MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sometimes all it takes is someone believing in you.
 
Consider the case of former West Virginia University record-setting quarterback Geno Smith, whose four seasons with the New York Jets had more lows than highs.
 
After serving as the Jets' starting quarterback his first two years in the Big Apple, he was cast aside after getting his jaw broken by teammate Ik Enemkpali in a locker room fight during preseason practice in 2015.
 
He got a brief second opportunity with the New York Giants when offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo famously ended Eli Manning's long starting streak and started Smith during the 2017 season.
 
But Geno's Giants tenure lasted only two games before he landed with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2018. His LA career consisted of just five appearances and four pass attempts.
 
Smith was signed by the Seattle Seahawks in 2019 to back up starting quarterback Russell Wilson and didn't get into a game that season. Two years ago, he attempted just five passes and last year he got into four games when Wilson was injured.
 
During the offseason, Wilson signed a free agent contract with the Denver Broncos and Seattle chose to bring in free agent Drew Lock to battle Smith for the starting job.
 
One online story labeled the QB battle a "disaster" and one of the "most embarrassing of all time."
 
NFL Network analyst Adam Schein had this to say about the Smith-Lock battle in late August, "This is the most embarrassing, saddest, pathetic quarterback competition of all time between Drew Locke and Geno Smith. It's brutal."
 
Fortunately for Seattle, coach Pete Carroll wasn't paying attention to Schein, and he chose to stick with Smith after some strong preseason performances.
 
Now, four months later, Smith is generally considered among the top quarterbacks in the NFL.
 
"When they're going through tough times, they always have the talent to come out of it on the back end," McAdoo, now Carolina's offensive coordinator, said earlier this week. "You're seeing that with Geno, and that's just part of playing the game. These guys go through a lot as they come up through the ranks, and they get a chance to play in this league.
 
"Sometimes they just need to get in the right situation, and certainly, that's where Geno is right now."
 
Entering this week's play, Smith ranks among the league's top 10 in passing yards (3,169), yards per attempt (8.1), completion percentage (72.7%), touchdowns (22), QB rating (1-8.7), first downs (153) and completions of 20 yards or longer (38).
 
Smith's completion percentage leads all quarterbacks.
 
More importantly, the Seahawks are in the playoff hunt in the NFC West with a 7-5 record, one game behind San Francisco's 8-4 mark. Seattle hopes to keep pace with 49ers this Sunday afternoon when it meets the Carolina Panthers in a game preceding Thursday night's showdown with the 49ers.
 
That will be an opportunity for Geno to showcase his talents to a national television audience.
 
Smith's NFL path is somewhat like the one taken by a couple of other former Mountaineer quarterbacks – Jeff Hostetler and Marc Bulger.
 
Hostetler didn't attempt a pass his first two seasons with the New York Giants as Phil Simms' backup and had just 68 attempts through his first four years before Simms suffered a foot injury during the 13^th game of the 1990 season.
 
Hostetler stepped in and led New York to a Super Bowl victory over Buffalo and a year later, canceled out Simms' 12-year career when new Giants coach Ray Handley picked Hostetler as his starter over Simms in a highly publicized, preseason battle.
 
Hostetler quarterbacked the Giants for two seasons before transitioning to the Raiders, where he made the Pro Bowl in 1994. His four seasons with the Raiders saw him pass for 11,122 yards and 69 touchdowns in 55 games.
 
Bulger, too, seemed destined to be a journeyman backup until starter Kurt Warner experienced fumbling issues in the 2003 season opener and Rams coach Mike Martz replaced him with Bulger.
 
Eventually, Bulger won the starting job and performed well enough to earn a spot in the Pro Bowl the next year, winning MVP honors in the game.
 
In 2006, he made a second Pro Bowl appearance when he passed for a career-best 4,301 yards and 24 touchdowns. Bulger's 96-game career saw him pass for 22,814 yards and 122 touchdowns.
 
He retired following the 2009 season.  
 
Both were persistent and eventually got their big breaks when someone believed in them.
 
The belief in Seattle is now there for Geno Smith, too, 10 years after his NFL career began with such great promise and fanfare in New York in 2013.
Geno has taken his long journey to the top in stride.
 
"My tough times would be a dream to someone else," he said Thursday. "I'll never look at it as something that was too hard for me or too tough. I just had to stay patient until I got that opportunity."
 
What a classy and dignified thing to say. Good for Seattle, and good for Geno Smith!
 
Now, he's got a bunch of people rooting for him.