.
His new coach, Brian Billick, knows a little something about working with underdog QBs with something to prove. Billick rose to prominence as the offensive coordinator in Minnesota, building a record-setting offense around a QB everyone wrote off as washed up. Last season he took a team from 6-10 to a division title thanks to the resurrection of another QB with a giant chip on his shoulder about being written off, Steve McNair. Heck, Billick won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer as his QB, another guy most people believed couldn’t get the job done.
Those QBs all had a couple of things in common, despite being about as disparate of styles as you can get. All had great self-confidence and all were superb leaders. Even his most vitriolic detractors cannot deny those attributes in Troy Smith.
Now Troy Smith gets another shot at proving himself to the myriad doubters. He’s under zero pressure to be an immediate success, getting a chance to learn under a great veteran with a similar style in McNair. His coach is the best possible fit, a guy who understands how to tailor his gameplan based on the talent he has, not forcing squares into circles. As a 5th round draft choice, the expectations are lowered enough that Smith can stumble through the inevitable NFL growing pains. He’s a low-cost developmental project with very high upside. What more can you ask for a 5th round draft choice for a team with a legit shot at a Super Bowl right now?
I’m one of Smith’s detractors in terms of his mechanics and his accuracy. I don’t worry so much about his lack of height as he’s taller than both Rex Grossman and Drew Brees, who battled in the NFC title game. I wonder if he’ll be able to mold that chip on his shoulder into a useful part of his arsenal, like others have done under Billick before him. So while I’m not sold on Troy Smith as an NFL quarterback, I’m not going to write him off too early. He just might be in the right place at the right time to replicate his OSU heroics, going from positionless afterthought to Heisman winning quarterback.
