Rex Ryan has confirmed that Geno Smith will be the New York Jets' starting quarterback for the pre-season game against the New York Giants this weekend.

The rookie injured his ankle in the team's opening game of the pre-season, before sitting out the win over the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend.

Speaking at a press conference, the head coach said: "It's not a surprise, I think, but we're going to start Geno this week. We'll see how far we take him into this game but we will start him this week.

"I think he's looked good. It seems like the ankle's obviously much better than it was this past week. So I'm excited to see him play. You're going against a good football team and so I think it'll be good competition with both guys.

"We'll see how it works out but I think obviously this is going to be the competition in the third pre-season game, I think that's probably about the highest that it gets during the pre-season."

Smith has been competing with Mark Sanchez to be the team's starter for the 2013 NFL season.