| West Virginia Mountaineers — No. 12 | |
| Quarterback | Junior |
| Major: Athletic Coaching Education | |
| Date of birth: October 10, 1990 | |
| Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | Weight: 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb) |
| Career history | |
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| High school: Miramar High School, Miramar, Florida |
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College(s):
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| Bowl games | |
| Gator Bowl (2009) Champs Sports Bowl (2010) | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Eugene "Geno" Smith (born October 10, 1990) is an American football quarterback. He currently plays for the West Virginia Mountaineers in his junior year. He was the starter at West Virginia for the 2010-2011 season, and is the starter for the 2011-2012 season.
In his freshman year at West Virginia University, Smith completed 32 of 49 passes for 309 yards, throwing one touchdown and one interception, and rushing for 7 yards on 17 attempts as the backup to starting quarterback Jarrett Brown. In his sophomore year, Smith completed 241 of 372 passes for 2763 yards, throwing 24 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and rushing for -32 yards on 106 attempts in his first year as the starting quarterback.[1]
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Geno Smith saw some action his freshman year, being the backup behind senior Jarrett Brown. His first snap in a regular season game came against Auburn University, where he completed 5 of 8 passes for 50 yards and one interception. He would see action again against Syracuse, Marshall, Louisville, and in the Gator Bowl against Florida State. He finished his freshman season with an 81.1 quarterback rating.[2]
Geno Smith got his first start in the season opener against Coastal Carolina. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 216 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He led his team to a 31-0 victory over the Chanticleers.[3]
With the Mountaineers down 21-6 against in-state rival, Marshall University, Geno Smith led his team to a 4th quarter comeback victory. Smith led the first drive from the WVU 4 yard line. With help from senior running back Noel Devine, the Mountaineers cut Marshall's lead to 8 points. After the WVU defense stopped Marshall, a punt put the Mountaineers near their own end zone again, starting from the 2 yard line. After completing 9 of 13 passes and scrambling for 20 yards, Smith found tight end Will Johnson in the corner of the endzone for a touchdown. With Marshall still leading 19-21, Bill Stewart elected to go for the two-point conversion. Smith completed a pass to wide receiver Jock Sanders in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion. The Mountaineers went on to win the game in overtime by a score of 24-21. Smith finished the game completing 32 of 45 passes for 316 yards and one touchdown. He rushed for 13 yards on 14 attempts. After two games, Smith lead the Big East in passing yards and passing efficiency.[4]
In a 31-17 victory over Maryland, Smith completed 19 of 29 pass attempts for 268 passing yards and four touchdowns. Two of his touchdowns were to Tavon Austin, and two were to Stedman Bailey.[4] Smith won his first Big East Offensive Player of the Week for this performance.
In WVU's first meeting ever with LSU, the Mountaineers lost at Tiger Stadium by a score of 14-20. Smith completed 14 of 29 pass attempts for 119 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. He rushed for 10 yards on five attempts.[5]
Smith threw for 220 yards and ran for 19 yards in West Virginia's 49-10 win over UNLV.[6] It was the most points WVU had scored since playing Connecticut in 2007.[7]
In an overtime loss to Connecticut, Smith was 22 for 34, throwing for 160 yards. He had a season high of 64 rushing yards. This was the first game all season Smith did not throw a touchdown pass. The loss was the first time Connecticut had ever beaten West Virginia.[8]
Smith tied his record for touchdowns in a game in a 37-10 win over Cincinnati, where he was 15 for 25, throwing for 174 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. The loss came after a two game losing streak. It was the first time the Mountaineers beat Cincinnati since 2007.[9] Smith won his second Big East Offensive Player of the Week for this performance.
With the arrival of new WVU football head coach Dana Holgorsen and a new pass based offensive system, Smith saw his passing numbers improve drastically. In the fourth game of the season against the #2 LSU Tigers, Smith set school records for completions (38), attempts (65) and passing yards (463) in the 47-21 loss on September 24.
With 372 passing yards against the Cincinnati Bearcats on November 12, Smith tied a Big East record with his seventh 300-yard game of the season. He tied the record that was set in 2007 by Brian Brohm of the Louisville Cardinals.
Set single-season school records for pass completions (291), attempts (448) and yards (3,741) on November 25 against rival Pitt Panthers. He broke the records that was held by Marc Bulger in 1998.
Regular and post season
| WVU | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||
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| Season | Games | Comp-Att | Yds | YPA | Comp % | TD | INT | Rush | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
| 2009 | 5 | 32-49 | 309 | 6.3 | 65.3 % | 1 | 1 | 17 | 7 | 0.4 | 0 | ||
| 2010 | 13 | 241-372 | 2763 | 7.4 | 64.8 % | 24 | 7 | 106 | -32 | -2.5 | 0 | ||
| 2011 | 12 | 314-483 | 3978 | 8.2 | 65.0 % | 25 | 7 | 51 | -59 | -1.2 | 1 | ||
| Total | 30 | 587-904 | 7050 | 7.8 | 64.9 % | 50 | 15 | 174 | 165 | 0.9 | 1 | ||
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