What does the mind of an NFL quarterback look like? Are X's and O's dancing on brain waves? Does play call verbiage subconsciously echo? Well, in Geno Smith's mind, it might.

"He's so cerebral," WR Garrett Wilson said.

Smith returned to the Jets 10 years older as a seasoned quarterback whose journey crisscrossed the league before sitting in front of Frank Reich's offensive playbook. He never worked with Reich before, or played in a system like his, but that could've fooled anyone.

"The first day when he had us tell the cadences he went through it and I was like 'Bro did you bring that with you from [Las Vegas] and Seattle?'" Wilson recalled. "He was like 'No. That's coach Reich's stuff; I just learned it last night.'"

Memorization happens in stages: The brain can only hold information in the short-term memory for 15-to-30 seconds. Building long-term memory takes time and repeated commitment.

"I swear he's got a photographic memory," Reich said. "[He] processes really fast."

Maybe it's because in the past four years Smith's had to learn four systems with different terminology and asks, or maybe the answer is a lot simpler.

"I'm a tedious notetaker," Smith said. "I study a lot of film, and I study at home and I try to put in as much work as possible."

Well, taking notes forces the brain to process information in real-time and later reviewing them boosts long-term memory retention.

"I try to maximize all the hours of the day if I can and I just study," Smith said. "I prepare my mind, I prepare myself."

Physically, Smith looks like he's in his prime. Reich joked that he thought the 35-year-old quarterback was no older than 28 — he has "pure mechanics."

"His arm, the way he moves, his feet in the pocket, he's physically in his prime," Reich said. "He takes great care of himself and that's going to help this team."

The quickness of Smith's mind only pushes others, too.

"I feel like me and Geno, we're starting to slowly get on the same page and there's times where I got to be a little faster," rookie WR Omar Cooper Jr. said earlier in training camp.

And he's not necessarily talking about the speed of his routes — Cooper clarified he needs to be "mentally faster."

The offense feeds off the intensity of right tackle Armand Membou, but dials in off the focus of Smith.

"This man is laser focused like people don't understand," Reich said. "He comes to work and he's locked in. I feel like the whole offense plays off of that, that's a really big deal."

Smith works to build off-the-field bonds with his teammates and lead by example. Every rep matters but so does each relationship.

"It's not just me out there, it's all of us, so it doesn't just matter what I know, it's about what we know collectively," Smith said. "I think we have a room full of great minds and we're collaborating and working together."

Photographic memory or not, Smith's approach to the game is smart, and soon it'll be time for him to take it all to the field.