West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith, nearing the end of a grueling draft process, sent a shoutout on Wednesday to the draftnik community.
On Wednesday's "NFL AM," Smith expanded on the theme.
"Everyone hears all that talk ... about us not having a quarterback class that can live up to last year's quarterback class and as a competitor I take that very personal. I want to thank them for continuing to fueling that fire and allowing that chip on my shoulder to grow," Smith said on NFL Network.
Smith said he and Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel have talked a lot about being "prepared" for the next level and everything they need to do to prove critics wrong. And he doesn't want to do on the bench.
"We're going to go into this thing prepared. Prepare ourselves to be starters and go out there and try to win games," Smith said.
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