Geno ready to hit the ground running with his new teammates
When Geno Smith leads the Jets onto the practice field for the first workout of training camp on Wednesday morning all eyes will be on him. He’s the quarterback, he’s the former Jet returning home, and he’s the headliner. Everyone from the media to the players will be looking to him for signals on what to expect this season.
But he obviously can’t be watching himself. So on the eve of that first real practice of his second stint with the Jets, Newsday asked Smith who he was most looking forward to watching when the whistle finally blows to kick things off.
“All of the guys,” he said, which is obviously a bit of a veteran cop out before he started dropping specific names. “Facing Demario (Davis) and matching wits with him on the field. Bringing the offense together. All of us developing as players together and pushing each other to get better.”
He was also asked about his relationship with Garrett Wilson, the player who will undoubtedly be his new go-to receiver.
“It’s been great,” he said. “I think the world of Garrett. I’ve followed his career since he was at Ohio State. I think he is a great receiver and a tremendous person. His work ethic, his talent speaks for itself. I look forward to building with him but with all the guys.”
Smith did get together with many teammates for workouts in Florida during the past month or so since the offseason program wrapped up in mid-June.
“We trained on and off the field, we hung out,” he said. “We did what teammates do. Some of it was posted online, some of it wasn’t. But I really feel like we made some progress in the last few weeks and I look forward to seeing how we can build on that.”
Wilson was there, Smith said, although those reps were among the parts NOT posted publicly.
“We got some work in and we were able to do some things,” Smith said.
Starting Wednesday morning, they’ll finally be able to do even more.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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