Jimmy Smith (cornerback)

James Michael Smith (born July 26, 1988) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Baltimore Ravens with the 27th pick in the 2011 NFL draft. He played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes.

Smith spent his entire 11 season career with the Ravens, winning Super Bowl XLVII during his second season with the team. A backup during his first two seasons, he became a starter for the team in 2013. He played with the Ravens until 2021.

Born in Fontana, California, Smith grew up in a single-floor home in Colton, California, which is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The neighborhood Smith lived in was notoriously bad. "It's a rough neighborhood," said Smith. "A lot of gangs. A lot of gang violence. A lot of people get shot and killed all the time." However, Smith was able to shrug this off and excel at football from an early age.

Smith attended Colton High School in his hometown of Colton, CA, where he was a three-year letterman in football. He garnered honorable mention all-league accolades on defense as a sophomore starting at safety, when he had 45 tackles and four interceptions on the season-his first year playing football. As a junior, he was named first-team all-league and second-team all-county on defense. He recorded 30 catches for 600 yards and four touchdowns on offense, and at his cornerback spot, he tallied 57 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, an interception and eight passes broken up. In his final year, he was first-team All-Southeastern Conference on both offense (wide receiver) and defense (cornerback). He was named first-team all-county and his team's most improved player. On offense, he had 53 receptions for 1,123 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 21.2 yards per catch, while defensively, he totaled 47 tackles, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two interceptions and 15 pass deflections. He also averaged 36 yards on punt returns with one touchdown. Under coach Harold Strauss, his team went a combined 30–6 in his three years playing football: 9–3 as a senior, 10–2 as a junior and 11–1 as a sophomore; Colton advanced to the second round of the playoffs each year. Smith also lettered in basketball and track & field at Colton, earning a combined seven letters between the two.

Smith was another surprise out of Dan Hawkins's transition class of 2006. Like Nate Solder, Smith was a middle of the pack recruit out of his home state of California (No. 57 Athlete by Rivals and unranked as a corner by ESPN) that grew into a first round prospect on a series of very mediocre Colorado teams. During the 2007 season Smith firmly established himself as a contributor, a special teams star, and as part of the secondary depth. By far the biggest play of his 2007 season came against Nebraska. With Colorado trailing by 11, Smith picked off a Joe Ganz pass and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown. It sparked a 34-0 run, and Colorado would go on to win 65-51 over Nebraska.

Smith built on his redshirt freshman year effort, playing in 10 games for CU and starting the final three at corner, a position he'd hold through the rest of his CU career. Again Smith closed the season with fireworks against Nebraska, sniffing out an ill-advised fake field goal attempt by the Huskers, intercepting the lateral and taking it 58 yards for a touchdown. Things continued to progress well for Smith who took over the starting corner spot full-time at the start of his junior season, holding it through his last game at CU; in that 2 year, 24 game run he gave up an average of 1 completion a game. During that span Smith made quite a name for himself totaling 70 tackles in both seasons defending 15 passes and posing such a threat to offenses he was thrown at a mere 20 times as a senior in man coverage. In that time Smith was honored as a two-time All-Big 12 nominee, the Dave Jones award winner, and was named to the Thorpe Award watch list.

As a top cornerback prospect, Smith was one of 56 collegiate defensive backs to attend the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Smith completed all of the combine drills and finished sixth among defensive backs in the 40-yard dash, tied for third in the bench press, and finished 12th amongst his position group in the broad jump. On March 9, 2011, Smith attended Colorado's pro day, along with Nate Solder, Jalil Brown, and Scotty McKnight among others. He opted to stand on the majority of his combine numbers and only performed the vertical jump (37"), long shuttle (11.42s), and positional drills. His overall performance was perceived as mediocre by scouts, as he had a few dropped passes and appeared to quickly tire during his workout. Smith attended private workouts and meetings with 12 teams that included the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders, Washington Redskins, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, and Philadelphia Eagles.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Smith was projected to be a first round pick by NFL draft experts and analysts. It was reported multiple teams removed Smith entirely off their draft boards due to his history of arrests, failed drug tests, and suspected maturity issues. Multiple teams stated Smith failed to accept responsibility for his actions during interviews with teams at the NFL combine. He was ranked as the third best cornerback prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com and ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. and was ranked the fourth best cornerback by NFL analyst Mike Mayock.