When ESPN and NFL Network announced Thursday night that the Ravens were about to select Jimmy Smith, a talented cornerback from Colorado, their cameras cut to a shot of him surrounded by friends, family and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
Ravens fans saw Smith holding a phone to his ear and scowling. Instead of a suit, he was wearing a black T-shirt with an image from the movie "Scarface" on the front. He looked about the way you would expect a frustrated young man to look after he had just spent several hours listening to critics question his character on live television without getting a chance to offer a rebuttal: mad.
But suddenly, it was obvious that the broadcast was being shown on a seven-second delay, and when Smith got word from the Ravens that he was going to be their first-round pick, the 22-year-old broke into one of the warmest smiles of the night. Suddenly, he looked anything but menacing. He looked all at once exhilarated and relieved and eager to join the Ravens.
So who is Jimmy Smith, exactly? Is he the serious character risk he was often portrayed as before the draft? A young man with a laundry list of mistakes, including issues with alcohol and drugs, to the point where his bad decisions nearly overshadowed his talent?
Or is he a good kid who was labeled a "punk" and a "thug" somewhat unfairly simply because he is from a very rough part of Los Angeles and got into some minor trouble his first two years at Colorado before maturing and earning his degree?
Smith would contend the main reason people have been so quick to question his character is he has made no effort to hide his mistakes. When Smith was asked how he convinced the Ravens that his mistakes shouldn't prevent them from selecting him in the first round, he said it came down to telling the truth.
"It was just basically going in and being honest, putting everything on the table and letting them know that I was about business," Smith said. "The things that I did are old mistakes and bad decisions that I made when I was younger and immature. It's in the past now, and I'm just trying to be the best player and person off the field for the Ravens that I can possibly be."
Smith's high school coach, Harold Strauss, said it was a little discouraging to watch someone he believes is a good kid criticized so heavily before the draft. But every NFL team that called Strauss — and he said there were close to 15, including the Ravens — heard stories about a smart, coachable player who didn't get into trouble and was always willing to participate in the Colton High football team's community service projects.
"I think my wife took it lot harder than I did," Strauss said of the criticism of Smith. "She kept saying to me: 'Why are they saying that about him? He's a good kid.' I just told her that it's all a business. I think it's kind of neat to see the way he's matured. He had some growing pains when he went off to college, but I think some of that was because we kept him under such a tight leash when he was in high school. Once he got a little bit of freedom, he made some mistakes, but after the first two years, I don't think he ever got in trouble."
Smith had to overcome plenty just to get to the point where a coach like Strauss — who won 228 games during his career — could help shape his life for the better. In a series written by The Denver Post, Smith explained how he grew up in one of the poorest parts of Colton, a town of 50,000 people that butts up against Interstate 10 about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.
"It's a rough neighborhood," Smith told the Post. "A lot of gangs. A lot of gang violence. A lot of people get shot and killed all the time."
Smith's father left his family when he was 9 years old, and he and his mother and brothers spent time living in shelters when money was particularly tight. Athletics, as well as the singular focus of Smith's mother, Terry Webster, helped keep the family together. Smith has four older brothers; all of them played college football.
"I had them play football because it gave them structure," Webster told the Post. "I believe with kids, you've got to give them something to do because if you don't give them something to do, the devil's going to give them something to do."
Smith transferred from San Bernadino High to Colton after his freshman year, the same year Strauss became Colton's coach. Strauss was immediately impressed with Smith's innate feel for the game.
"He was naturally big, and he had great hands," Strauss said. "He was always polite and respectful, too, and very easy to coach. He was very charismatic. He has that million-dollar smile, which is probably a good thing and a bad thing at times."
Smith helped Colton evolve from a doormat into a contender, and soon the big college programs came calling. His mother, however, insisted he attend school out of state. She wanted him to experience new people and places and stay away from the trouble she suspected he would find closer to home. That's how he ended up at Colorado, where he blossomed into an elite NFL prospect. Whatever issues NFL teams have with Smith's character, no one questions his abilities.
"I think I bring passion to the game and competitiveness," Smith said. "I'm a very smart player. As far as cornerback, I have size, I can tackle and I can cover well. I think I bring a lot to a defense. If they scheme around me and try to lock me up on a man, I feel like I'm that guy who can lock up."
Smith's stock began slipping when he declined an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl, and at the combine. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story that included a survey of 24 team executives asking whether they would draft Smith. Thirteen said yes, but 11 said they wouldn't touch him. The story also said Smith told one team at the combine that one of his failed drug tests was for abusing codeine. But within the same story, one executive said without character questions, Smith would easily have been rated a top-10 player in the draft.
The Ravens felt after they researched Smith's background that he was no more of a gamble than any first-round pick and that the structure of their organization would help him transition to the NFL.
"Every pick, there is some bit of a gamble in it," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said. "But we trust our process. We trust the people that got the opportunity to spend time with him. We trust the people that are in this building that are going to be interacting with him on a day-to-day basis, and we also got to know Jimmy — what his aspirations [are] and what he wants to do and what he wants to be."
Smith said he wasn't disappointed that he slipped in the draft, even if it might have cost him several million dollars. In the end, he said, he gets to play with players like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata.
"I'm more excited about that than everything else, just to know that I have basically three Hall of Famers playing defense and they are going to be the guys to teach me how to be a better player," Smith said. "Who else would you want to learn from than an Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Haloti Ngata? It's truly a blessing to have players like that to be on the team with."
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