The Fade May Have Been the Prettiest Play of Last Thursday
STILLWATER – There is no doubt that two Greens are better than one. Sonce offensive coordinator and receivers coach Kasey Dunn successfully recruited the Green brothers, Bryson and Blaine, out of Allen, Texas where they tore up opposing secondaries playing the huge powerhouse high school the Cowboys and their fans have been excited about seeing them both on the field at the same time. Last season it was Blaine, who was moved over for reps at the Cowboy back position that kind of broke open with 21 receptions for 314-yards and a touchdown last season.
The brothers did make it on the field simultaneously a few times as Bryson had 12 catches for 139-yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was slated to happen a lot this season, but then in fall camp Blaine suffered an injury that will keep him sideline most of the season. Fortunately, he had a red-shirt season. Fortunately again, he won’t quit. He may not be playing and catching passes or blocking, but he is critiquing.
“Of course he is and he’s doing it with everybody,” Green said of his brother Blaine. “He’s doing it with everybody and he is trying to win off the field just like he was on the field. He’s showing up to meetings trying to help everybody he can.”
This week brother can help brother and receiver can help receiver because Arizona State with a young secondary and young corners has gone from an 85 percent man cover team to using zones galore. In their opening win they showed zones from cover two to cover three. They dropped a linebacker into Tampa coverage and also ran cover five and cover six.
“I’m okay with anything that is thrown at us,” Green said, who had three receptions for 34-yards in the win over Central Michigan. “(We’ll have) a great game plan. We’ll have something for it and we’re going to play our butts off. Then it is just offensive line blocking and quarterback and we’re going to do what we have to do.”
Of those three catches that Green had his best was a short fade into the back corner of the end zone. I had many people tell me they thought it was the prettiest play of the game. Pretty is not a word that should be used to describe much in football. On this play I will accept it.
“He did a great job. He threw it four-by-four,” Green described complimenting quarterback Spencer Sanders. “We’d been repping that in practice, so if you practice like you play then it shows up. He threw a great ball, the offensive line blocked well, and I was blessed to have the opportunity to catch that ball.”
I’m predicting he will be blessed by more opportunites to do the same.