Cody Green Article

Ohio Pete · December 10, 2008

Nice, long write up:

Nothing but Green ahead

BY JON NYATAWA

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

DAYTON, Texas — The thermostat is set at 77 degrees as Cody Green tries to settle into a living room recliner. He pulls the hood of his sweatshirt over his head and buries his hands into the hoodies' big front pocket.

His mom, Chandra, is on her way home from Walgreens with an assortment of over-the-counter medications, hoping that at least one will bring her son relief from an incredibly ill-timed battle with a virus.

His cell phone vibrates. Green — the prized NU quarterback commitment in the Huskers' 2009 class — answers and politely responds to the reporter's line of questioning. About the latest Husker news. About his future in Lincoln.

Green is used to the attention, but he's not necessarily fond of it. And he is still somewhat baffled by it all, including, presumably, the reporter sitting in his living room documenting his battle with nasal blockage.

He's constantly reminded that without even playing a down as a Husker, he is already big news up north.

He recently received an unsolicited request through MySpace from a Nebraska high school sophomore quarterback seeking college advice.

Green's sister, Ashley, has counted as many as 50 Husker fans attending Dayton High School's playoff games in Texas.

At Lincoln's Memorial Stadium during the Virginia Tech game, fans threw popcorn at him in hopes of drawing his attention. One fan tried to pass free hot dogs to him, though the friendly gesture was thwarted by a knowledgeable Nebraska representative who identified the munching of a free hot dog as an NCAA violation.

Reporters seek Green's opinion at least once a week, and usually "they call in waves," he said. He's usually ready to talk college football and offer a brief courtesy update on what has become a stellar senior season. Green has compiled 2,739 passing yards, 1,353 rushing yards and 54 total touchdowns.

But on this night, just 24 hours before the biggest game of Green's high school career so far, Nebraska couldn't be further from his mind.

Green is trying to shake a nagging headache and sore throat in time to lead his one-loss Broncos to a win over Brenham in Texas' Class 4A Division II regional final. He's not concerned about spring and competing for playing time with NU incumbent quarterbacks Patrick Witt, Zac Lee and Kody Spano.

"I'm going there to try to start. I want to play," said Green, who'll enroll at Nebraska for January classes. "But if I redshirt, then I redshirt. That's another year for me to learn the system and get stronger."

It's his stock answer to quell any further line of questioning about his Nebraska future.

He's a 17-year-old who just finished a day at his 1,300-student high school. He isn't yet immersed in Lincoln's frenzied football environment. He's still in Dayton, Texas, where little kids are the only ones asking for autographs.

Green would love to spend his Friday free time fishing, driving his black pick-up truck to nearby high school football games or playing "Rock Band" on PlayStation 3.

Instead, he and his mom are spraying a reddish-hued elixir down the back of his throat.

Growing into the job

Green has always been a quarterback, ever since he started playing football in second grade. And it made sense. He was athletically superior to kids his age by the time he could walk.

But Chandra remembers that her son rarely gave her an enthusiastic response when she picked him up from practice and asked how it went. The pressure associated with the quarterback position seemed to wear on the youngster who was just out to have fun. Sometimes the responsibilities clearly agitated him.

During one of her son's fifth-grade games, Chandra, who's raised Cody as a single parent since he was 2, sat in the stands and overheard one parent complaining that Cody wasn't passing enough.

The assessment sounded reasonable to Chandra, so she buried the urge to defend her son and yelled down to Cody.

"Put it in the air!" she said.

Green heard it, glared up at his mom and shot back, "Who's gonna catch it, Mom? Just tell me. Who's gonna catch it?"

Good question, Chandra recalls thinking. She had no response. Neither did the other parent.

Green's edginess and reluctance to lead wore off as he continued to grow.

He took over the starting quarterback job at Dayton as a 189-pound sophomore, replacing a senior and leading a restless group of veterans still loyally attached to their old leader.

Green rarely said a word. He simply did what the coaches asked of him in practices and in games, then went home and played video games.

But coach Jerry Stewart said Green earned respect that year by projecting confidence and delivering results. He had a calming presence in the huddle, helping Dayton win eight straight games.

"He has the right temperament," Stewart said. "This guy, he's a winner. We're just glad to have him."

When Stewart says "we," he means it. For an outsider visiting Dayton, it's hard to find anyone who isn't proud of Green, who has spent his entire life in the rural community of 6,000 people about 40 miles of farmland and pastures from the bustle of Houston's outskirts.

It's impossible to drive through Dayton on its four-lane main drag without noticing the high school football stadium's home press box, which sits atop 58 rows of metal bleachers. It's the tallest structure in town.

Questions about Dayton football can spark 30-minute conversations with longtime citizens, many of whom include Dayton's school colors — purple and white — as part of their wardrobe.

Betty Brown, 62, even bought purple Christmas trees for her front yard and plans to decorate her mailboxes with purple and white lights.

"It's exciting," the lifelong Dayton resident said. "We're going to win state this year."

And then they can cheer on Green as he continues his career at Nebraska, Brown said.

Responding to some of her community members' requests, Green's mom has already begun preliminary preparations to take a charter bus to Lincoln for the Nebraska spring game, which Cody will be eligible to play in. One friend offered to help move Cody and his belongings when he begins classes next month.

"There will probably be someone from Dayton up there to visit once a month," Green guesses. "Honestly, it's like a miniature Nebraska down here."

Run-pass threat

Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson almost didn't get to speak with Green when he called down to Dayton High School last winter.

Green's coach had to persuade his reluctant quarterback to take the call.

"Nebraska?" Green remembers thinking. "It gets cold up there." Plus, it sounded like he'd be too far from his mom, sister and everyone else with whom he grew up.

But Green got interested when the first two words Watson uttered were "my man." He remembers Watson saying the Huskers needed a quarterback with Green's exact skill set. They wanted a player of his size (6-foot-4 and 225 pounds) who could run the option naturally and deliver pinpoint passes consistently.

While some college coaches hesitated because they were unsure how Green would recover from a season-ending ankle injury suffered as a junior, Nebraska's staff kept showing up.

In Green's living room, NU linebackers coach Mike Ekeler would get so enthused talking about the possibilities that he'd openly apologize to the milder Watson, who sat next to him.

"He'd get done and then say, 'Oh, sorry. Wats, go ahead.' And then Wats would talk," Green remembers. "But they would always say, 'You've just got to come up, you've got to come up.'"

Green finally did visit for a quarterback camp in June, and he gave the NU staff an oral commitment less than a month later.

He can't make his college choice official until February, a somewhat nerve-racking stretch for Husker fans who've been haunted by high-profile quarterbacks backing out of their pre-signing day pledges or otherwise leaving the program.

Green has heard those stories and knows the names.

Harrison Beck. Josh Freeman. Blaine Gabbert.

But what can he say? Green realizes that he's been pinned as the first big-time quarterback of the Bo Pelini era at NU. And he's not developing a list of contingency plans in the event Nebraska doesn't work out.

"I made my decision to make my decision," Green said. "That's it. It's over."

A long ride

Green's season-ending injury suffered last fall was so disturbing that he couldn't watch the game film more than a couple of times.

It was the second play of the second quarter of the season's second game in a small Texas town about three hours northeast of Houston. Green, recognizing the blitz, scrambled toward the sideline but didn't make it out of bounds before getting his legs wrapped up by a defender.

Both players fell and Green's right foot stuck in the turf, awkwardly enough to shred the rubber-band-like ligaments that stretch across the ankle.

There was no ambulance. No stretcher. Green rode off the field in the back of a golf cart, driven by a frazzled young attendant who at one point allowed Green's injured ankle to scrape across a chain-link fence.

Green limped to the backseat of his mom's car. She sped down a rural Texas highway. They were pulled over three times, Cody said, and each time he would just point at his swollen ankle and the officers allowed them to continue.

The ride felt like days, Green said. "I was in pain the whole time."

As he waited for the doctor's word on the extent of the injury, he tried to lay out plans in his head for his return.

He'd miss four to six weeks, right? Or maybe this was a 10-week injury?

The doctor brought him back to reality.

"Uh, son," the doctor told Green, "I'm sorry, but you won't be able to play football at all this season."

He had surgery on a Wednesday and couldn't get out of bed until Friday. He maneuvered about in a wheelchair to keep his leg propped up and to prevent fluids from rushing toward the healing foot. To shower, he'd have to tape two trash bags over his right leg.

Looking back, Green can admit that he struggled mentally during the healing process. He admits to feeling jealous as his team made a run to the state semifinals without him.

"I would sit in school, in the back of the room in my wheelchair and not do anything," he said. "I wouldn't talk to anyone. I went from hero to zero. That was the toughest thing to deal with."

Plus, he had doubts. Green wasn't sure if his ankle would fully heal. He wondered if he would be able to play like he used to.

Blistering Brenham

The cold medication didn't work.

Chandra, sitting in the bleachers at Saturday's regional final, could see that.

Green sat by himself on the sideline midway through the Brenham game, staring at the full bottle of Gatorade in his hand and feeling sick to his stomach.

He had just put Dayton up 21-7 with a 60-yard touchdown scamper, a run that probably should have ended with an open-field tackle near the line of scrimmage. But Green juked and stiff-armed his way past a defender before finding open space down the sideline.

There was no sign of the old ankle injury. But apparently the long run was a bit much for his infected body. The star quarterback was throwing up everything he had eaten that day.

No big deal, Green said later.

It was a big enough deal to make Mom squirm. And she's the one who had reassured Dayton offensive coordinator Jeff Nations the night before, telling him this on the phone: "You know, once he puts on that helmet, he'll forget about the headache, he'll forget about the throat."

But Chandra still worried that one mistake, coupled with her son's illness, would be enough for the coaches to keep him sidelined.

She should have known better.

Her son once broke his right wrist in middle school, got fitted with a cast that night and didn't miss a practice. Chandra was right there last fall when Cody initially assumed that his shredded ankle would keep him out only four to six weeks.

On Saturday, two of Dayton's backup quarterbacks began warming up as Green sat on the bench. But Green had no intention of staying on the bench.

Brenham designed the perfect defense to limit Green's favorite receiving target, A.J. Dugat, who has 98 catches, 1,531 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns. Dugat has already committed to Houston.

The defensive plan, which featured just three linemen who never entered into their three-point stance, was ineffective against the run. Green completed just three of his eight total pass attempts in Dayton's 42-21 blowout victory. On the ground, Green had 259 yards and had a part in four total touchdowns, assuring Dayton of its second consecutive appearance in the state semifinals.

Now, Dayton is just two wins away from the state title. The Broncos face Kerrville Tivy at 2 p.m. Saturday in Georgetown, Texas.

"I told him, 'You can be sick tomorrow, 'cause you're going to have to play tonight,'" coach Stewart said after the game.

While leaving the field, Green talked to more reporters. Their questions were equal parts Dayton and Nebraska. He told them that he can't wait to try to compete for the Huskers' open quarterback job, but he'd rather focus on winning a Texas state title first.

Then he posed for a couple of pictures with his sister, hugged his mom and jogged toward the locker room unfazed and thinking about how soothing his mom's warm taco soup would feel on his throat.

"I don't really pay attention to all that (hype)," Green says. "To me, I look at it like it's just another day at the job."