Ravens Keep Heisman Winner Smith, Cut Olson

Posted by Matt Loede on August 27th, 2007 filed in News

The Ravens have made it official, former Ohio State QB Troy Smith will be the teams 3rd string QB opening day.  The team cut UCLA QB Drew Olson on Monday, which means that Smith will be behind starter Steve McNair and Kyle Boller.  There is a shot though that Smith could find himself on the practice squad, as head coach Brian Billick reminded the media on Monday that last season they only carried two QB’s.  “What still has to be determined is if we’ll carry two or three quarterbacks on the active roster,” Baltimore coach Brian Billick said. “Last year we carried two.”

Smith has played in two preseason games, and was 3-for-11 for 34 yards in the opener against Philadelphia and 4-for-8 for 60 yards against the New York Giants. Olson was 7-for-9 for 84 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles, but only 1-for-4 for 6 yards against New York.  “You just know there’s loads and loads of potential there,” offensive coordinator Rick Neuheisel said. “It’s difficult in the short time that we’ve been with him to get all that out of him, especially because he’s trying to indoctrinate himself into a new offense, new terminology and all that kind of stuff.  We made the decision to bank on the huge upside that Troy has.”