Daniel Jeremiah, an eight-year NFL scout working for NFL Network, likes Geno Smith the best among the crop of quarterbacks for this year’s NFL draft. Jeremiah tabbed Smith as his top QB and the only one he is certain of going in the first round.

Here is what Jeremiah had to say about Smith yesterday during NFL Network’s ongoing coverage of the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. (Smith, by the way, declined an invitation to play in the game but has been working out at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.):

“I only feel good – confident in one guy: I think Geno Smith is going to be a first-round pick no matter what happens going forward,” said Jeremiah. “But when you watch Geno Smith it’s like watching all these guys. I watch him on tape, I get excited, I like what I see and then I go to the Pinstripe Bowl and he struggles. He takes bad sacks, has a couple of safeties and you question his awareness. And then I go down to watch him at the IMG Academy and you see all of the arm talent and you get back excited again.

“But it’s just kind of a rollercoaster ride and it’s like that will all these quarterbacks. It’s just hard to find a consistent performer, and I think we’re seeing that out here (at the Senior Bowl) this week. We see some nice things here and there but the consistency – to just put your name on a guy and say, hey, this I my quarterback, sink or swim, he doesn’t work out, I get fired; I’m putting my name on him … I don’t know who those guys are right now.”

Smith completed 369-of-518 passes for 4,205 yards and 42 touchdowns with just six interceptions in 2012 as a senior.

If Smith is taken in the first round he will be the first Mountaineer quarterback to go that high ever. Pat White was taken in the second round of the 2009 NFL draft as a “wildcat quarterback” and Oliver Luck was also second-round pick by the Houston Oilers in 1982. Both were the 44th picks of the draft in their respective years, incidentally.

Fred Wyant was a third round choice by the Washington Redskins in 1956.

A list of the Mountaineer quarterbacks taken in the NFL Draft:
2009, Pat White, Miami Dolphins, 2nd round *
2006, Rasheed Marshall, San Francisco 49ers, 5th round *
2000, Marc Bulger, New Orleans Saints, 6th round
1994, Darren Studstill, Dallas Cowboys, 6th round *
1990, Major Harris, Los Angeles Raiders, 12th round
1984, Jeff Hostetler, New York Giants, 3rd round
1982, Oliver Luck, Houston Oilers, 2nd round
1958, Mickey Trimarki, Philadelphia Eagles, 13th round
1956, Fred Wyant, Washington Redskins, 3rd round
1948, Jim Walthall, Philadelphia Eagles, 11th round
1938, Kelly Moan, New York Giants, 5th round

* Drafted as an athlete