Updated

Geno Smith is locked in a tight competition with Mark Sanchez for the New York Jets' starting quarterback job. But the rookie wasn't always just a star on the football field.

Smith's first love was art, and as a top art school student as a youngster in south Florida, he had to make a choice between that and sports.

"In art, you really don't get famous until you're dead," Smith said with a big laugh.

He already has the fame stuff down, especially after a record-breaking career at West Virginia. And Smith attributes a lot of his success on the field to his art background because he says he "can see things on the field: angles, geometrics, and I think that played a huge role in things with football."