University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Monthly: Green is Learning Fast
November 6, 2003 | Football
Nov. 6, 2003
by Adam Lucas, Tar Heel Monthly
Lionell Green knew how to play cornerback when he arrived in Chapel Hill this August. It's just that, well, he didn't really know how to play defense.
At Reedley College in Reedley, California, the defensive scheme was simple: find your man, line up directly across the line of scrimmage from him, and follow him all over the field. It's the kind of pressure made popular across college football in the late-1990's, and not coincidentally, it's the kind of defense that highlights individual strengths and weaknesses and can earn college scholarships for those who play well.
"Our scheme in California was a lot of man-to-man," Green says. "They'd put me on the number-one receiver and we'd man up all the time. There wasn't too much zone at all."
Those man coverage skills resulted in SuperPrep magazine ranking Green the fourth-best junior college player in the United States last year. He picked off three passes in 2002 and broke up 32, leading Reedley to a 12-0 record and the junior college national championship.
Seeking to upgrade a talent base that had slipped over the past couple of recruiting classes, John Bunting spent at least one night a week last fall reviewing tape of junior college players with administrative assistant Nick Schiralli. Cornerback wasn't necessarily a position of need, but in the process of hunting for linebackers and defensive linemen, the coaching staff discovered Green.
They weren't the first staff to find him--he also had offers from Nebraska, Tennessee, South Carolina, and several others. But an early visit to Chapel Hill sold the Wharton, Texas native on the Tar Heels, and when Bunting announced his commitment on signing day he lauded Carolina's newest defensive back.
"He is certainly the best [corner] I saw watching endless tapes late at night with some of our very talented staff," Bunting said on signing day. "He is a shut-down corner."
So it all seemed pretty simple: sign the shut-down corner, bring him to Chapel Hill, throw him out on the practice field and let him start pulling a Dre' Bly on opposing receivers. With one stroke of the pen, most fans thought, the Heels had solved half of their cornerback quandary for 2003.
Except that the coaching staff knew it probably wouldn't be that simple. While junior colleges provide a higher level of competition than prep programs, they're still far removed from the high Division I level.
"You get a kid who has the kind of marquee All-American reputation and has been shutting down junior college receivers," defensive backs coach Jim Fleming says. "But the ACC is full of pretty good players, and those guys would probably be an All-America in junior college too."
A protracted qualification process rendered Green unable to enroll with the rest of the freshmen. He missed the second session of summer school at Carolina, and when he missed the first official day of practice, some began to wonder whether he would ever play for the Tar Heels.
After finishing his course work, Green finally arrived after his teammates had gone through almost a week of practice. After a summer spent hitting the books more than hitting the weights, his first day on the practice field--which was spent primarily with strength and conditioning coach Jeff Connors--was an eye-opening experience.
"I couldn't catch my breath at all that first day," Green says. "It really took my legs away, and I didn't get them back for two or three weeks."
While he's made plenty of physical progress since that first day with the Tar Heels on Aug. 9, the key to getting more snaps in game situations has been mental. After two years of playing almost exclusively man-to-man coverage, the transition to Carolina's multiple defensive coverages wasn't easy. When the Heels opened the season against Florida State, Green spent most of his time on the bench. The next week, he got on the field against Syracuse just long enough to give up a touchdown pass-the first touchdown he had given up since his first year at Reedley.
"That was a gut check for him," Fleming says. "He was a kid who had played press man coverage all the way through junior college and now we were giving him multiple zones and multiple man coverages. We had him playing in space and an area as opposed to playing a man. It's sometimes easier to just say, 'I've got that guy,' and shut everything else out."
"Playing zone is about reading the quarterback and keeping your feel for what the receiver is doing," Green says. "That was my biggest adjustment."
About a month into the season--around the same time he was getting closer to game conditioning level--he began to get a better understanding of what was required to play cornerback at the ACC level. Despite a shoulder injury, he moved into the starting lineup against NC State on Sept. 28, and despite constant competition at the cornerback spot, he's been a starter for six straight games. He's been getting help from Dexter Reid in recognizing when to go for interceptions and when to play more conservatively, and against Arizona State and Clemson, he played every defensive snap.
In a move that plays to Green's strengths, defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable has expressed a desire to play more press coverages in the secondary during the final month of the season.
Over the past three months, Lionell Green had learned how to play defense at the ACC level. Now, he's ready to show off how well he knows how to play cornerback.
"I love to press off the line of scrimmage," he says. "I want to run with them and dominate them. I don't want them to catch any passes."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.
