Geno & Jevon: Resilience Rewards
Have you been tuned into the NFL & NBA seasons this year? You might have noticed some recent former WVU players making waves in their respective sports if you have. Geno Smith and Jevon Carter once led WVU to successful seasons in the mid and early 2010s. Many of us look upon those years with great nostalgia and pride because WVU was always in the mix for great bowl games and semi-long March Madness runs.
As mountaineers, we know that the born and bred West Virginia athlete who makes it to and thrives in the big leagues are few and far between. However, we have legends like Jerry West & Randy Moss, who came from nearly the same area on the Kanawha River and thrived in their respective eras in their own sports. So when athletes like Jevon & Geno pass through our lives and show pride and perform for their school as well as each did, we have no choice but to adopt them as our own and continue to support them even after they are done with college. Once a mountaineer, always a mountaineer.
It’s not just that these two incredible athletes played for and thrived at the premier state school; they both embodied characteristics West Virginians carry throughout life: The gritty determination to overcome seemingly impossible odds, the struggle of being written off and not writing back, the resolve to work harder and longer to achieve the results you want.
Both Geno & Jevon got off to rocky starts in their professional career.
Geno was projected to be chosen in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft but quickly fell to the 39th pick held by the New York Jets. Smith was met with mixed results during his first seasons in the Big Apple. He showed flashes of the brilliance shown at WVU; being named AFC offensive player of the week in his first season, becoming the first rookie quarterback in franchise history to throw for 300 or more yards in a game, and leading the middling jets to some upset wins. His fortunes changed, however, when he forgot (or refused?) to refund one of the team’s linebackers the $600 for plane tickets he had purchased to attend Geno’s off-season camp. Smith was subsequently punched in the face for this transgression and suffered a fractured jaw that required surgery.
During Geno’s absence from the team, Mountaineer mascot doppelgänger Ryan Fitzpatrick took over the starting job and didn’t let go of the position for two more seasons. Smith bounced around a few teams trying to lock down a solid backup job behind aging superstar quarterbacks like Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers & Russell Wilson. Geno’s career would come full circle when an injury to Russel Wilson’s thumb thrust him back into the starting job, where he showed flashes of the brilliance that got him drafted all those years before. Those flashes and the trade of the franchise’s star quarterback put Geno back in the spotlight of a starting job, and he has taken full advantage. As of this writing, the man with the surgically repaired jaw is leading the NFL in completion percentage (72.7%) and is tied for fifth in passing touchdowns with 13; 7 more than Mr. Unlimited himself. Geno has outperformed pre-season expectations for the team and has them sitting atop a division in which they were predicted to finish last!
Jevon Carter’s rise to prominence in the NBA somewhat mirrors Geno’s career in the NFL. After an impressive run with WVU basketball, which concluded with him being the school’s all-time steals leader and pocketing the national defensive player of the year award, he was drafted in the second round of his sports draft. Still, he didn’t find success in the NBA right away. Being drafted to the Grizzlies seemed like the perfect fit for the precocious defender, but he could never entirely break into the rotation and found himself being sent down for G-league games and traded the following year.
Jevon bounced around a few more contending teams without much play time before finally winding up in his current position as a starting guard on the title-favorite Milwaukee Bucks. He is already, after 7 games, making a huge impact this season. After putting the clamps on star guard Jalen Brunson in an early season win over the Knicks, his two-time MVP-winning teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo said of Jevon:
“He’s not scared of the challenge. Just having somebody like that out there that’s going to always put his body on the line and give everything for the team, he’s setting the tone for everybody. He’s been doing that since Day 1. That’s the way he survives in this league. That’s what he’s all about. He’s all about hard work, all about taking the challenge and defending and having that pride, and we love it. I love it. The team loves it, and it sets the tone for everybody for the rest of us to do the same.”
Two WVU legends cast off early in their careers are rising significantly in their respective sports because they refused to give up their dreams when the doubts were overwhelming and leaned on their resilience and talent to persevere above all. It has paid dividends for both, and we almost certainly (🤞) will be seeing both of them play important roles for their teams in the playoffs.
