Jimmy Smith ( cornerback ) James " Jimmy " Smith ( born July 26 , 1988 ) is an American football cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League ( NFL ) . He was drafted by the Ravens with the 27th pick in the 2011 NFL Draft . He played college football at Colorado . Early life . Smith grew up in a single - floor home in San Bernardino , California , which is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles . The neighborhood Smith lived in was notoriously bad . " It ' s a rough neighborhood , " said Smith . " A lot of gangs . A lot of gang violence . A lot of people get shot and killed all the time . " However , Smith was able to shrug this off and excel at football from an early age . College . Jimmy Smith was another surprise out of Dan Hawkins ' transition class of 2006 , like Nate Solder , Jimmy was a middle of the pack recruit out of his home state of California ( # 57 Athlete by rivals and unranked as a corner by ESPN ) that grew into a first round prospect on a series of very mediocre Colorado teams . During the 2007 season Jimmy Smith firmly established himself as a contributor , a special teams star , and as part of the secondary depth . By far the biggest play of his 2007 season came against the Huskers , with momentum heading NU ' s way and the Buffs trailing by 11 Smith picked off a Joe Ganz pass and took it 31 yards to the house sparking a 34 - 0 run and swinging the game back in CU ' s favor in what would eventually turn out to be a 65 - 51 CU win . Smith built nicely on his RS - Freshman effort playing in 10 games for CU and starting the final three at corner , a position he ' d hold through the rest of his CU career . Again Smith closed the season with fireworks against Nebraska sniffing out an ill - advised fake field goal attempt by the huskers , intercepting the lateral and taking it 58 yards for a touchdown . Things continued to progress well for Smith who took over the starting corner spot full time at the start of his Jr . season , holding it through his last game at CU in that 2 year 24 game run Jimmy gave up an average of 1 completion a game . During that span Smith made quite a name for himself totaling 70 tackles in both seasons defending 15 passes and posing such a threat to offenses he was thrown at a mere 20 times as a Senior in man coverage . In that time Smith was honored as : All - big 12 twice , the Dave Jones award winner , and was named to the Thorpe Award watch list . Professional career . Pre - Draft Concerns . Through his high school and college careers , Smith battled occasional issues with the law which resulted in some pre - draft concerns about his maturity . It was reported he failed three drug tests , had two abortions by his girlfriend , and had been charged with aggravated assault . The concerns proved to be largely immaterial as Smith has been a model NFL citizen after joining the Ravens . Baltimore Ravens . 2011 season . Smith was selected with the 27th pick overall by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2011 NFL Draft . On the 20th of November , 2011 , Smith made his first career interception off an errant Andy Dalton pass against the Cincinnati Bengals . After a 16 yard return he had the ball knocked out of his arm by a Bengal , which was subsequently recovered by Brendon Ayanbadejo . He notched his second interception in a Week 13 matchup against the Cleveland Browns . In the AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Houston Texans , fellow cornerback Cary Williams tackled Jacoby Jones on a punt , forced a fumble , and Smith recovered it only a few yards away from the endzone . A week later , Smith had his third interception of the season in the AFC Championship against the New England Patriots . The ball was tipped from Bernard Pollard and luckily intercepted by Jimmy Smith . Overall , Smith was the # 3 cornerback behind Lardarius Webb and Williams . Smith had 20 tackles as a rookie . 2012 season . Smith played in Super Bowl XLVII and was a part of a controversial call , as he allegedly held San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree on the 49ers ' last offensive drive in the game , preventing the Niners from scoring on 4th down in the final minutes of the game .