Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith was picked by the Baltimore Ravens with what ended up being the 27th pick of the first round, not the 26th pick. Smith was on the Ravens radar for quite a while and the team is thrilled to have a big, aggressive and fast cornerback to defend against their opponent's bigger wide receivers. Last year, Baltimore's corners were regularly out-muscled for the ball, leading to large leads being lost in critical games.
Smith not only brings size to the table, at 6'2" and 210 pounds, he also brings speed as evidenced by his 4.47 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. A few stats about Smith's career at Colorado: All-Big Twelve Conference first-team honors. Started all 12 games in 2010, ranking third on the team with 68 tackles. Interestingly, since he was not tested or targeted by opposing QB's that much, he did not have an interception in 2010. For Smiith's career, he finished with 163 tackles, three interceptions, including one TD return. He played in 47 games, starting his last 27 at right cornerback.
Scholastically, he graduated in December 2010 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Colorado.
Smith called into the Ravens Training Complex shortly after being selected by the team and the assembled media had a few moments to ask him a few questions. On behalf of Baltimore Beatdown, I asked him what every Ravens' fan wants to know:
Beatdown: "Jimmy, how excited are you to playing in the secondary with Ed reed and in front of Ray Lewis?"
Smith:"Man, I'm more excited about that than anything else, just to know that I've got basically, three Hall of Famers playing defense and they're going to be the guys that are going to teach me how to become a better player. I mean, who else would you want to learn from than Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Haloti Ngata?"